If women’s golf received even half as much attention as men get, Kathy Whitworth would be a household name along with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, and Tiger Woods.
Statistically speaking, her name belongs above theirs, at least when it comes to victories.
During her professional career, Kathy Whitworth won 88 LPGA tour victories and 6 major LPGA championships. That’s more tour victories than any man or woman to date. (Snead and Woods are tied for 82.)
She also came in second 93 times. Combined, she either won or was the runner-up in 181 tournaments.
No male golfer comes close.
She grew up in a small New Mexico town near the Texas border where her parents owned a hardware store. During her teenage years in the 1950s, she knew she wanted to be a professional golfer.
Whitworth won back-to-back amateur tournaments in 1957 & 1958 when she was 18.
Winning didn’t come to her easily, however. She considered giving up in 1959. But she gradually improved and became tenacious.
Her first tour victory came in 1962 when she was 23-years-old. Then the victories began piling up.
From 1965 through 1973, she won and won and won.
Throughout her 33 years in professional golf, Whitworth won at least 7 tournaments per season 7 times.
She was the first woman golfer to earn $1 million in the course of her sports career - even though she never earned more than $50,000 in prize money in any given year.
The only blemish on her career was that she never won the most prestigious accomplishment, the US Women’s Open.
Her 88th victory came in 1985 when she was 46.
She remained a professional golfer for another twenty years and finally retired in 2005.
Kathy Whitworth died at age 83 on Christmas Eve of 2022 while attending a holiday gathering.
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