Patty Sheehan (born October 27, 1956) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. She became a member of 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 ...

in 1980 and won six major championships and 35 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

. Sheehan also hosts th
Patty Sheehan & Friends
which is a tournament on the

Legends Tour The Legends of the LPGA, formerly known as the Women's Senior Golf Tour (2000–2005) and the Legends Tour (2006–2021), is a professional golf tour for women aged 45 and older. It is based in the United States and is the official senior tour of t ...

. Patty Sheehan & Friends helps aid women and children's charities all across Northern Nevada.

Amateur career

Sheehan was born in

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History. History One of ...

. She was rated one of the top junior snow skiers in the country as a 13-year-old. She attended

Earl Wooster High School Earl Wooster High School , or Wooster High School (WHS), is a public secondary school in Reno, Nevada that is a part of the Washoe County School District. Its mascot is the Colt and the school colors are scarlet, white, and silver. As of the 20 ...

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. She won three straight Nevada high school championships (1972–74), three straight Nevada State Amateurs (1975–78) and two straight California Women's Amateurs (1977–78). She was the runner-up at the 1979

U.S. Women's Amateur The U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). F ...

, then was the 1980

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

national individual intercollegiate golf champion. She went 4-0 as a member of the 1980 U.S.

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and " ...

team. She won the

Broderick Award External linksThe Collegiate Women Sports Awards (sponsored by Honda)official websiteHonda: The Collegiate Women Sports Awards
College sports trophies and awards in the United States Women's sports in the United States Sports awards honoring w ...

in 1980. She attended

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant ...

and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. She is a member of both the

Collegiate Golf Hall of Fame Collegiate may refer to: * College * Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate" * ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews * ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...

and the

National High School Hall of Fame The National High School Hall of Fame is a program of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) that honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to high school sports or performing arts. As of 2019, a total of ...

Professional career

Sheehan turned professional and joined the

in 1980. She won LPGA Rookie of the Year honors in 1981 with her first professional victory coming at the

Mazda Japan Classic The Toto Japan Classic is an annual women's professional golf tournament in Japan, jointly sanctioned by the two richest women's professional tours: the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. It was an unofficial money event on the LPGA ...

. She was strong throughout the 1980s, winning four times in both 1983 and 1984, and winning the

LPGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by the ...

in both seasons. She won LPGA Tour Player of the Year in 1983 and was one of several athletes named ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

Sportsman of the Year Since its inception in 1954, ''Sports Illustrated'' has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Amer ...

in 1987. Sheehan suffered a loss personally in 1989, when her home and possessions were destroyed in the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

. She also suffered a professional loss in 1990, when after holding an 11-shot lead during the third round of the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

, she lost the tournament to

Betsy King :''Betsy King was also a childhood name for Lizzie Lloyd King.'' Betsy King (born August 13, 1955) is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won six major championships and 34 LPGA Tour victories in al ...

. Sheehan started off the 1990s with five wins in 1990. She won the

in 1992 and 1994, the

Mazda LPGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by the ...

in 1995, and the

Nabisco Dinah Shore The Chevron Championship is a professional women's golf tournament. An event on the LPGA Tour, it is one of the tour's five major championships, and has traditionally been the first of the season since its elevation to major status in 1983. Fou ...

(now known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship) in 1996. That would be her final LPGA victory. She qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning her 30th tournament in 1993. She finished in the Top 10 on the LPGA money list every year from 1982 to 1993. While she never led, she did finish second five times in that span. When she won the U.S. Women's Open and the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...

in 1992, she became the first golfer to win both in the same year. Sheehan played on the U.S.

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force beh ...

team five times (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002) and captained the team in 2002 and 2003. Sheehan became one of the first LPGA players to publicly announce that she was a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

. Sheehan and her partner Rebecca Gaston have two children. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, ''

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay-oriented lifestyle and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was founded by David ...

'' named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".

Professional wins (41)

LPGA Tour wins (35)

LPGA Tour playoff record (5–7) LPGA

majors Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...

are shown in bold.

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

(1)

Weetabix Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tou ...

:''Note: Sheehan won the Women's British Open before it became a major championship.''

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

*1981 (1)

¹ *1988 (1)

¹ *1992 (1) Daikin Orchid Ladies ¹Co-sanctioned by the

Legends Tour wins (3)

*2002 Copps Great Lakes Classic *2005 BJ's Charity Championship (with Pat Bradley; tie with

Cindy Rarick Cindy Rarick (born September 12, 1959) is an American professional golfer. She competed as Cindy Flom in 1985 and from 1999 to 2001. Amateur career Rarick was born in Glenwood, Minnesota. In 1994, she was inducted into the Sahuaro High School A ...

and

Jan Stephenson Jan Lynn Stephenson (born 22 December 1951) is an Australian professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1974 and won three major championships and 16 LPGA Tour events. She has 41 worldwide victories including (10) LPGA Legen ...

) *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

World Ladies Senior Open

Other wins (1)

*1994 JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game

Major championships

Wins (6)

¹In an 18-hole playoff, Sheehan 72, Inkster 74.

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing the United States): 1980 (winners) Professional *

(representing the United States):

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

(winners),

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

(winners),

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

(winners),

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(non-playing captain, winners),

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

(non-playing captain) *

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): 2006 (winners), 2007 (winners), 2008 (winners), 2009 (winners), 2010 (winners), 2011 (winners), 2012 (tie, Cup retained)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Patty American female golfers San Jose State Spartans women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Solheim Cup competitors for the United States World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Vermont Golfers from Nevada Lesbian sportswomen LGBT golfers American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from Nevada LGBT people from Vermont People from Middlebury, Vermont Sportspeople from Reno, Nevada 1956 births Living people

Amateur career

Professional career

Professional wins (41)

LPGA Tour wins (35)

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

Legends Tour wins (3)

Other wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (6)

Team appearances

See also

References

External links