Betsy Rawls

LPGA Tour

• Hometown

  Spartanburg, South Carolina

• Year of Hall of Fame Induction

  1960

• Total LPGA Tour Wins

  55

• Major Championships

  Eight

• LPGA Tour Awards

  1959 Vare Trophy, 2000 LPGA Commissioner’s Award

• World Golf Hall of Fame Induction

  1979

• Bio

  South Carolina native Betsy Rawls turned professional in 1951 and would go on to win 55 LPGA Tour events and 8 major championships including the 1951 U.S. Women’s Open during her rookie year. She also captured the 1953, 1957, and 1960 U.S. Women’s Opens, the 1952 and 1959 Women’s Western Opens, and the 1959 and 1969 KPMG Women’s PGA Championships. Rawls shares the record for most U.S. Women’s Open titles with Mickey Wright at four.

   

  Rawls was the leading money winner in 1952 and 1959 and finished in the top 10 on the money list on nine occasions. She won the 1959 Vare Trophy for that season’s lowest scoring average and led the Tour in wins three times – 1952 with eight, 1957 with five (tied with Patty Berg) and 1959 with 10. Betsy’s ‘59 LPGA Tour season marked the first time a player had reached ten wins in a single season.

   

  After serving as LPGA Secretary under Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Betsy was the LPGA president in 1961 and 1962 and was a member of the inaugural LPGA Hall of Fame class in 1967. She retired from tournament play in 1975 and became a tournament director for the LPGA and led the McDonald’s LPGA Championship from 1987 to 2004.

   

  Rawls became a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 1962 and won the Patty Berg award in 1980. That same year Betsy became the first woman to officiate the men’s U.S. Open. She was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 1983 and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. Rawls was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987 and won the Bob Jones award in 1996 as well as the 2000 LPGA Commissioner’s Award. She was also a 2005 Memorial Tournament honoree.

   

  As an amateur, Betsy won the Texas Amateur in 1949 and 1950 along with the 1949 Trans-National and the 1950 Broadmoor Invitational. She additionally finished second in the 1950 U.S. Women’s Open before earning her maiden major as a pro a year later.