Detroit, Michigan
2001
24
Four
NA
2001
Donna Caponi began playing golf at age 5, learning golf from her father. Her amateur accolades include winning the Los Angeles Junior Title in 1956.
Caponi was a rookie on the LPGA Tour in 1965 and won her first tournament in 1969 at the U.S. Women’s Open, also her first of four major victories in her LPGA Tour career. She was the fifth player in Tour history to make the U.S. Women’s Open their first victory on Tour (currently, 21 players have achieved this feat). She would defend the title successfully (1970), just one of 14 times in Tour history it’s occurred in a major championship setting; only Mickey Wright had ever won back-to-back U.S. Women’s Opens before Caponi. She went on to win a total of 21 times on Tour, with her last win coming at the 1981 Boston Five Classic, her fifth victory of that season. In 2005, she served as an assistant captain of the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup team.
Caponi was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame under the Veteran’s Category (now dissolved) and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. Her other honors include the GWAA Female Player of the Year in 1981 and PGA First Lady of Golf Award in 2010. Since retiring, she’s worked as a commentator on occasions for CBS and Golf Channel tournament broadcasts.
