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Fabulous First Women Golfers
Sisters...
In 1907 the Curtis sisters (see Movers and Shakers) competed in the finals of the U.S. Women's Amateur, the first and only time this happens. Margaret beat her older sister Harriot.
Sponsors ...
Sears, Roebuck and Weathervane (a clothing line for women's suits) became the first major sponsors for early women's golf tournaments.
Why Not? ...
Babe Zaharias registered to play in the 1948 men's U.S. Open, but her application was rejected. Today, women are allowed to apply. Any takers?
Taking the Kids Along...
Bettye Mims Danoff and Alice Bauer, founding LPGA members, became the first women to take their kids on the LPGA Tour in 1950. Today there are forty moms on tour, with expected mom Danielle Ammaccapane ready to make it forty-one.
First Hole in One at Women's Open! ...
Patty Berg made the first hole in one at the 1959 U.S. Women's Open. It was on the 7th hole, 170 yards long, at Churchhill Valley Country Club in Pittsburgh.
First African-American on Tour...
In 1956 Ann Gregory became the first African-American women to compete in a USGA tournament at the U.S. Women's Open in Duluth, Minnesota. Two other African-Americans joined the tour in the 1960s--Althea Gibson and Renee Powell--and sponsors threatened to back out of the tournaments, but all the players rallied around their new teammates, saying that "if they go, we all go."
Jump in the Water...
After her winning putt at the 1983 Nabisco-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle, Amy Alcott grabbed Dinah Shore and became the first player to dive in the pond. The tradition is carried on to this day, although it gave Dottie Pepper a bad cold last year.
Pink Ribbons...
In 1992 the LPGA became the first professional golf organization to join with an official national charity --The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Newscasters...
In 1973 Marilynn Smith was the first female tel
We've Come a Long Way! ...
In 1987 Judy Bell became the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee, and in 1996 she became the first woman elected president of the USGA.
Highs & Lows
High - LPGA's purse in 1950: $50,000.
Low - PGA's purse for that same year: well over $300,000.
High - Nancy Lopez's cover shot on Sports Illustrated in 1978.
Low - Jan Stephenson's pin-up photograph in Fairway magazine in 1981.
High - LPGA's first-year celebration in 1950.
Low - Only around fifty spectators showed up to watch the tournaments.
High - LPGA majors now attract over 100,000 spectators.
Low - We're losing the Du Maurier as a major.
High - LPGA's prize money jumped to $1.8 million in 1975.
Low - Still well under the men's purse of about $7.5 million.
High - Equipment manufacturers devote more research to market quality women's clubs.
Low - You have to search for them in your local golf store.
High - Se Ri Pak's LPGA 18-hole record score of 61.
Low - Glenna Collett's first tournament score of 132.
High - Amateur Jenny Chusiraporn's amazing forty-foot birdie putt to force a playoff in the 1998 U.S. Women's Open.
Low - Nancy Lopez's missed putt to lose the 1997 U.S. Women's Open.
High - Close to six million women play golf.
Low - We're still thought of as slow and poor players.
High - Private clubs finally abandoned their anti-discrimination laws against women.
Low - Women golfers are still fighting the "anti-women" battle.
(In 1999, $2 million was awarded to women whose club gave them terrible tee times and denied them other country club benefits just because they were women.)
Quotes
"I just loosen my girdle and let the ball have it." - Babe Zaharias
"... it is a tribute to woman's passionate devotion to golf that she will wear this 'sensible' skirt, knowing that, while it adds yards to her drive, it detracts from her charm." Glenna Collett on golfing fashions of the 1920s.
"They say everything is relative. Well, it sure as hell ain't that relative." - Louise Suggs comparing her fifty LPGA wins for $200,000 in purse money, with Pat Bradley's thirty LPGA wins for $4.5 million.
"The men are going off first tomorrow. The women after, as usual. I'll bet we'll be held up all the way around!" - Glenna Collett
"She could get up and down out of a garbage can." - fellow players about Betsy Rawls
"It was like watching three cats fight over a plate of fish." - Louise Suggs on the fierce competition between Patty Berg, Babe Zaharias, and her.
"Women are handicapped (in their golf swing) by having boobs." - Ben Wright, CBS broadcaster
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