On July 3, 1954, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the U.S. Women’s Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass., what was the 10th and final major victory of her LPGA Tour career.

Zaharias beat Betty Hicks by 12 shots that day to claim her fifth win of the 1954 season and 38th LPGA Tour victory, earning a $3,000 winner’s check. It was her third U.S. Women’s Open title, as the Texan had also won both the 1948 playing of the major championship that was held at Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey and the 1950 edition of the tournament that was contested at Rolling Hills Country Club in Kansas.

She had been treated for colon cancer the previous year, and her U.S. Women’s Open victory and the other wins she earned that season marked an impressive comeback from the disease, one that was incredibly admired by Zaharias’ LPGA Tour peers.

In a story which she wrote for the July 15 edition of The New York Times in 1984, an article that celebrated the 30th anniversary of Babe’s final major victory at Salem Country Club, Zaharias’ fellow LPGA Founder Patty Berg said, “What made Babe’s convincing victory so inspiring was that only 14 months before, she had undergone serious cancer surgery and was told by her doctors that she would never again be able to play competitive golf. In those days, the final 36 holes were played in one day. Knowing how fatigued I was after the grind of that last day, I have often wondered how Babe was able to summon the strength to hold up and not only win, but win by 12 strokes.”

Zaharias captured 41 LPGA Tour victories before her passing, which Karrie Webb tied for the ninth-most of all-time after the Aussie won her last LPGA event in 2014 at what was then known as the JTBC Founders Cup. Zaharias eventually succumbed to cancer on Sept. 27, 1955, at just 45 years old.

Even though her athletic career was ultimately cut short, Zaharias is still widely considered to be one of the greatest female athletes of all time considering her Olympic accomplishments in track and field, accolades that include two gold medals; her prowess on the basketball court; and her delineation as one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA organization.

She is a member of both the LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame, was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year six times, was posthumously recognized with the Bob Jones Award in 1957 and was also posthumously awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021. That year’s recipients also included professional golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player.

On This Date: Babe Didrikson Zaharias Wins 10th and Final Major Championship

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