Founded by 13 women in 1950, the LPGA organization is celebrating its 75th anniversary this season. Meet the 13 incredible women who helped to create what is now the longest-running women’s professional sports league in the world:

Alice Bauer

Hometown: Eureka, South Dakota

LPGA Tour Wins: N/A

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Bauer’s sister Marlene was also one of the 13 LPGA Founders
She won the 2000 LPGA Commissioner’s Award
She is a member of the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame
She finished runner-up at the 1955 Heart of America Open after falling in a playoff to her fellow Founder Marilynn Smith

Patty Berg

Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota

LPGA Tour Wins: 60

Major Championship Victories: 15

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 1951/1974

Interesting Facts:

Berg holds the record for most major championships won in her career at 15 and won three different majors during her time as a player – the U.S. Women’s Open, the Titleholders Championship and the Women’s Western Open
She is a three-time Vare Trophy recipient, earning the honor in 1953, 1955 and 1956
Berg has been recognized with several honors, including the 1938, 1943 and 1955 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award, the 1960 William D. Richardson Award, the 1963 Bob Jones Award and the 1975 Ben Hogan Award, among others

Bettye Danoff

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

LPGA Tour Wins: N/A

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Danoff’s nickname is “Mighty Mite”
She was an excellent amateur player, winning two Texas PGA Championships in 1945 and 1946 and capturing the Texas Women’s Amateur title in 1947 and 1948
She was honored with the 2000 Commissioner’s Award along with the rest of the 13 Founders

Helen Dettweiler

Hometown: Washington, D.C.

LPGA Tour Wins: 1

Major Championship Victories: 1

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Dettweiler collected her only countable LPGA Tour win before the organization was formed, taking home the 1939 Women’s Western Open, an event that was classified as a major championship at that time
She was the first person to win the LPGA Teacher of the Year Award in 1958
She served as a vice president for the LPGA at one time
She was a baseball broadcaster beginning in 1938 and served in the Air Force during World War II

Marlene Hagge-Vossler

Hometown: Eureka, South Dakota

LPGA Tour Wins: 26

Major Championship Victories: 1

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2002/2002

Interesting Facts:

Hagge-Vossler won the 1956 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Forest Lake Country Club
She was the youngest of the Founders at just 16 years old
Her sister Alice was also one of the 13 LPGA Founders
Before the LPGA was created, Hagge-Vossler was the youngest player to make the cut at the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open at 13 years, 4 months and 13 days, a record that still currently stands

Helen Hicks

Hometown: Cedarhurst, New York

LPGA Tour Wins: 2

Major Championship Victories: 2

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Hicks has two major victories to her credit, but both of them were recorded before the organization was founded at the 1937 Women’s Western Open and the 1940 Titleholders Championship
She had a prolific career during her time as an amateur, doing things like winning the 1931 U.S. Women’s Amateur and representing the Americans at the first Curtis Cup in 1932

Opal Hill

Hometown: Newport, Nebraska

LPGA Tour Wins: 2

Major Championship Victories: 2

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Hill won the 1935 and 1936 Women’s Western Opens as an amateur, which are the two major victories on her LPGA Tour resume
She won one North South Women’s Amateur (1928), three Women’s Western Amateurs (1929, 1931, 1932), three Missouri Women’s Amateurs (1935, 1936, 1937) and four Trans-Mississippi Women's Amateurs (1928, 1929, 1931, 1934)
She was a member of the 1932, 1934 and 1936 U.S. Curtis Cup Teams

Betty Jameson

Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma

LPGA Tour Wins: 13

Major Championship Victories: 3

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 1951/1998

Interesting Facts:

Jameson won the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open and became the first female to finish with a 72-hole total of less than 300 strokes
She is credited with the idea of the Vare Trophy, an honor named for Glenna Collett Vare that recognizes the player who has the lowest scoring average at the end of each season
She won the Women’s Western Amateur and the Women’s Western Open in the same season in 1942, becoming the first player ever to do so
She is a two-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur (1939 and 1940)
She is a member of both the Texas Sports and Texas Golf Halls of Fame

Sally Sessions

Hometown: Detroit, Michigan

LPGA Tour Wins: N/A

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Sessions was forced to step away from golf to deal with side effects of undiagnosed leukemia, but she was one of the original treasurers of the LPGA alongside Betty Jameson
She tied for second at the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur

Marilynn Smith

Hometown: Topeka, Kansas

LPGA Tour Wins: 21

Major Championship Victories: 2

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2006

Interesting Facts:

Smith earned her first LPGA Tour victory in 1952 at the Fort Wayne Open and won the 1963 and 1964 Titleholders Championships
She was president of the LPGA from 1958 to 1960
She was named the LPGA’s Most Improved Player in 1963 and received the Patty Berg Award in 1979
Smith was inducted into the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals Hall of Fame in 2000 and also became a member of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame that year

Shirley Spork

Hometown: Detroit, Michigan

LPGA Tour Wins: N/A

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 2022/2024

Interesting Facts:

Spork was a key member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals division and greatly helped that part of the organization in its early days
She was recognized with the LPGA Teacher of the Year award in 1959 and 1984
Spork became a member of the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2019

Louise Suggs

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

LPGA Tour Wins: 61

Major Championship Victories: 11

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 1951/1979

Interesting Facts:

Suggs is the first player to win the Career Grand Slam of major championships and officially accomplished the feat with her victory at the 1957 LPGA Championship, what is now the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
She has won four Titleholders Championships (1946, 1954, 1956 and 1959), four Women’s Western Opens (1946, 1947, 1949 and 1953) and two U.S. Women’s Opens (1949 and 1952)
She won the Vare Trophy in 1957 and was recognized with the Patty Berg Award in 2000 and the Bob Jones Award in 2007
Suggs was the LPGA’s president from 1955 to 1957, and the Rookie of the Year Award is named in her honor
She was named the William D. Richardson Award winner in 2008 and became a member of the Royal and Ancient Society Golf Club at St Andrews in 2015

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Hometown: Port Arthur, Texas

LPGA Tour Wins: 41

Major Championships: 10

LPGA/World Golf Hall of Fame Induction: 1951/1974

Interesting Facts:

Didrikson Zaharias took home two gold medals at the 1932 Olympic Games in track and field before she began playing golf
She was the first American to win the British Ladies Amateur in 1947
She won the Women’s Western Open four times (1940, 1944, 1945, and 1950), the Titleholders Championship three times (1947, 1950, and 1952) and the U.S. Women’s Open three times (1948, 1950 and 1954)
She won the 1954 Vare Trophy
Didrikson Zaharias was the president of the organization from 1952 to 1955
She was recognized with the 1954 Ben Hogan Award, the 1954 William D. Richardson Award and the 1957 Bob Jones Award
She became a member of the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 1977
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021

Meet the 13 Founders of the LPGA

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