The United States Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship was launched in 1962 as an annual tournament for female amateur golfing competitors at least 50 years of age. The format began as a 54-hole stroke play competition over three days until 1997 when it was changed to a match play event. Sectional qualifying was first implemented for the 2000 championship. The U.S. Senior Women's Amateur operates through the auspices of the United States Golf Association. In 1977 Dorothy Germain Porter became the first U.S. Women's Amateur champion to win the Seniors' title.