LEWES, Del. — Betsy Rawls educated to be a physicist and as an alternative faithful her existence to golfing, first as a four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion and later as a match administrator, a outstanding occupation that landed her within the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Rawls, who gained 8 majors in her 55 LPGA Tour titles, died Saturday at her seaside house in Delaware, the LPGA Tour showed. She used to be 95.
“There are simply not many careers that can compare to Betsy’s,” mentioned Mike Whan, the CEO of the USGA and former LPGA Tour commissioner.
He cited her 55 wins and 8 majors — Rawls ranks 6th on each lists — in conjunction with her induction into the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame, the Bob Jones Award and her 17 years as match director of what used to be then the LPGA Championship.
“She was a legend in the game who would have been successful in anything she pursued, so we are all lucky she made golf her passion,”Whan mentioned.
The purpose used to be at all times within the box of physics. That’s what Rawls used to be learning at the University of Texas when she attached with fabled swing trainer Harvey Penick. She gained the Texas Women’s Amateur in 1949 and 1950, and she completed runner-up to Babe Zaharias within the 1950 U.S. Women’s Open.
“I had every intention of being a physicist,” Rawls mentioned in a tale posted at the LPGA’s web site. “I played golf for fun and never considered turning professional. Then I decided it would be more fun to be in golf than physics, and Wilson paid me a salary and all my expenses. They paid my expenses for 20 years. One year, I gave 120 clinics.”
She won the U.S. Women’s Open by five shots over Louise Suggs in 1951, the first of four titles in the biggest event in women’s golf. Only the late Mickey Wright won as many Opens.
Wright once said, “Betsy has at all times been dedicated to paintings and devoted to the sport. I will be able to bring to mind simplest two girls who’ve accomplished as a lot, now not simplest as avid gamers however for his or her lifetime contributions, and that’s Betsy and Patty Berg.”
Rawls used to be born May 4, 1928, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, even though she moved to Texas in 1940 and grew up most commonly in Arlington.
She gained at least yearly from 1951 via 1965. She gained the final of her 8 majors at age 41 within the 1969 LPGA Championship by means of 4 pictures.
Rawls led the LPGA Tour cash checklist in 1952 and 1959. She gained the Vare Trophy for the bottom scoring moderate in 1959 and led the LPGA in victories thrice.
She used to be a part of the inaugural elegance for the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1967 and in 1996 gained the Bob Jones Award, the easiest honor by means of the USGA. She changed into the primary girl to paintings the lads’s U.S. Open as a regulations authentic in 1980.
She additionally used to be the LPGA president in 1961 and 1962, and after retiring from full-time pageant in 1975, she labored a match director and later ran the LPGA Championship.
“Anyone who can make a living in golf is lucky,” Rawls as soon as mentioned. “Then to receive all the benefits accorded to me in the process … well, that makes me feel fortunate. It’s more than I could possibly deserve.”
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