Susie Maxwell Berning (born July 22, 1941) is a retired 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 1964 and won four major championships and eleven LPGA Tour victories in all. She also competed under her maiden name Susie Maxwell from 1964 to 1968. She was inducted into 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 2022.

Amateur career

Maxwell was born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. Her family moved to

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

when she was 13. After taking up golf at the age of 15, she immediately won three-straight Oklahoma State High School Championships. She also won the Oklahoma City Women's Amateur from 1959 to 1961. In 1963, she won the Oklahoma Women's Amateur. She was the first woman to receive a golf scholarship from

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and doctor ...

, where she competed on the men's team and she was a member of the

Alpha Phi Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members. Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...

sorority.

Professional career

She turned pro and joined the

in 1964, and earned LPGA Rookie of the Year honors. She won her first tournament in 1965 at the Muskogee Civitan Open. She was named Most Improved Player for 1967. She won 11 times on the Tour, a high proportion of her wins coming in major championships, the

1965 Women's Western Open The 1965 Women's Western Open was contested June 10–13 at Beverly Country Club. It was the 36th edition of the Women's Western Open. This event was won by Susie Maxwell. Final leaderboard External links''The Victoria Advocate'' source
...

and 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 ...

in 1968, 1972 and 1973. However her form was inconsistent from her late twenties on, with the last of her three top-10 finishes on the money list coming in 1969. She stayed on the Tour for many years, though she did not always play full-time, and played 13 events as late as 1995. She made her final appearance on the Tour in 1996. Since retiring from tour play, Berning has become a well-respected teaching professional spending time at the Nicholas-Flick Golf Academy, and now dividing her time between The Reserve Club in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

and Maroon Creek Country Club in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...

. She has two daughters, Robin Doctor and Cindy Molchany.

Professional wins (13)

LPGA Tour wins (11)

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

Other wins (2)

*1975

Lady Keystone Open The Lady Keystone Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1975 to 1994. In its first year it was a satellite tour event but became a full event in 1976. It was played at three different courses in southcentral Pennsylvania but mainly at the ...

*1997 Sprint Senior Challenge

Major championships

Wins (4)

References

External links

* *
Susie Maxwell Berning bio at GolfCompendium.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berning, Susie American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from California Oklahoma City Stars athletes Sportspeople from Pasadena, California Sportspeople from Aspen, Colorado Sportspeople from Palm Springs, California 1941 births Living people 21st-century American women