Whitworth won her first tournament, the Kelly Girl Open, in 1962. Three years later, she was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year. She received the award again in 1967. For her outstanding performance between 1968 and 1977, Golf Magazine named Whitworth "Golfer of the Decade."
Whitworth was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1975, but didn't rest on her laurels. By 1982, she had captured 82 LPGA titles. Whitworth won her 88th in 1985, setting the tournament victory record for a professional golfer, man or woman.
Although she occasionally competes in senior tournaments, Whitworth's focus today is not on winning golf tournaments, but helping other women master the game. She has authored a golf handbook for women and teaches golf clinics nationwide.
Golf first became popular among American women in the mid-1890s when the growing leisure class adopted it as one of its new amusements. Magazines such as Ladies Home Journal urged women to try the sport, a 16th-century favorite of Mary, Queen of Scots.
In golf, many women of privilege found the adventure and challenge missing from their restricted everyday lives. The sport's popularity grew, so that by the 1920s women's amateur golf tournaments were attracting a range of players and large crowds.
In the 1940s and 1950s, golfing greats Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Patty Berg, and others worked to firmly establish the LPGA Tour, the first professional tour for women, and to make their sport more accessible to women of all races and social classes.
In the 60s and 70s, Kathy Whitworth and her peers, including golfing legend Mickey Wright, further developed the LPGA, helping female golfers gain greater acceptance and opportunities for lucrative financial rewards.
- Search across American Memory on golf to see over 200 images of golfers and golf courses.
- For images of other sports, search across the collections on specific sports such as football, basketball, tennis, or crew.
- Baseball fans won't want to miss the collections Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s, and Baseball Cards, 1887-1914.
- Be sure to see the Today in History features on athletes Jim Thorpe, Satchel Paige, and Althea Gibson, a multi-talented athlete who joined the LPGA Tour after her retirement from professional tennis.
