LPGA Pioneers and an LPGA Founder

The Cognizant Founders Cup is a unique tournament that celebrates the past, present, and future of the LPGA Tour. As excitement for the tournament builds at the Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, NJ, this year’s tournament will feature three LPGA Pioneers and one of the two surviving original 13 LPGA Founders. These living legends will be watching the Cognizant Founders Cup from the Founders Perch.

LPGA Pioneer

Birthdate: 1957, California
Rookie Year: 1977
LPGA Victories: 48
LPGA Earnings: $5,320,877

Nancy Lopez is one of the most recognizable names in women’s golf, having won nine tournaments—five of them in a row—during her first year on the LPGA Tour alone. Throughout her professional career, she has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, LPGA Rookie of the Year, LPGA Player of the Year and was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.

LPGA Pioneer

Birthdate: 1951, South Africa
Rookie Year: 1972
LPGA Victories: 15
LPGA Earnings: $1,908,098

Sally Little began playing at just 12 years old with her father. By the age of 17, Sally had claimed more than a dozen regional and national amateur titles. She had a wildly successful 30-year career on the LPGA Tour and joined the Legends Tour for a while before trying her hand at golf course design, creating the Kingswood Golf Estate in Garden Route, South Africa.

LPGA Pioneer

Birthdate: 1940, Mississippi
Rookie Year: 1962
LPGA Victories: 9
LPGA Earnings: $341,193

Since being named Rookie-of-the-Year in 1962, Mary Mills has had a successful and consistent career on the LPGA Tour. She has won nine events, including three major championships: the U.S. Open and the LPGA Championship twice. After leaving the Tour and earning a Master’s Degree in landscape architecture, she has been spending her days designing golf courses and teaching golf.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1927, Michigan
Rookie Year: 1946
LPGA Earnings: $82,720

In addition to being one of the 13 original LPGA Founders, Shirley Spork was also one of the primary founders of the LPGA’s Teaching Division, the LPGA Professionals, in 1959. She had an impressive competitive career, but quickly became known as the LPGA’s resident “trick-shot artist” with her ability to wow the crowds with her golf shots while out on the fairway.

LPGA Founders

In remembrance and celebration of the LPGA’s past, get to know the remaining LPGA Founders and the impact they each made on the game.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1927, South Dakota
Rookie Year: 1950
Career Earnings: $26,156

Alice Bauer, sister to fellow LPGA founder Marlene Bauer Hagge, was one of the first “moms on tour” and brought her two children along with her to tournaments. While she never had a win during her time on the LPGA Tour, she finished 14th on the LPGA’s season money list in 1956.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1918, Minnesota
Turned pro: 1940
LPGA Victories: 60
Career Earnings: $190,760

Patty “Dynamite” Berg earned more women’s majors titles than any other golfer, having played well before the LPGA Tour was established and was among the first to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Today, her namesake is given to the Patty Berg Award, which is granted annually to the woman who “has made the greatest contribution to women’s golf during the year”.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate:  1923, Grand Prairie, Texas
Rookie Year: 1950

Bettye “Mighty Mite” Danoff grew up with the game on her family’s nine-hole golf course, and while she never won during her time on the LPGA Tour, she had an impressive amateur career, winning tournaments across her home state of Texas from 1945-1948. In 2000, she earned the LPGA Commissioners Award, which honors “a person or organization who had contributed uniquely to the LPGA and is members.”

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1914, Washington D.C.
Rookie year: 1950

While Helen Dettweiler did not play long on the LPGA Tour, but she was instrumental in its foundation, serving as its first Vice President after working with fellow LPGA Founders Opal Hill, Helen Hicks, and Patty Berg at Wilson Sporting Goods.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1934, California
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 23
Career Earnings: $481,032

Sister to fellow LPGA Founder Alice Bauer, Marlene had a very successful junior golf career before joining the LPGA Tour at only 16 years old. She had a long career on the Tour, claiming 26 victories and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1911, New York
LPGA Victories: 2

Helen Hicks made a name for herself on the women’s golf scene with her signature “baseball swing”, her reputation as the “business woman golfer”, and her own line of Wilson golf clubs. Along with Helen Dettweiler, Opal Hill, and Patty Berg, she worked at Wilson Sporting Goods before turning to help get the LPGA off the ground by teaching her co-founders how to conduct golf clinics.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1892, Missouri
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 2

Opal Hill was a relatively late-bloomer to the game, as she first started playing at 31 years old and helping form the LPGA in her late 50s. She became known as the “matriarch of women’s golf” and became involved in the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals (now known as the LPGA Professionals) in her native Missouri.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1919, Florida
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 12
LPGA Earnings: $91,740

Betty Jameson was the player to watch back in the 1940s with her impressive amateur and professional career, winning the 1947 US Women’s Open with a 295 score, the first time a woman scored lower than 300 for a 72-hole tournament. Her low-scoring legacy lives on in the Vare Trophy, which is given to the LPGA Tour Player who holds the lowest average score for each year.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1919, Florida
Rookie Year: 1947

Originally a tennis champion, Sally Sessions also found success in golf at the age of 16 after winning both a golf and tennis championship on the same day. She claimed many titles during her amateur and professional careers, but she never won during her short time on the LPGA Tour. During the early days of the LPGA, she served as the association’s first secretary.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1929, Florida
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 18
LPGA Earnings: $296,258

Marilynn “Miss Personality” Smith bolstered the newly formed LPGA with her own dash of marketing prowess, and her penchant for spreading the word about upcoming LPGA Tournaments to potential spectators at local sporting events earned her the title of the “LPGA’s Goodwill Ambassador”. She was also known on Tour for her incredible competitive career, spanning nearly 20 years, winning over 20 tournaments, and recording nine top-10 finishes on the LPGA’s money list.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1923, Florida
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 58
LPGA Earnings: $190,475

Louise Suggs had one of the most impressive golf careers of the 13 LPGA Founders, claiming a staggering 58 LPGA Tour victories in addition to her long list of other amateur and professional golf titles. She has also received numerous golf honors including an induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, LPGA Hall of Fame, LPGA Professionals Hall of Fame, the Patty Berg Award, Bob Jones Award, William D. Richardson Award, and the Vare Trophy in 1957.

LPGA Founder

Birthdate: 1911, Texas
Rookie Year: 1950
LPGA Victories: 36
LPGA Earnings: $66,237

Babe Dirdriksen-Zaharias was known as “the greatest female athlete in history” having won Olympic gold and silver metals in track and field and the high jump respectively. She tried her hand at basketball, tennis, bowling, billiards, diving, and roller skating, but she made a real name for herself in golf. Her amateur career earned her several wins and when she turned professional just prior to the establishment of the LPGA, she was already well on her way to continuing her rich history of record-breaking success.