Kathy Whitworth has set golf benchmarks that no one has touched, including Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Mickey Wright and Annika Sorenstam. Her 88 wins are more than any player on her one Pro Tour.
Whitworth, who won nearly a quarter century on the LPGA Tour and became the first woman to earn $1 million on the LPGA, died on Christmas Eve, her longtime partner said. She was 83 years old.
Bettye Odle did not give a cause of death, only saying Whitworth died suddenly on Saturday night while celebrating with family and friends.
“Kathy left a mark on how she lived her life of loving, laughing and making memories,” Odle said in a statement released by the LPGA Tour.
Whitworth won her first of 88 titles at the Kelly Girl Open in July 1962. She won six majors in her career, and when Whitworth won Lady Michelob in the summer of 1982, she broke Wright’s career record of 82.
Her last win was the 1985 United Virginia Bank Classic.
“Victory never gets old,” Whitworth once said.
The only thing missing from her career was the US Women’s Open, the biggest of the women’s majors. When she became the first woman to surpass $1 million in career earnings in 1981, she said.
Whitworth was named AP Female Athlete of the Year in 1965 and 1967, easily defeating Wimbledon singles champion Billie Jean King. Whitworth was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982.
She was named LPGA Player of the Year seven times in eight years (1966-1973). She won the Vare Trophy seven times with her lowest scoring average and was the top earner in eight seasons.
However, she was identified by a single number, 88.
Snead set a record 82 wins on the PGA Tour. Wright won his LPGA Tour 82 times and Sorenstam won 72 times after his 2006 season when he retired at age 36.
“I think Mickey had the best swing, and I think he was probably the best golfer,” Betsy Rolls once told Golf Digest. did.”
Whitworth was born in Monaghans, a small town in West Texas, and studied golf in New Mexico. She started when she was 15 on her 9-hole course in Jallu, New Mexico, built for El Paso Natural Gas employees.
She soon won the New Mexico State Amateur twice. After briefly attending the University of Odessa (Texas), she turned professional at the age of 19 and in December 1958 she entered the LPGA Tour.
“I was really lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do,” Whitworth once told Golf Digest. I don’t know, I thought everyone knew what they wanted to do when they were 15.”
Wright had a more aesthetically pleasing swing. Whitworth was all about crushing and winning.
Whitworth won eight times in 1963 and 1965, and 11 times in 1968. Years later, his LPGA Tour prize pool for 2023 will exceed his $100 million mark.
Whitworth continued to conduct junior clinics and actively participate in games.
“I don’t think about the legacy of 88 tournaments,” she once said. It doesn’t make me a better person.
“When people ask me how I want to be remembered, I think that as long as people remember me, that’s good enough.”
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