Patty Sheehan (born October 27, 1956) is an American professional golfer. 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 week ...

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. 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 On ...

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

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, then was the 1980 AIAW 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 in 1980. She attended

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

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) sy ...

. She is a member of both the Collegiate Golf Hall of Fame 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. She was strong throughout the 1980s, winning four times in both 1983 and 1984, and winning the LPGA Championship 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 twi ...

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. 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, 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 a ...

. Sheehan started off the 1990s with five wins in 1990. She won the U.S. Women's Open 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 (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 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 b ...

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. Sheehan and her partner Rebecca Gaston have two children. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, '' Queerty'' 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 are shown in bold.

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

* 1992 (1) Weetabix Women's British Open :''Note: Sheehan won the Women's British Open before it became a major championship.''

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

*1981 (1) Mazda Japan Classic¹ *1988 (1) Mazda Japan Classic¹ *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 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 (winners), 1992, 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 2002 (non-playing captain, winners), 2003 (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