Patty Sheehan (born October 27, 1956) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. She became a member of the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

in 1980 and won six major championships and 35 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Sheehan also hosts th
Patty Sheehan & Friends
which is a tournament on the Legends Tour. Patty Sheehan & Friends helps aid women and children's charities all across Northern Nevada.

Amateur career

Sheehan was born in

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History and the adjacent ...

. She was rated one of the top junior snow skiers in the country as a 13-year-old. She attended Earl Wooster High School in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

. She won three straight

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

high school championships (1972–74), three straight Nevada State Amateurs (1975–78) and two straight California Women's Amateur Championships (1977–78). She was the runner-up at the 1979 U.S. Women's Amateur, then was the 1980

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

national individual intercollegiate golf champion. She went 4-0 as a member of the 1980 U.S. Curtis Cup team. She won the Broderick Award in 1980. She attended

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded ...

and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

. She is a member of both the Collegiate Golf Hall of Fame and the National High School Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Sheehan turned professional and joined the

in 1980. She won LPGA Rookie of the Year honors in 1981 with her first professional victory coming at the Mazda Japan Classic. She was strong throughout the 1980s, winning four times in both 1983 and 1984, and winning the

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 ...

in both seasons. She won LPGA Tour Player of the Year in 1983 and was one of several athletes named ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

Sportsman of the Year Since its inception in 1954, ''Sports Illustrated'' has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Ame ...

in 1987. Sheehan suffered a loss personally in 1989, when her home and possessions were destroyed in the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz Cou ...

. She also suffered a professional loss in 1990, when after holding an 11-shot lead during the third round of the U.S. Women's Open, she lost the tournament to Betsy King. Sheehan started off the 1990s with five wins in 1990. She won the U.S. Women's Open in 1992 and 1994, the Mazda LPGA Championship in 1995, and the Nabisco Dinah Shore (now known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship) in 1996. That would be her final LPGA victory. She qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning her 30th tournament in 1993. She finished in the Top 10 on the LPGA money list every year from 1982 to 1993. While she never led, she did finish second five times in that span. When she won the U.S. Women's Open and the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tou ...

in 1992, she became the first golfer to win both in the same year. Sheehan played on the U.S.

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving forc ...

team five times (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002) and captained the team in 2002 and 2003. Sheehan became one of the first LPGA players to publicly announce that she was a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. Sheehan and her partner Rebecca Gaston have two children. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, ''

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

'' named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".

Professional wins (41)

LPGA Tour wins (35)

LPGA Tour playoff record (5–7) LPGA majors are shown in bold.

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

(1)

Weetabix Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tou ...

:''Note: Sheehan won the Women's British Open before it became a major championship.''

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

*1981 (1) Mazda Japan Classic¹ *1988 (1) Mazda Japan Classic¹ *1992 (1) Daikin Orchid Ladies ¹Co-sanctioned by the

Legends Tour wins (3)

*2002 Copps Great Lakes Classic *2005 BJ's Charity Championship (with Pat Bradley; tie with Cindy Rarick and Jan Stephenson) *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

World Ladies Senior Open

Other wins (1)

*1994 JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game

Major championships

Wins (6)

¹In an 18-hole playoff, Sheehan 72, Inkster 74.

Team appearances

Amateur * Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 1980 (winners) Professional *

(representing the United States):

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

(winners),

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

(winners),

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

(winners),

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

(non-playing captain, winners),

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

(non-playing captain) * Handa Cup (representing the United States): 2006 (winners), 2007 (winners), 2008 (winners), 2009 (winners), 2010 (winners), 2011 (winners), 2012 (tie, Cup retained)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Patty American female golfers San Jose State Spartans women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Solheim Cup competitors for the United States World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Vermont Golfers from Nevada LGBTQ golfers American lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ people from Nevada LGBTQ people from Vermont People from Middlebury, Vermont Sportspeople from Reno, Nevada 1956 births Living people 20th-century American sportswomen

Amateur career

Professional career

Professional wins (41)

LPGA Tour wins (35)

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

Legends Tour wins (3)

Other wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (6)

Team appearances

See also

References

External links