Патриция Берг: Американдық гольф шеберінің өмірі мен жетістіктері

American professional golfer
the American golfer

Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. 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. In winter times she was also a speed skater.

Berg was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 head football coach Bud Wilkinson. At the age of 13, Berg took up golf in 1931 at the suggestion of her parents; by 1934, she began her amateur career and won the Minneapolis City Championship. She attended the University of Minnesota where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She came to national attention by reaching the final of the 1935 U. S. Women's Amateur, losing to Glenna Collett Vare 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. 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.

After winning 29 amateur titles, she turned professional in 1940. In 1963, Berg was voted the recipient of the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Berg received the 1986 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor. The LPGA established the Patty Berg Award in 1978. In her later years, Berg teamed up with PGA Tour player and fellow Fort Myers, Florida resident Nolan Henke 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 in Lemont, Illinois, site of the PGA Tour's Western Open from 1991 to 2006. Berg represented another of Jemsek's public facilities, St. Andrews Golf & Country Club in West Chicago, Illinois, 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 based Wilson Sporting Goods 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. She died in Fort Myers from complications of the disease 21 months later at the age of 88.

YearChampionshipWinning scoreMarginRunner(s) up 1937 Titleholders Championship +3 (80 87 73=240)3 strokes Dorothy Kirby (a) 1938 Titleholders Championship −5 (78 79 77 77=311)14 strokes Jane Cothran (a) 1939 Titleholders Championship +19 (78 78 83 80=319)2 strokes Dorothy Kirby (a) 1941 Women's Western Open 7 & 6 Mrs. Burt Weil 1943 Women's Western Open 1 up Dorothy Kirby (a) 1946 U. S. Women's Open 4 & 3 Betty Jameson 1948 Titleholders Championship +8 (80 74 78 76=308)1 stroke Peggy Kirk, Babe Zaharias 1948 Women's Western Open 37 holes Babe Zaharias 1951 Women's Western Open 2 up Pat O'Sullivan (a) 1953 Titleholders Championship +6 (72 74 73 75=294)9 strokes Betsy Rawls 1955 Titleholders Championship +3 (76 68 74 73=291)2 strokes Mary Lena Faulk 1955 Women's Western Open E (73 75 71 73=292)2 strokes Fay Crocker, Louise Suggs 1957 Titleholders Championship +8 (78 71 78 69=296)3 strokes Anne Quast (a) 1957 Women's Western Open −1 (72 70 75 74=291)1 stroke Wiffi Smith 1958 Women's Western Open +1 (75 72 71 75=293)4 strokes Beverly Hanson