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 The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

. In winter times she was also a speed skater.

Amateur career

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 The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

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. The following year, Berg claimed a state amateur title. She attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

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. In 1939, Berg won her third consecutive Titleholders, although she was unable to compete in the U.S. Women's Amateur due to an operation on her appendix.

Professional career

After winning 29 amateur titles, she turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

in 1940. Berg's career had been interrupted by an automobile accident in December 1941; while traveling to a fund-raising event with Helen Dettweiler, a head-on accident shattered Berg's knee. Subsequently, she recovered and volunteered for the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1942. She served in the Marine Reserves from 1942 to 1945. Despite concerns that her golfing career would end, Berg returned to the game in 1943, helped by a locker room fall that broke

adhesions Adhesions are fibrous bands that form between tissues and organs, often as a result of injury during surgery. They may be thought of as internal scar tissue that connects tissues not normally connected. Pathophysiology Adhesions form as a natural ...

which had developed in her leg. Upon her comeback, she won the

Women's Western Open The Women's Western Open was an American professional golf tournament founded in 1930. The LPGA was established in 1950, and it recognized the Western Open as one of its major championships through 1967. All of the events back to 1930 have been d ...

. She won the inaugural U.S. Women's Open in 1946. In 1948, she helped establish the forerunner of the LPGA, the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA), winning three tournaments that season and in 1949. When the LPGA was officially started in 1950, Berg was one of the 13 founding members and held a leadership position as the association's first president. Berg won a total of 57 events on the LPGA and WPGA circuit, and was runner-up in the 1957 Open at Winged Foot. She was runner-up in the 1956 and 1959 LPGA Championships. In addition, Berg won the 1953, 1957, and 1958

s, the 1955 and 1957 Titleholders, both considered majors at the time. Her last victory came in 1962. She was voted the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year in 1942 and 1955, in addition to her 1938 award. During a four-year stretch from 1953 to 1956, Berg won the Vare Trophy three times for having the lowest scoring average on the LPGA. She was the LPGA Tour's top money winner twice, in 1954 and 1957, and her seven Titleholders wins is an all-time record. Berg won 15

women's major golf championships Women's golf has a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, with the women's system newer and less stable than the men's. As of 2013, five tournaments are designated as majors in women's golf by the LPGA Tour. LPGA major ...

in her career, including the seven Titleholders victories, seven wins in the Women's Western Open, and the 1946 U.S. Women's Open championship. In 1963, Berg was voted the recipient of the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Berg received the 1986 Old Tom Morris Award from the

Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wit ...

, GCSAA's highest honor. The LPGA established the Patty Berg Award in 1978. In her later years, Berg teamed-up with

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 ...

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 Cog Hill Golf & Country Club is a public golf course and country club located southwest of Chicago, in Lemont. Cog Hill hosted the PGA Tour's BMW Championship from 2009 to 2011 on its championship course Dubsdread, as well as 16 times when the t ...

Lemont, Illinois Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks of ...

, site of the PGA Tour's

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

from 1991 to 2006. Berg represented another of Jemsek's public facilities, St. Andrews Golf & Country Club in

West Chicago, Illinois West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railro ...

, 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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based

Wilson Sporting Goods The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has been a subsidiary of Finnish multinational company Amer Sports since 1989, and is, in turn, now under the Chinese Anta Spor ...

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.

Professional wins (63)

LPGA Tour wins (60)

*1937 (1) Titleholders Championship (as an amateur) *1938 (1) Titleholders Championship (as an amateur) *1939 (1) Titleholders Championship (as an amateur) *1941 (3)

, North Carolina Open, New York Invitational *1943 (2)

, All American Open *1945 (1) All American Open *1946 (4) Northern California Open, Northern California Medal Tournament, Pebble Beach Open, U.S. Women's Open *1947 (3) Northern California Open, Pebble Beach Open, Northern California Medal Tournament *1948 (3) Titleholders Championship,

Hardscrabble Open The Hardscrabble Open, also known as the Hardscrabble Women's Invitation, was a golf tournament played at the Hardscrabble Golf Club in Fort Smith, Arkansas, from 1945 to 1953. It was an official LPGA Tour event from 1948 to 1950. Winners *1953 B ...

*1949 (3) Tampa Open, Texas PGA Championship,

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

(3) Eastern Open, Sunset Hills Open, Hardscrabble Women's Invitational *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

(5) Sandhills Women's Open, Pebble Beach Weathervane, New York Weathervane, 144 Hole Weathervane,

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

(3) New Orleans Women's Open, Richmond Open, New York Weathervane * 1953 (7) Jacksonville Open, Titleholders Championship, New Orleans Women's Open, Phoenix Weathervane (tied with

Louise Suggs Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. Amateur career Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginni ...

), Reno Open, All American Open,

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, ...

* 1954 (3) Triangle Round Robin,

, Ardmore Open * 1955 (6) St. Petersburg Open, Titleholders Championship,

, All American Open,

, Clock Open * 1956 (2) Dallas Open, Arkansas Open *

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

(5)

Havana Open The Havana Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1956 to 1958. It was played at the Biltmore Country Club in Havana, Cuba. Winners ;Havana Biltmore Open *1958 Fay Crocker ;Havana Open *1957 Patty Berg *1956 Louise Suggs Mae Louise ...

, Titleholders Championship,

, All American Open,

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)

, American Women's Open * 1960 (1) American Women's Open *

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

(1) Muskogee Civitan Open LPGA majors are shown in bold.

Other wins (3)

*1944 Pro-Lady Victory National (with Johnny Revolta) *1950 Orlando Two-Ball (with Earl Stewart) *1954 Orlando Two-Ball (with Pete Cooper)

Major championships

Wins (15)

Results timeline

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

*Starts – 97 ¹ *Wins – 15 *2nd-place finishes – 10 *3rd-place finishes – 10 *Top 3 finishes – 35 *Top 5 finishes – 47 *Top 10 finishes – 57 *Top 25 finishes – 78 *Missed cuts – 12 *Most consecutive cuts made – 79 *Longest streak of top-10s – 32 ¹ Does not include those with "?"

Team appearances

Amateur *

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and ...

(representing the United States):

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

(tie, Cup retained), 1938 (winners)

References

External links

*
Patty Berg Award
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Patty American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships Winners of LPGA major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Minneapolis University of Minnesota alumni American female speed skaters Marine Corps Women's Reserve personnel United States Marine Corps officers Deaths from dementia in Florida Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Sportspeople from Fort Myers, Florida 1918 births 2006 deaths 21st-century American women