When thinking of the early days of the LPGA, everyone knows players like Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Louise Suggs and Patty Berg. But there are several athletes whose careers started in the 1950s with whom golf fans are not as familiar, even though they were making an impact on the women’s game and writing several chapters of the LPGA’s young history in its infancy.

Learn more about five of the unsung players of the 1950s and the contributions they made to the LPGA throughout their professional careers.

Kathy Cornelius

Kathy Cornelius won seven times on the LPGA Tour, but she is best known for her victory at the 1956 U.S. Women’s Open. After Cornelius and amateur Barbara McIntire tied with 72-hole totals of 302 at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minn. that year, the pair went into an 18-hole playoff to decide the champion, one that Cornelius won by seven shots after carding a 75 to McIntire’s 82.

Along with her U.S. Women’s Open victory, Cornelius posted two other wins during the 1956 season, capturing the St. Petersburg Open title in February and then winning the Hot Springs 4-Ball Invitational in July alongside Beverly Hanson, which was not an official victory at the time. Cornelius picked up another win in 1959 at the Cosmopolitan Open and then won again in 1961 at the Tippecanoe Open in Leesburg, Ind.

The 1962 season saw her finish in a tie for first with Betsy Rawls at the Babe Zaharias Open, an event that was shortened due to inclement weather, and Cornelius didn’t win again until 10 years later when she took home the 1972 Bluegrass Invitational title in Prospect, Ky. She recorded her last LPGA Tour victory in 1973 at the Sealy-Faberge Classic, a tournament she won in a playoff over Judy Rankin.

Fay Crocker

Hailing from Montevideo, Uruguay, Fay Crocker became the first international player to win on the LPGA Tour in 1955. She captured the Serbin Open title that year at Bayshore Golf Club in Miami Beach, Fla., winning by just one stroke over Patty Berg with a four-day total of 296 at 40 years, 6 months and 18 days old, making her the oldest first-time winner in the history of the LPGA, a record that still stands to this day.

“It was tough all the way,” said Crocker in an Associated Press story that was printed in the New York Times on Feb. 21, 1955. “It was a tremendous thrill when that last putt dropped and I knew I had finally won my first one.”

Crocker was also the first non-American to win a major championship, picking up the first major victory of her career at the 1955 U.S. Women’s Open at Wichita Country Club in Wichita, Kan., after defeating Mary Lena Faulk and Louise Suggs by four strokes that week. Crocker won a total of 11 times on the LPGA Tour, collecting her second major title at the 1960 Titleholders Championship at Augusta Country Club, a victory that made Crocker the oldest player to win a major at 45 years, 7 months and 11 days, another record that has withstood the test of time.

She is one of only six South Americans who have won on the LPGA Tour and remains the only Uruguayan to achieve that feat in the history of the organization.

Betty Dodd

Even though Betty Dodd only won twice on the LPGA Tour, she was a dedicated promoter of the organization throughout her career. She appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1953 alongside her good friend Babe Didrikson Zaharias, playing the guitar and singing with Little Jimmy Boyd while Zaharias played the harmonica.

Dodd’s first LPGA victory came at the 1956 Lawton Open, which was held at Lawton Municipal Golf Course in Lawton, Okla. She defeated major winner Patty Berg by five strokes en route to victory and collected an $880 winner’s check that week. Dodd picked up her second career title the next season at the 1957 Colonial Open at Colonial Country Club in Jackson, Miss., once again winning by five shots, this time over Mickey Wright, and earning another $880 with that victory.

Dodd turned her attention to teaching after dealing with injuries as a competitive athlete and was named Teacher of the Year in 1980 by the LPGA Professionals. She passed away on July 8, 1993.

Jackie Pung

During the 1953 season, Jackie Pung became the first athlete from Hawaii to both join and win on the LPGA Tour. She recorded her first career victory at the Palm Springs Open, which was held at Tamarisk Country Club in April of that year, winning by two strokes over Betsy Rawls in Palm Springs, Calif. Pung then won the Triangle Round Robin later in the season at Shackamoxon Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J., a title she collected after beating Betty Jameson.

Pung then won both the Sea Island Open and Jacksonville Open in 1955, picking up her last career Tour title in 1958 at the Jackson Open at Colonial Country Club in Jackson, Miss., after defeating Mickey Wright by just one stroke. But Pung is perhaps best known for a scoring snafu that happened at the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open, one that ultimately saw her disqualified from the event after her playing partner, Betty Jameson, had written down a lower score on one hole than Pung had actually made, costing the Hawaiian a major victory.

Like many of her LPGA counterparts, Pung got into teaching after wrapping up her professional golf career and was named Teacher of the Year by the LPGA Professionals in 1967.

Wiffi Smith

Wiffi Smith joined the LPGA Tour in 1957 and won eight times in four seasons. She collected the Dallas Open title in April of her first year with the organization, a victory she earned after beating Patty Berg by three strokes. Smith won again that October at the United Voluntary Services Open, defeating Fay Crocker by seven shots in San Francisco, Calif.

The next season saw Smith win her third title at the Peach Blossom Open, and she then picked up two more victories in 1959 at the MAGA Pro-Am and Betsy Rawls Open. Her best season on Tour was 1960, a year that saw her win three times at the Royal Crown Open in Georgia, the Betsy Rawls Peach Blossom Open in South Carolina and the Waterloo Open in Iowa.

Smith became unable to compete on the LPGA Tour after sustaining wrist injuries in an accident, but she became an LPGA Professional and taught the game following her successful playing career. She was known to travel from event to event with a piano in tow during her playing days.

Players to Know from the 1950s

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