The Babe Zaharias Open was a
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
tournament on the
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...
from 1953 to 1967.
LPGA Tournament Chronology 1960-1969
It was played in Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...
at the Beaumont Country Club from 1953 to 1964 and at the Bayou Din Golf Club from 1965 to 1967. Babe Zaharias
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer O ...
, LPGA co-founder and Beaumont resident, hosted the tournament until her death in 1956. She won the first edition of the event.
Winners
*1967 Marilynn Smith
Marilynn Louise Smith (April 13, 1929 – April 9, 2019) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won two major championships and 21 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World ...
*1966 Shirley Englehorn
Shirley Ruth Englehorn (December 12, 1940 – October 2, 2022) was an American professional golfer. Nicknamed "Dimples", she won 11 tournaments during her LPGA Tour career, including one major, the 1970 LPGA Championship.
Early life and amateu ...
*1965 Marlene Hagge
Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the Worl ...
*1964 Ruth Jessen
Mary Ruth Jessen (November 12, 1936 – September 21, 2007) was an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1956 and won 11 LPGA Tour victories in all.
Amateur career
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Jessen ...
*1963 Mickey Wright
Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright (February 14, 1935 – February 17, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She became a member of the tour in 1955 and won 82 LPGA Tour career events including 13 major champion ...
*1962 Kathy Cornelius
Kathy Cornelius (née McKinnon, born October 27, 1932) is an American professional golfer.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cornelius attended Florida Southern College, where she played on the men's golf team, as the school did not have a women's ...
and Betsy Rawls
Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls (born May 4, 1928) is an American former LPGA Tour professional golfer. She won eight major championship and 55 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Ra ...
(tie, unofficial)
*1961 Mary Lena Faulk
*1960 Betsy Rawls
Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls (born May 4, 1928) is an American former LPGA Tour professional golfer. She won eight major championship and 55 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Ra ...
*1959 Betsy Rawls
Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls (born May 4, 1928) is an American former LPGA Tour professional golfer. She won eight major championship and 55 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Ra ...
*1958 Louise Suggs
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.
Amateur career
Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginning ...
*1957 Marlene Hagge
Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the Worl ...
*1956 Marlene Hagge
Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the Worl ...
*1955 Betty Jameson
Elizabeth May Jameson (May 9, 1919 – February 7, 2009) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950. She won three major championships and a total of thi ...
*1954 Louise Suggs
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.
Amateur career
Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginning ...
*1953 Babe Zaharias
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer O ...
See also
* Babe Zaharias Invitational - an unrelated LPGA Tour event played in Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in 1976
References
Former LPGA Tour events
Golf in Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Women's sports in Texas
Recurring sporting events established in 1953
Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1967
1953 establishments in Texas
1967 disestablishments in Texas
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