Shirley Spork wore a navy-blue bucket hat as she leaned on the right side of the podium that held the Founders Cup trophy. The tall, bronze sculpture of a swinging female golfer sat between Spork and Jin Young Ko, who was accepting the trophy for the second consecutive time after winning the Cognizant Founders Cup on a cold and rainy weekend in New Jersey.
That was October 2021, and it would become the final time that Spork, one of the LPGA Tour’s 13 founding members, would be a part of an LPGA Tour trophy presentation. In April, Spork passed away at the age of 94. She leaves Marlene Bauer Hagge as the only living Founder of the LPGA Tour.
A little over a decade ago, the Founders Cup was created to celebrate the 13 women who were instrumental in creating the LPGA Tour. Spork, Bauer Hagge, Marilynn Smith and Louise Suggs were the four women who lived to see the event celebrate their achievements in establishing the world’s preeminent women’s golf tour and what is now the oldest continuous women’s professional sports league.
Each year beside the 18th green at the Founders Cup, they would sit in a designated perch with the words “Act Like a Founder,” emblazoned on the wall behind them. It was a not-so-subtle reminder to remind the subsequent generations of their duty to maintain the Tour the pioneers had established more than 70 years ago.
It became an annual tradition at the Founders Cup that Spork would greet the winner and pose for photos.
In 2011, Karrie Webb won the inaugural event and didn’t take home a single penny as the event had no purse. Webb posed after her victory with Suggs, Smith and Spork. When Webb won again in 2015, Spork wrapped her arms around the Aussie in congratulations.
In 2016, Spork and Smith wore matching red shirts and also happened to coordinate with that year’s champion, Hyo Joo Kim.
In 2017, Spork wore an oversized, green top hat in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day which happened to coincide with that week’s tournament.
In 2021, Spork stood beside Ko, who won the Founders Cup in both 2019 and 2021 after the event wasn’t played due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Year after year, Shirley was there.
Spork’s passing leaves a particular void because, despite being in her mid-90s, she would still travel to major championships, Solheim Cups and, of course, the annual Cognizant Founders Cup. As a teacher at heart, who was instrumental in forming the LPGA’s teaching division, she’d often walk the range at tournaments and talk with players, sometimes sharing a tip or a swing thought.
At the Founders Cup in 2021, Spork sought out Brooke Henderson, who had been struggling with her putting. That week, Henderson says Spork blessed her putter, gave it a name and shared some wisdom and knowledge that led the Canadian to shoot a round of 67 the next day.
Even two weeks before her death, Spork walked the range at the Chevron Championship, sharing tips and insights with players warming up ahead of the season’s first major championship.
In April, at the Chevron Championship, Spork accepted membership to the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame on not just her own behalf but also for her fellow Founders who had not yet been enshrined. It was a fitting bookend to a long and storied career.
The chairs in which the founding members once sat, beside the 18th green at the Founders Cup, have grown empty in recent years. Suggs passed away in 2015 and Smith in 2019. This week, another chair will go unfilled as the Tour mourns the loss of yet another one of its beloved Founders.
While a heavy sadness hangs over this week’s Cognizant Founders Cup, the tournament has a chance to do exactly what it was created to do - to celebrate the women who have been instrumental in the Tour’s growth and success. Especially Shirley Spork - a teacher and founder who was a fixture on the LPGA Tour for more than 70 years.
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