Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was 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 was a founding member and the first president of the

LPGA 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 ...

. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer. 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 ...

. In winter times she was also a

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

Amateur career

Berg was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, and expressed an interest in football at an early age. At one point, she played quarterback on a local team that included future

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

head football coach

Bud Wilkinson Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of ...

. At the age of 13, Berg took up golf in 1931 at the suggestion of her parents; by 1934, she began her

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

career and won the Minneapolis City Championship. The following year, Berg claimed a state amateur title. She attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

where she was a member of

Kappa Kappa Gamma Kappa Kappa Gamma (), also known simply as Kappa or KKG, is a collegiate sorority founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, United States. It has a membership of more than 260,000 women, with 140 collegiate chapters in the United States a ...

sorority. She came to national attention by reaching the final of the 1935 U.S. Women's Amateur, losing to

Glenna Collett-Vare Glenna Collett Vare (June 20, 1903 – February 3, 1989) was an American Hall of Fame golfing champion whom the Hall calls the greatest female golfer of her day, and who dominated American women's golf in the 1920s. Biography Born in New Haven, ...

in Vare's final Amateur victory. Berg won the Titleholders in 1937. In 1938, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur at Westmoreland and 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 the ...

. With a victory in the 1938 Titleholders Championship and a spot on the winning Curtis Cup team as well, Berg was selected as the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year, the first of three times she earned the honor. In 1939, Berg won her third consecutive Titleholders, although she was unable to compete in the U.S. Women's Amateur due to an operation on her appendix.

Professional career

After winning 29 amateur titles, she turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

in 1940. Berg's career had been interrupted by an automobile accident in December 1941; while traveling to a fund-raising event with

Helen Dettweiler Elizabeth Helen Dettweiler (December 5, 1914 – November 13, 1990) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the co-founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She won the Women's Western Open in 1939. Biography Dettweiler ...

, a head-on accident shattered Berg's knee. Subsequently, she recovered and volunteered for the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1942. She served in the

Marine Reserves A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

from 1942 to 1945. Despite concerns that her golfing career would end, Berg returned to the game in 1943, helped by a locker room fall that broke

adhesions Adhesions are fibrous bands that form between tissues and organs, often as a result of injury during surgery. They may be thought of as internal scar tissue that connects tissues not normally connected. Pathophysiology Adhesions form as a natural ...

which had developed in her leg. Upon her comeback, she won the

Women's Western Open The Women's Western Open was an American professional golf tournament founded in 1930. The LPGA was established in 1950, and it recognized the Western Open as one of its major championships through 1967. All of the events back to 1930 have been ...

. She won the inaugural

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 ...

in 1946. In 1948, she helped establish the forerunner of the LPGA, the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA), winning three tournaments that season and in 1949. When the LPGA was officially started in 1950, Berg was one of the 13 founding members and held a leadership position as the association's first president. Berg won a total of 57 events on the LPGA and WPGA circuit, and was runner-up in the 1957 Open at

Winged Foot Winged Foot Golf Club is a private golf club in the northeastern United States, located in Mamaroneck, New York, a suburb northeast of New York City. The club was founded in 1921, by a group largely made up of members of The New York Athletic Clu ...

. She was runner-up in the 1956 and 1959

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 ...

s. In addition, Berg won the 1953, 1957, and 1958

s, the 1955 and 1957 Titleholders, both considered majors at the time. Her last victory came in 1962. She was voted the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year in 1942 and 1955, in addition to her 1938 award. During a four-year stretch from 1953 to 1956, Berg won the Vare Trophy three times for having the lowest scoring average on the LPGA. She was the LPGA Tour's top money winner twice, in 1954 and 1957, and her seven Titleholders wins is an all-time record. Berg won 15

women's major golf championships Women's golf has a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, with the women's system newer and less stable than the men's. As of 2013, five tournaments are designated as majors in women's golf by the LPGA Tour. LPGA majors ...

in her career, including the seven Titleholders victories, seven wins in the Women's Western Open, and the 1946 U.S. Women's Open championship. In 1963, Berg was voted the recipient of the

Bob Jones Award The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It is named in honor of Bobby Jones. Winners *1955 Francis Ouimet *1956 William C. Campbell *1957 Babe Za ...

, the highest honor given by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Berg received the 1986

Old Tom Morris Award The Old Tom Morris Award is the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's most prestigious honor. It is presented each year to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare ...

from the

Golf Course Superintendents Association of America 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 ...

, GCSAA's highest honor. The LPGA established the

Patty Berg Award The Patty Berg Award is an award given by the LPGA to an individual who "exemplifies diplomacy, sportsmanship, goodwill and contributions to the game of golf." It was first awarded in 1979 and is named after LPGA co-founder and golfer Patty Berg. ...

in 1978. In her later years, Berg teamed-up with

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

player and fellow

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

resident

Nolan Henke Nolan Jay Henke (born November 25, 1964) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. Henke was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. He attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida and was ...

to establish the ''Nolan Henke/Patty Berg Junior Masters'' to promote the development of young players. Berg was sponsored on the LPGA Tour her entire career by public golf patriarch Joe Jemsek, owner of the famous

Cog Hill Golf & Country Club Cog Hill Golf & Country Club is a public golf course and country club located southwest of Chicago, in Lemont. Cog Hill hosted the PGA Tour's BMW Championship from 2009 to 2011 on its championship course Dubsdread, as well as 16 times when the t ...

Lemont, Illinois Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks of ...

, site of the PGA Tour's

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

from 1991 to 2006. Berg represented another of Jemsek's public facilities, St. Andrews Golf & Country Club in

West Chicago, Illinois West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroa ...

, on the women's circuit for over 60 years. Berg told '' Chicagoland Golf'' magazine she taught over 16,000 clinics in her lifetime – many of which were sponsored by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based

Wilson Sporting Goods The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has been a subsidiary of Finnish multinational company Amer Sports since 1989, and is, in turn, now under the Chinese Anta Sport ...

and were called "The Patty Berg Hit Parade." In that interview, Berg figured she personally indoctrinated to the game of golf over a half-million new players. She was a member of Wilson's Advisory Staff for 66 years, until her death. She announced in December 2004 that she had been diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. She died in Fort Myers from complications of the disease 21 months later at the age of 88.

Professional wins (63)

LPGA Tour wins (60)

*1937 (1)

Titleholders Championship The Titleholders Championship was a women's golf tournament played from in 1937 to 1966 and again in 1972. It was later designated a major championship by the LPGA Tour. History The Titleholders Championship was founded in 1937. Like the Masters ...

(as an amateur) *1938 (1)

(as an amateur) *1939 (1)

(as an amateur) *1941 (3)

, North Carolina Open, New York Invitational *1943 (2)

All American Open The All American Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s. It was played at the Tam O'Shanter Country Club in Niles, Illinois. It was run by George S. May and was originally known as the Tam O'Shanter National Open. From 1 ...

*1945 (1)

*1946 (4) Northern California Open, Northern California Medal Tournament, Pebble Beach Open,

*1947 (3) Northern California Open, Pebble Beach Open, Northern California Medal Tournament *1948 (3)

Hardscrabble Open The Hardscrabble Open, also known as the Hardscrabble Women's Invitation, was a golf tournament played at the Hardscrabble Golf Club in Fort Smith, Arkansas, from 1945 to 1953. It was an official LPGA Tour event from 1948 to 1950. Winners *1953 B ...

*1949 (3) Tampa Open, Texas PGA Championship,

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

(3) Eastern Open, Sunset Hills Open, Hardscrabble Women's Invitational *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

(5) Sandhills Women's Open,

Pebble Beach Weathervane The Cross Country 144 Hole Weathervane was a golf 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 ...

New York Weathervane The Cross Country 144 Hole Weathervane was a golf 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 ...

144 Hole Weathervane The Cross Country 144 Hole Weathervane 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 doe ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

(3)

New Orleans Women's Open The New Orleans Women's Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1952 to 1954. It was played in New Orleans, Louisiana at City Park Golf Course in 1952 and 1953 and at the Colonial Golf and Country Club in 1954. Winners *1954 Marlene Bau ...

, Richmond Open,

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

(7)

Jacksonville Open The Greater Jacksonville Open was a PGA Tour event that was played from 1945 until 1976. Shortly after World War II, the Jacksonville Open began play as a PGA Tour event in Jacksonville, Florida at the Hyde Park Golf Club until it was discontinue ...

Phoenix Weathervane The Cross Country 144 Hole Weathervane was a golf 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 ...

(tied with

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 ...

), Reno Open,

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, ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

(3)

Triangle Round Robin The Triangle Round Robin was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1953 to 1962. It was played at several different courses on the East Coast of the United States. For its first nine years it was played using a "round robin" format, similar to t ...

, Ardmore 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 Yijian ...

(6)

St. Petersburg Open The St. Petersburg Open (russian: Открытый Санкт-Петербург) is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tou ...

, Clock Open *

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

(2) Dallas Open, Arkansas Open *

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

(5)

Havana Open The Havana Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1956 to 1958. It was played at the Biltmore Country Club in Havana, Cuba. Winners ;Havana Biltmore Open *1958 Fay Crocker ;Havana Open *1957 Patty Berg *1956 Louise Suggs Mae Louise ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

(2)

, American Women's Open *

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

(1) American Women's Open *

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

(1) Muskogee Civitan Open 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.

Other wins (3)

*1944 Pro-Lady Victory National (with

Johnny Revolta John F. Revolta (April 5, 1911 – March 3, 1991) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s. He won a major title, the 1935 PGA Championship, and had 18 career wins on tour. Born in St. Lo ...

) *1950 Orlando Two-Ball (with

Earl Stewart Earl Richard Stewart Jr. (October 15, 1921 – July 11, 1990) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s; and was a college head golf coach in the 1970s and 1980s. Stewart was born in Dallas, Texas. He ...

) *1954 Orlando Two-Ball (with Pete Cooper)

Major championships

Wins (15)

Results timeline

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

*Starts – 97 ¹ *Wins – 15 *2nd-place finishes – 10 *3rd-place finishes – 10 *Top 3 finishes – 35 *Top 5 finishes – 47 *Top 10 finishes – 57 *Top 25 finishes – 78 *Missed cuts – 12 *Most consecutive cuts made – 79 *Longest streak of top-10s – 32 ¹ Does not include those with "?"

Team appearances

Amateur *

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 " ...

(representing the United States):

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

(tie, Cup retained),

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

(winners)

References

External links

*
Patty Berg Award
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Patty 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 Minneapolis University of Minnesota alumni American female speed skaters Marine Corps Women's Reserve personnel United States Marine Corps officers Deaths from dementia in Florida Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Sportspeople from Fort Myers, Florida 1918 births 2006 deaths 21st-century American women