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 The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

(LPGA) in 1950. She won three major championships and a total of thirteen events during her career, one as amateur and twelve as a professional. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Amateur career

Jameson was born in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, be ...

and graduated from Dallas' Sunset High School in 1939. She started playing golf at age 11. According to her obituary in the ''New York Times'', her mother gave her 50 cents for a greens fee and another 50 cents to rent a set of clubs at a public golf course in Dallas when she was 11 years old. She won the 1932 Texas Publinx title at the age of 13 and the Southern Championship when she was 15. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1939 and 1940. She won the

Women's Western Amateur The Women's Western Amateur is an amateur golf tournament for women. It is organized by the Women's Western Golf Association, which also organized the Women's Western Open from 1930 to 1967. It is one of the oldest women's amateur tournaments in th ...

in 1940 and 1942. In 1942, she also won the Women's Western Open, a major at the time, while still an amateur. She was selected to the DISD Athletics Hall of Fame and is a Member of the Sunset High School Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Jameson turned professional in 1945. She was one of the thirteen women who founded the LPGA in 1950. She won a total of thirteen events, including three major championships. In 1947, she won the U.S. Women's Open with a 295 total at the Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, marking the first time a female golfer scored lower than 300 in a 72-hole tournament. She won the 1954 Women's Western Open again. In 1967, when the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame was created, Jameson was one of the six inaugural inductees. The LPGA recognized her induction year into the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf, 1951, as her official induction year into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame. She competed in her final LPGA event, the Burdine's Invitational, in 1970. Jameson conceived the idea of annually honoring the golfer with the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour and, in 1952, donated a trophy for that in the name of Glenna Collett Vare. She was inducted into the Women's Sports Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1999, and was listed as "...as one of the (LPGA) association’s top 50 players and teachers." In 2004, August 14 was proclaimed "Betty Jameson Day" in Delray Beach, Florida, to commemorate her career accomplishments. Jameson had to stop playing golf, other than doing some occasional chipping and putting, because of pain in her wrists caused by

carpal tunnel syndrome Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the collection of symptoms and signs associated with median neuropathy at the carpal tunnel. Most CTS is related to idiopathic compression of the median nerve as it travels through the wrist at the carpal tunn ...

. She took up painting for her own enjoyment and sold a few works to friends. However, according to her obituary in the ''New York Times'', she was reportedly destitute when she died at her home, which was then in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Professional wins

LPGA Tour wins (13)

*1942 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur) *1947 (2) U.S. Women's Open,

Women's Texas Open The Texas Women's Open is a golf tournament, played in the Fort Worth, Texas area. From 1950 to 1954, it was an LPGA Tour event, although it was first played in 1933. It was revived by the North Texas section of the PGA of America in 2001. It was pl ...

*1948 (1)

Tampa Open The Tampa Open is a defunct Grand Prix affiliated tennis tournament played from 1981 to 1983. It was held in Tampa, Florida in the United States and played on outdoor hard courts from 1981 to 1982 and on indoor carpet courts in 1983. Finals ...

* 1952 (3)

Corpus Christi Tournament The Corpus Christi Tournament was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour, played only in 1952.LPGA Tourname ...

Bakersfield Open The Bakersfield Open was a golf tournament on the Nike Tour. It ran from 1990 to 1993, and was played in Bakersfield, California. In 1990 and 1991, it was played at Bakersfield Country Club Bakersfield Country Club is an 18-hole private golf ...

(tie with Marlene Hagge, Betsy Rawls, and Babe Zaharias),

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

(1)

Serbin Miami Beach Open The Serbin Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1953 to 1957. It was played at the Bayshore Golf Club in Miami Beach, Florida. Winners ;Serbin Open *1957 Fay Crocker *1956 Fay Crocker *1955 Fay Crocker *1954 Babe Zaharias ;Serbin Miam ...

* 1954 (1) Women's Western Open *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

(4) Sarasota Open,

Babe Zaharias Open The Babe Zaharias Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1953 to 1967.LPGA Tournament Chronol ...

, White Mountain Open, Richmond Open

Other wins (5)

*1938

(as an amateur) *1946 Hardscrabble Open *1952 Hardscrabble Open *1955 Virginia Hot Springs 4-Ball (with

Mary Lena Faulk Mary Lena Faulk (April 15, 1926 – August 3, 1995) was an American professional golfer. Faulk was born in Chipley, Florida. At the age of 14 she moved to Thomasville, Georgia, where she won three consecutive Georgia Women's Amateur Matchplay C ...

) *1958 Homestead 4-Ball (with

)

Major championships

Wins (3)

References

External links

*
Betty Jameson bio at golfcompendium.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jameson, Betty American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships Winners of LPGA major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Oklahoma Golfers from Florida University of Texas at Austin alumni Sportspeople from Norman, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Boynton Beach, Florida 1919 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 21st-century American women