Sandra Post, (born June 4, 1948) is a retired

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 ...

, the first Canadian to play on 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 1968 at age 20 in her rookie professional year, she won a women's major – 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 ...

, and was the youngest player at the time to win a major. Over her 16 year career on the LPGA Tour, Post won eight championships and became the first Canadian to win multiple times in the same season, doing so twice in each of 1978 and 1979. The next time a two-win season by a Canadian occurred was in 2000 by Lorie Kane. In 1988, Post was named to both the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. In 2004, she was inducted into the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

as a ''Member'' with the designation, ''CM''.

Early years

Born in

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. Generally seen as a commuter suburb of Toronto, it is located on Lake ...

, Post was introduced to golf at age five by her father, and was a youthful prodigy who learned her golf at the nearb
Trafalgar Golf & Country Club
She was competing in Ontario provincial events by age 13 and compiled an outstanding junior and amateur career that included winning the

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and Canadian Junior Girls Championships three times each.

Professional career

Wins major, LPGA Rookie of the Year

Bypassing college, Post turned professional in the spring of 1968 and joined the LPGA Tour at age 19. In her debut season of

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, Post became the youngest player to win a women's major title at the

. Her 18-hole playoff victory over defending champion Kathy Whitworth, by 68 to 75, also marked the first victory in the championship by a non-U.S. player. She was the only Canadian to win an LPGA major for 48 years, until 18-year-old Brooke Henderson in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. For her performance on the professional circuit, Post was voted the Tour's Rookie of the Year award. Post did not return to the winner's circle on the Tour until 1978; however, she challenged to win on many occasions during that ten-year period. In December 1974, she won the Colgate Far East Open, a non-tour event in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Second on 1979 money list

Post hit her peak form from

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, winning seven of her eight career titles, and became one of the world's top players. She captured back-to-back wins at the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle in 1978 and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. For the 1979 season, she finished second on the LPGA money list, and won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's "Athlete of the Year." During her 16 years on the pro tour, Post also had 20 runner-up finishes, including the U.S. Women's Open in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Honors

Several nagging injuries led Post to retire from most LPGA competition by the mid-1980s, but she competed occasionally after that. In 1988, she was elected to the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. In 1999, she was inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...

. In 2003, she was honored by her country with membership in the

. She was voted No. 8 of the females chosen as

Canada's Athletes of the 20th Century Canada's Athletes of the 20th century as voted on in a 1999 survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters conducted by the Canadian Press and Broadcast News: Top 10 Female Athletes # Nancy Greene (born 1943), skier # Silken Laumann (born 1964), ro ...

. Post has captained Canada's Nations Cup team, serves as a commentator on televised golf events in Canada, and writes golf instructional articles for several Canadian magazines. She is involved in a number of charitable causes, and runs the Sandra Post School of Golf near

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Post has her own golf apparel firm, and has designed a set of women's golf clubs for the Jazz Golf company.

Professional wins

LPGA Tour wins (8)

''Note: Post's wins in the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle (now

ANA Inspiration The Chevron Championship is a professional women's golf tournament. An event on the LPGA Tour, it is one of the tour's five major championships, and has traditionally been the first of the season since its elevation to major status in 1983. Sinc ...

) were before it became a major championship.''

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (1)

*1976 Sun Star Ladies

Other wins (1)

*1974 Colgate Far East Open

Major championships

Wins (1)

¹Won in a playoff (68 Post, 75 Whitworth).

References

External links

*
Sandra Post, History by the Minute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Sandra Canadian female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Canadian golf instructors Golf commentators Golfing people from Ontario Northern Star Award winners Members of the Order of Canada Sportspeople from Oakville, Ontario 1948 births Living people 20th-century Canadian sportswomen