Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former
professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the
LPGA in 1950. She won one
major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the
World Golf Hall of Fame.
Amateur career
Hagge was born in
Eureka, South Dakota
Eureka is a city in western McPherson County, South Dakota, United States, that is near the North Dakota state line. The population was 813 at the 2020 census.
History
Eureka was laid out in 1887, and named "Eureka", a Greek exclamation meani ...
and had a progressively successful amateur experience. She started playing golf at age 3. At age 10, she won the Long Beach City Boys Junior. At age 13, she won the Western and National Junior Championships, the Los Angeles Women's City Championship, the Palm Springs Women's Championship, Northern California Open and the Indio Women's Invitational. In 1947, at age 13, she became the youngest player to make the cut at the
U.S. Women's Open and finished eighth. In 1949, at the age of 15, she became the youngest athlete ever to be named
Associated Press Athlete of the Year, Golfer of the Year and Teenager of the Year, and she won the
U.S. Girls' Junior and the WWGA Junior titles.
Professional career
Hagge was the youngest of the thirteen women who founded the LPGA in 1950, and remains the youngest ever member of the LPGA Tour. Her older sister,
Alice Bauer, was also a founder. She won her first tournament in 1952 at the
Sarasota Open. She would go on to win a total of 26 events on the LPGA Tour, including one
major championships, the
1956 LPGA Championship. That year, she was also the tour's
leading money winner and led the tour in wins with eight. In 2002, was voted into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame through the Veteran's Category in and was officially inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame. Her final competitive appearance on the LPGA Tour came in 1996.
Hagge appeared on the June 18, 1961 episode of the
CBS game show ''
What's My Line''.
Personal
She married Bob Hagge, her sister Alice's ex-husband in late 1955. They divorced in 1964.
Hagge was married to former
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
golfer
Ernie Vossler from 1995 until his death on February 16, 2013. They lived in
La Quinta, California, where she remains.
['' Golf World'', March 2, 2009, p. 22]
Professional wins
LPGA Tour wins (26)
*
1952 (2)
Sarasota Open,
Bakersfield Open
The Bakersfield Open was a golf tournament on the Nike Tour. It ran from 1990 to 1993, and was played in Bakersfield, California. In 1990 and 1991, it was played at Bakersfield Country Club
Bakersfield Country Club is an 18-hole private golf ...
(tied with
Betty Jameson
Elizabeth May Jameson (May 9, 1919 – February 7, 2009) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950. She won three major championships and a total of thi ...
,
Betsy Rawls and
Babe Zaharias)
*
1954 (1)
New Orleans Open
*
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...
(8)
Sea Island Open The Sea Island Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1954 to 1963. It was played in Sea Island, Georgia at the Sea Island Golf Club from 1954 to 1957 and 1963 and at the Cloister Country Club from 1958 to 1962.
Winners
;Sea Island Women' ...
,
,
Pittsburgh Open,
Triangle Round Robin The Triangle Round Robin was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1953 to 1962. It was played at several different courses on the East Coast of the United States.
For its first nine years it was played using a "round robin" format, similar to th ...
,
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 ...
,
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
,
Denver Open
The Denver Open Invitational was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played intermittently in the Denver, Colorado area from 1947 to 1963. Chi-Chi Rodríguez
Juan Antonio "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez (born October 23, 1935) is a Puerto Rican ...
,
Clock Open
*
1957 (2)
,
*
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
(2)
Lake Worth Open Invitational,
*
1959 (2)
Mayfair Open,
Hoosier Open
*
1963 (1)
Sight Open
*
1964 (1)
Mickey Wright Invitational The Mickey Wright Invitational was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1961 to 1969. It was played at several different courses in the San Diego, California area. Tournament host and San Diego native, Mickey Wright, won the first three editions ...
*
1965
Events January–February
* January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...
(5)
,
Milwaukee Open,
Phoenix Thunderbirds Open
The Phoenix Thunderbirds Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1962 to 1965. It was played at two different courses in the Phoenix, Arizona area: Paradise Valley Country Club in 1962, Arizona Biltmore Country Club in 1963 to 1965.
Win ...
,
LPGA Tall City Open,
Alamo Open
*
1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
(1)
Stroh's-WBLY Open
*
1972 (1)
Burdine's Invitational
Major championships
Wins (1)
1 Won on first hole of sudden-death playoff.
See also
*
List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins
This table lists players with 10 or more wins on the LPGA Tour. It is based on the list on the LPGA Tour's official site, which differs slightly from the main win lists on player's personal profiles on the site. The wins counted here include profes ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagge, Marlene
American female golfers
LPGA Tour golfers
Winners of LPGA major golf championships
World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
Golfers from South Dakota
Golfers from California
People from Eureka, South Dakota
Sportspeople from Riverside County, California
People from La Quinta, California
1934 births
Living people
21st-century American women