In Memoriam: Betsy Rawls, 4-Time U.S. Women’s Open Champion

Betsy Rawls, one of only two golfers to have won four U.S. Women’s Open titles, died on October 21 at the age of 95. Rawls amassed 55 LPGA Tour victories, a figure that included eight majors, during a career that was capped with enshrinement into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987 and the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 1996.

“There are simply not many careers that can compare to Betsy’s,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan. “Fifty-five wins, eight major titles, LPGA & World Golf Halls of Fame, former LPGA president, Bob Jones Award winner. She was a legend in the game who would have been successful in anything she pursued, so we are all lucky she made golf her passion. RIP to a true champion.”

As early as her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, Rawls played an integral role as a leader, and in retirement she continued as an administrator, tournament executive and Rules official. Her legacy continues at her alma mater, the University of Texas, where the school has conducted an annual tournament bearing her name since 1974.

Few athletes – male or female – have served in so many prominent roles.

Fellow Hall of Famer and Bob Jones Award winner Mickey Wright is the only other golfer with four U.S. Women’s Open titles. Wright, who died in 2020, once said of Rawls:

“Betsy has always been committed to work and dedicated to the game. I can think of only two women who have achieved as much, not only as players but for their lifetime contributions, and that’s Betsy and Patty Berg.”

Elizabeth Earle “Betsy” Rawls was born on May 4, 1928, in Spartanburg, S.C., but spent a majority of her childhood in Arlington, Texas. Her parents didn’t play the game before she took it up at the age of 17. Before that, Rawls played softball at recess and rode a bike because organized sports for females were virtually non-existent in that era.

The gifted athlete proved to be a natural in golf and quickly rose in the amateur ranks. While studying physics at the University of Texas, she fell under the tutelage of noted Austin professional Harvey Penick. She won consecutive Texas Women’s Amateur titles in 1949 and 1950, while also claiming the 1949 Trans-National and 1950 Broadmoor Invitational. Also in 1950, she announced her arrival by finishing as the runner-up to Babe Didrikson Zaharias in the U.S. Women’s Open at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kan.

Though she didn't start playing golf until age 17, Rawls showed a natural affinity and was a leader in the women's game. (USGA Archives)

A year later, Rawls turned professional and for the next 24 years she became one of the LPGA Tour’s most dominant players. In her rookie season, she won the U.S. Women’s Open by five strokes over Louise Suggs at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.

When Rawls joined the circuit that year, Zaharias asked the 21-year-old to assist with tournament operations. Zaharias and her husband, George, had taken over running the fledgling circuit after Fred Corcoran resigned. Rawls served as the LPGA Tour’s secretary that year, beginning a long career of leadership that accompanied her on-course endeavors. She often assisted with rulings and helped with course setup and tee times.

“Betsy offers the finest the game has to offer,” said former LPGA commissioner Charlie Mechem in a 1996 Golf Journal article prior to Rawls receiving the Jones Award. “She’s immensely talented, very bright and she is a person of unquestioned integrity. I consider it one of the high points of my career to have worked with Betsy.”

Her second Women’s Open triumph came two years later in a playoff over Jacqueline Pung at the Country Club of Rochester (N.Y.). She beat Berg by six strokes to win the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. and edged Joyce Ziske by a stroke to claim her final Women’s Open title in 1960 at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club.

She also won a pair of Women’s PGA Championships (1959, 1969) and two Western Opens (1952, 1959), which was considered a major at the time.

“I thought I was going to be a winner and as I went along, winning became easier and easier,” said Rawls. “It was something that I expected to do. I always played well under pressure because it didn’t bother me, which is why I won so many tournaments. I didn’t take much credit for it, but I could perform under tense situations. It was my physical makeup to allow that to happen.”

Rawls was the tour’s leading money winner in 1952 and 1959 and she claimed the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1959. Three times, she led the LPGA Tour in wins, and she finished among the top 10 on the money list nine times. Only Kathy Whitworth (88), Wright (82), Annika Sorenstam (72), Louise Suggs (61) and Berg (60) won more LPGA tournaments.

During this time, Rawls also spent a great deal of time barnstorming the U.S. by automobile with fellow pro Berg doing 120 clinics as part of a sponsorship deal with Wilson Sporting Goods.

“I never had any regrets,” said Rawls. “I loved the travel and the competition.”

After serving as secretary, Rawls served as the LPGA Tour’s president in 1961-62, and when the LPGA Hall of Fame was established in 1960, she was one of six original inductees. When she retired from the tour in 1975, she served as the circuit’s tournament director and later took over as the executive director for the McDonald’s LPGA Championship (now KPMG Women’s PGA Championship).

In 1976, Rawls became the first woman to serve on the USGA’s Rules Committee, and four years later she was the first woman to officiate at the U.S. Open Championship.

“Anyone who can make a living in golf is lucky,” Rawls once said. “Then to receive all the benefits accorded to me in the process…well, that makes me feel fortunate. It’s more than I could possibly deserve.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org

In Memoriam: Betsy Rawls, 4-Time U.S. Women’s Open Champion

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