Reading, Pennsylvania
1995
34
Six
3x Rolex Player of the Year (1984, 1989, 1993), 2x Vare Trophy recipient (1987, 1993)
1995
Growing up in Reading, Pa., Betsy King took off to South Carolina after high school to play collegiate golf for Furman University. She and her team, that included future LPGA Tour players Beth Daniel, Sherri Turner and Cindy Ferro, earned the 1976 National Championship title. She also earned low amateur honors at the 1976 U.S. Women’s Open.
King joined the LPGA Tour in 1977, winning her first event seven years later at the 1984 Women’s Kemper Open. Two additional titles that season and 21 top-10 finishes earned King her first of three Rolex Player of the Year honors. From 1984-89, she earned 20 of her 34 total Tour wins. Her first major championship title came at the 1987 Chevron Championship; she would win that event two more times in her career (1990, 1997) as well as the U.S. Women’s Open (1989, 1990) and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (1992). Her last win on Tour came at the 2001 ShopRite LPGA Classic. She was also a five-time U.S. Solheim Cup team member (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998) and captained the U.S. team in 2007.
Along with two Vare Trophy awards (1987, 1993), King was gained entry into the World Golf and LPGA Halls of Fame in 1995. She was also named the GWAA Female Player of the Year twice (1987, 1989) and the 1996 LPGA Founders Award. Since her retirement, King has worked with multiple charities, not only hosting the Wachovia LPGA Classic from 1996-2004 but also creating Golf Fore Africa in 2007, which focuses on bringing clean, fresh drinking water to over 200,000 people in rural Africa and is committed to helping end the global water crisis by 2030.
)
)
)
)