Colleen Walker (August 16, 1956 – December 11, 2012) was an American professional golfer who played 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 week ...

Amateur career

Walker was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. She started playing golf at the age of 14. At the age of 18, she was named the 1974 Palm Beach Post Athlete and Player of the Year. She won the Florida All-State Golf Award in 1976. She attended Florida State University where she won most valuable player honors from 1977–1978.

Professional career

Walker turned professional in September 1981 and played on the Tampa Bay Mini-Tour. She joined the

in 1982 after winning the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. She won nine tour titles, the first of them in 1987 and the last in 1997, including one major championship, the 1997 du Maurier Ltd. Classic. In 1988, she won the LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, was named Most Improved Player by ''Golf Digest'', and finished a career high fifth on the money list, one of four times she finished in the top ten. She was inducted into the Florida State University Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Walker joined the Legends Tour in 2001, winning her first tournament that year. After being diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

in January 2003, she underwent chemotherapy and radiation. She would rejoin the tour in September. She finished in a tie for 10th at a senior event, essentially an attempt to see if she could still play. She retired from the LPGA Tour in 2004. Walker died on December 11, 2012, in Valrico, Florida, of a cancer recurrence that was diagnosed in late 2011. She was 56.

Professional wins (12)

LPGA Tour (9)

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

LPGA of Japan Tour (1)

* 1989 Nichirei International

Legends Tour (1)

* 2001 Hy-Vee Classic

Other (1)

* 1988 Mazda Champions (with

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Team appearances

Professional *

Handa Cup The Handa Cup is a series of senior women's golf matches between a United States team and a World Team drawn from players from the rest of the world. It was founded in 2006 and is an event on the LPGA Legends Tour. Since 2013 it has been officially ...

(representing the United States): 2009 (winners)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Colleen American female golfers Florida State Seminoles women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Golfers from Jacksonville, Florida People from Valrico, Florida Sportspeople from Hillsborough County, Florida Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in Florida 1956 births 2012 deaths