Louise Suggs

Louise Suggs
— Golfer —
Suggs in 1958
Personal information
Full name	Mae Louise Suggs
Born	(1923-09-07)September 7, 1923 Atlanta, Georgia
Died	August 7, 2015(2015-08-07) (aged 91) Sarasota, Florida
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Delray Beach, Florida, U.S.
Career
Turned professional	1948
Retired	1962
Former tour(s)	LPGA Tour (co-founder)
Professional wins	61
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	61 (4th all time)
Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 11)
Western Open	Won: 1946, 1947, 1949, 1953
Titleholders C'ship	Won: 1946, 1954, 1956, 1959
ANA Inspiration	CUT: 1983
Women's PGA C'ship	Won: 1957
U.S. Women's Open	Won: 1949, 1952
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1951 (member page)
LPGA Tour Money Winner	1953, 1960
LPGA Vare Trophy	1957
Patty Berg Award	2000
Bob Jones Award	2007

Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf.^[1]

Amateur career

Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginning as a teenager. She won the Georgia State Amateur in 1940 at age 16 and again in 1942,^[2] was the Southern Amateur Champion in 1941 and 1947,^[3] and won the North and South Women's Amateur three times (1942, 1946, 1948).^[4] She won the 1946 and 1947 Women's Western Amateur^[5] and the 1946 and 1947 Women's Western Open, which was designated as a major championship when the LPGA was founded.^[6] She also won the 1946 Titleholders Championship which was also subsequently designated as a women's major. She won the 1947 U.S. Women's Amateur and the next year won the British Ladies Amateur.^[4] She finished her amateur career representing the United States on the 1948 Curtis Cup Team.^[7]

Professional career

After her successful amateur career, she turned professional in 1948 and went on to win 58^[8] additional professional tournaments, with a total of 11 majors. Her prowess on the golf course is reflected in the fact that from 1950 to 1960 she was only once out of the top 3 in the season-ending money list.

Suggs was an inaugural inductee into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, established in 1967, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1979. She is also a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

She was one of the co-founders of the LPGA in 1950, which included her two great rivals of the time, Patty Berg and Babe Zaharias. Suggs served as the organization's president from 1955 to 1957.

Honors

The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award, given annually to the most accomplished first-year player on the LPGA Tour, is named in her honor. In 2006 Suggs was named the 2007 recipient of the Bob Jones Award, given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. In February 2015 she became one of the first female members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.^[9]

Amateur wins

1940 Georgia Women's Amateur, Southern Women's Amateur
1942 Georgia Women's Amateur, North and South Women's Amateur
1946 North and South Women's Amateur, Women's Western Amateur
1947 Southern Women's Amateur, Women's Western Amateur, U.S. Women's Amateur
1948 North and South Women's Amateur, British Ladies Amateur

Professional wins

LPGA Tour wins (61)

1946 (2) Titleholders Championship, Women's Western Open (as an amateur), Pro-Lady Victory National Championship (as an amateur, with Ben Hogan)
1947 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur)
1948 (1) Belleair Open
1949 (4) U.S. Women's Open, Women's Western Open, All American Open, Muskegon Invitational
1950 (2) Chicago Weathervane, New York Weathervane
1951 (1) Carrollton Georgia Open
1952 (6) Jacksonville Open, Tampa Open, Stockton Open, U.S. Women's Open, All American Open, Betty Jameson Open
1953 (9) Tampa Open, Betsy Rawls Open, Phoenix Weathervane (tied with Patty Berg), San Diego Open, Bakersfield Open, San Francisco Weathervane, Philadelphia Weathervane, 144 Hole Weathervane, Women's Western Open
1954 (5) Sea Island Open, Titleholders Championship, Betsy Rawls Open, Carrollton Georgia Open, Babe Zaharias Open
1955 (5) Los Angeles Open, Oklahoma City Open, Eastern Open, Triangle Round Robin, St. Louis Open
1956 (3) Havana Open, Titleholders Championship, All American Open
1957 (2) LPGA Championship, Heart of America Invitational
1958 (4) Babe Zaharias Open, Gatlinburg Open, Triangle Round Robin, French Lick Open
1959 (3) St. Petersburg Open, Titleholders Championship, Dallas Civitan Open
1960 (4) Dallas Civitan Open, Triangle Round Robin, Youngstown Kitchens Trumbull Open, San Antonio Civitan
1961 (7) Naples Pro-Am, Royal Poinciana Invitational, Golden Circle of Golf Festival, Dallas Civitan Open, Kansas City Open, San Antonio Civitan, Sea Island Open
1962 (1) St. Petersburg Open

LPGA majors are shown in bold.

Major championships

Wins (11)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1946	Titleholders Championship	+14 (80-77-77-80=314)	2 strokes	Eileen Stulb
1946	Women's Western Open	2 up		Patty Berg
1947	Women's Western Open	4 & 2		Dorothy Kirby (a)
1949	U.S. Women's Open	−9 (69-75-77-70=291)	14 strokes	Babe Zaharias
1949	Women's Western Open	5 & 4		Betty Jameson
1952	U.S. Women's Open	+8 (70-69-70-75=284)	7 strokes	Marlene Hagge, Betty Jameson
1953	Women's Western Open	6 & 5		Patty Berg
1954	Titleholders Championship	+5 (73-71-76-73=293)	7 strokes	Patty Berg
1956	Titleholders Championship	+14 (78-75-75-74=302)	1 stroke	Patty Berg
1957	LPGA Championship	+5 (69-74-74-68=285)	3 strokes	Wiffi Smith
1959	Titleholders Championship	+9 (78-73-75-71=297)	1 stroke	Betsy Rawls

(a)=Amateur

Team appearances

Amateur

Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 1948 (winners)

References

↑ "LPGA Founder Louise Suggs Passes Away at Age 91". LPGA. August 6, 2015.
↑ "History of the GWGA". Georgia Women's Golf Association. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
↑ "WSGA Champions 1911–2004". Women's Southern Golf Association. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
1 2 "Louise Suggs Full Career Bio" (PDF). LPGA. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
↑ "Amateur Championship Winners 1901–2003". Women's Western Golf Association. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
↑ "Women's Western Open - Winners". About Golf. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
↑ "Previous Curtis Cup Matches 1932–2002". United States Golf Association. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
↑ Nichols, Beth Ann (July 23, 2013). "Biographer adds 3 missing titles to Suggs' resume". Golfweek.
↑ "Princess Royal among first women to join St Andrews". BBC Sport. February 10, 2015.

External links

Louise Suggs at the LPGA Tour official site
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
Louise Suggs biography at About.com

Women's PGA Championship champions

1955‡ Beverly Hanson 1956 Marlene Hagge† 1957 Louise Suggs 1958‡ Mickey Wright 1959 Betsy Rawls 1960 Mickey Wright 1961‡ Mickey Wright 1962‡ Judy Kimball 1963 Mickey Wright 1964 Mary Mills 1965 Sandra Haynie 1966 Gloria Ehret 1967‡ Kathy Whitworth 1968‡ Sandra Post† 1969 Betsy Rawls 1970 Shirley Englehorn† 1971 Kathy Whitworth 1972 Kathy Ahern 1973 Mary Mills 1974 Sandra Haynie 1975 Kathy Whitworth 1976 Betty Burfeindt 1977 Hisako Higuchi 1978 Nancy Lopez 1979 Donna Caponi 1980 Sally Little 1981 Donna Caponi 1982‡ Jan Stephenson 1983 Patty Sheehan 1984 Patty Sheehan 1985‡ Nancy Lopez 1986 Pat Bradley 1987 Jane Geddes 1988 Sherri Turner 1989 Nancy Lopez 1990 Beth Daniel 1991 Meg Mallon 1992‡ Betsy King 1993 Patty Sheehan 1994 Laura Davies 1995 Kelly Robbins 1996 Laura Davies 1997 Christa Johnson† 1998‡ Se-ri Pak 1999 Juli Inkster 2000 Juli Inkster† 2001 Karrie Webb 2002 Se-ri Pak 2003 Annika Sörenstam† 2004 Annika Sörenstam 2005 Annika Sörenstam 2006 Se-ri Pak† 2007 Suzann Pettersen 2008 Yani Tseng† 2009 Anna Nordqvist 2010‡ Cristie Kerr 2011‡ Yani Tseng 2012 Shanshan Feng 2013 Inbee Park† 2014 Inbee Park† 2015 Inbee Park 2016 Brooke Henderson†

† event won in a playoff; ‡ event won wire-to-wire

U.S. Women's Open champions

1946 Patty Berg∞ 1947 Betty Jameson 1948 Babe Zaharias 1949 Louise Suggs 1950 Babe Zaharias 1951 Betsy Rawls 1952 Louise Suggs 1953 Betsy Rawls† 1954‡ Babe Zaharias 1955‡ Fay Crocker 1956 Kathy Cornelius† 1957 Betsy Rawls 1958‡ Mickey Wright 1959 Mickey Wright 1960 Betsy Rawls 1961 Mickey Wright 1962 Murle Lindstrom 1963‡ Mary Mills 1964 Mickey Wright† 1965 Carol Mann 1966 Sandra Spuzich 1967‡ Catherine LaCoste# 1968‡ Susie Berning 1969 Donna Caponi 1970‡ Donna Caponi 1971‡ JoAnne Carner 1972 Susie Berning 1973 Susie Berning 1974 Sandra Haynie 1975 Sandra Palmer 1976 JoAnne Carner† 1977 Hollis Stacy 1978 Hollis Stacy 1979 Jerilyn Britz 1980 Amy Alcott 1981 Pat Bradley 1982 Janet Alex 1983 Jan Stephenson 1984 Hollis Stacy 1985 Kathy Baker 1986 Jane Geddes† 1987 Laura Davies† 1988 Liselotte Neumann 1989 Betsy King 1990 Betsy King 1991 Meg Mallon 1992 Patty Sheehan† 1993 Lauri Merten 1994 Patty Sheehan 1995 Annika Sörenstam 1996 Annika Sörenstam 1997 Alison Nicholas 1998 Pak Se-ri† 1999 Juli Inkster 2000 Karrie Webb 2001 Karrie Webb 2002 Juli Inkster 2003 Hilary Lunke† 2004 Meg Mallon 2005 Birdie Kim 2006 Annika Sörenstam† 2007 Cristie Kerr 2008 Inbee Park 2009 Ji Eun-hee 2010 Paula Creamer 2011 Ryu So-yeon† 2012 Choi Na-yeon 2013 Inbee Park 2014 Michelle Wie 2015 Chun In-gee 2016 Brittany Lang†

† event won in a playoff; ‡ winner held lead wire-to-wire; # event won by an amateur; ∞ event won in match-play

Titleholders Championship champions

1937 Patty Berg 1938 Patty Berg 1939 Patty Berg 1940 Helen Hicks 1941 Dorothy Kirby 1942 Dorothy Kirby 1943-45 No Tournament 1946 Louise Suggs 1947 Babe Zaharias 1948 Patty Berg 1949 Peggy Kirk# 1950 Babe Zaharias 1951 Pat O'Sullivan# 1952 Babe Zaharias 1953 Patty Berg 1954 Louise Suggs 1955 Patty Berg 1956 Louise Suggs 1957 Patty Berg 1958 Beverly Hanson 1959 Louise Suggs 1960 Fay Crocker 1961 Mickey Wright 1962 Mickey Wright† 1963 Marilynn Smith† 1964 Marilynn Smith 1965 Kathy Whitworth 1966 Kathy Whitworth 1967-71 No Tournament 1972 Sandra Palmer

† indicates the event was won in a playoff; # indicates the event was won by an amateur

Women's Western Open champions

Match play era	1930 Mrs. Lee Mida 1931 June Beebe 1932 Jane Weiller 1933 June Beebe 1934 Marian McDougall 1935 Opal Hill 1936 Opal Hill 1937 Helen Hicks 1938 Bea Barrett 1939 Helen Dettweiler 1940 Babe Zaharias 1941 Patty Berg 1942 Betty Jameson 1943 Patty Berg 1944 Babe Zaharias 1945 Babe Zaharias 1946 Louise Suggs 1947 Louise Suggs 1948 Patty Berg 1949 Louise Suggs 1950 Babe Zaharias 1951 Patty Berg 1952 Betsy Rawls 1953 Louise Suggs 1954 Betty Jameson

Stroke play era	1955 Patty Berg 1956 Beverly Hanson 1957 Patty Berg 1958 Patty Berg 1959 Betsy Rawls 1960 Joyce Ziske† 1961 Mary Lena Faulk 1962 Mickey Wright† 1963 Mickey Wright 1964 Carol Mann 1965 Susie Maxwell 1966 Mickey Wright 1967 Kathy Whitworth

† indicates the event was won in a playoff

Women's Career Grand Slam Champion Golfers

1957 Louise Suggs (1) 1962 Mickey Wright (1) 1963 Mickey Wright (2) 1986 Pat Bradley (1) 1999 Juli Inkster (1) 2001 Karrie Webb (1) 2003 Annika Sörenstam (1) 2015 Inbee Park (1)

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