Betty Jameson

Betty Jameson
Betty Jameson
Personal information
Full name	Elizabeth May Jameson
Nickname	Betty
Born	May 9, 1919; Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	February 7, 2009 (aged 89); Boynton Beach, Florida, U.S.
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
College	University of Texas
Turned professional	1945
Former tour(s)	LPGA Tour (Founder)
Professional wins	18
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	13
Other	5
Best results in LPGA major championships; (wins: 3)
Western Open	Won: 1942, 1954
Titleholders C'ship	5th: 1956, 1961
Women's PGA C'ship	3rd/T3: 1956, 1958
U.S. Women's Open	Won: 1947
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame
World Golf Hall of Fame	1951 (member page)
Commissioner's Award; (LPGA Founders)	2000

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.^[2] She won three major championships and a total of thirteen events during her career, one as amateur and twelve as a professional. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Amateur career

Jameson was born in Norman, Oklahoma and graduated from Dallas' Sunset High School in 1939. She started playing golf at age 11. According to her obituary in the New York Times, her mother gave her 50 cents for a greens fee and another 50 cents to rent a set of clubs at a public golf course in Dallas when she was 11 years old.^[3] She won the 1932 Texas Publinx title at the age of 13 and the Southern Championship when she was 15. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1939 and 1940. She won the Women's Western Amateur in 1940 and 1942. In 1942, she also won the Women's Western Open, a major at the time, while still an amateur. She was selected to the DISD Athletics Hall of Fame and is a Member of the Sunset High School Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Jameson turned professional in 1945. She was one of the thirteen women who founded the LPGA in 1950. She won a total of thirteen events, including three major championships. In 1947, she won the U.S. Women's Open with a 295 total at the Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, marking the first time a female golfer scored lower than 300 in a 72-hole tournament. She won the 1954 Women's Western Open again. In 1967, when the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame was created, Jameson was one of the six inaugural inductees.^[4] The LPGA recognized her induction year into the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf, 1951, as her official induction year into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame. She competed in her final LPGA event, the Burdine's Invitational, in 1970.

Jameson conceived the idea of annually honoring the golfer with the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour and, in 1952, donated a trophy for that in the name of Glenna Collett Vare.^[4] She was inducted into the Women's Sports Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1999, and was listed as "...as one of the (LPGA) association’s top 50 players and teachers."^[3] In 2004, August 14 was proclaimed "Betty Jameson Day" in Delray Beach, Florida, to commemorate her career accomplishments.

Jameson had to stop playing golf, other than doing some occasional chipping and putting, because of pain in her wrists caused by carpal tunnel syndrome. She took up painting for her own enjoyment and sold a few works to friends. However, according to her obituary in the New York Times, she was reportedly destitute when she died at her home, which was then in Boynton Beach, Florida.^[5]^[6]

Professional wins

LPGA Tour wins (13)

1942 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur)
1947 (2) U.S. Women's Open, Women's Texas Open
1948 (1) Tampa Open
1952 (3) Corpus Christi Tournament, Bakersfield Open (tie with Marlene Hagge, Betsy Rawls, and Babe Zaharias), World Championship
1953 (1) Serbin Miami Beach Open
1954 (1) Women's Western Open
1955 (4) Sarasota Open, Babe Zaharias Open, White Mountain Open, Richmond Open

Other wins (5)

1938 Women's Texas Open (as an amateur)
1946 Hardscrabble Open
1952 Hardscrabble Open
1955 Virginia Hot Springs 4-Ball (with Mary Lena Faulk)
1958 Homestead 4-Ball (with Mary Lena Faulk)

Major championships

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1942	Women's Western Open	9 & 7		Phyllis Otto
1947	U.S. Women's Open	−9 (76-75-74-70=295)	6 strokes	Polly Riley (a), Sally Sessions (a)
1954	Women's Western Open	6 & 5		Louise Suggs

References

^ "LPGA All-Time Winners List" (PDF). lpga.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2010.
^ "About the LPGA - Our Founders". LPGA.
^ ^a ^b Litsky, Frank (February 9, 2009). "Betty Jameson, an L.P.G.A. Founder, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Lemon, Del. "Jameson, Elizabeth May". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
^ "Original LPGA founder passes away at age 89". Golf Channel.^{[dead link]}
^ "Boynton Beach's Betty Jameson, LPGA founder and Hall of Famer, dies at 89". Palm Beach Post. Associated Press. February 7, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009.

External links

Betty Jameson at the LPGA Tour official site at the Wayback Machine (archived May 29, 2012)
Betty Jameson bio at golfcompendium.com

[1] "LPGA All-Time Winners List" (PDF). lpga.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2010.

[2] "About the LPGA - Our Founders". LPGA.

[Litsky-3] Litsky, Frank (February 9, 2009). "Betty Jameson, an L.P.G.A. Founder, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2016.

[EOHC=JamesonBio-4] Lemon, Del. "Jameson, Elizabeth May". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved October 24, 2016.

[5] "Original LPGA founder passes away at age 89". Golf Channel.^{[dead link]}

[6] "Boynton Beach's Betty Jameson, LPGA founder and Hall of Famer, dies at 89". Palm Beach Post. Associated Press. February 7, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009.

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v t e Women's Western Open champions
Match-play era	1930 Lucia Mida 1931 June Beebe 1932 Jane Weiller 1933 June Beebe 1934 Marian McDougall 1935 Opal Hill 1936 Opal Hill 1937 Helen Hicks 1938 Bea Barrett 1939 Helen Dettweiler 1940 Babe Zaharias 1941 Patty Berg 1942 Betty Jameson 1943 Patty Berg 1944 Babe Zaharias 1945 Babe Zaharias 1946 Louise Suggs 1947 Louise Suggs 1948 Patty Berg 1949 Louise Suggs 1950 Babe Zaharias 1951 Patty Berg 1952 Betsy Rawls 1953 Louise Suggs 1954 Betty Jameson
Stroke-play era	1955 Patty Berg 1956 Beverly Hanson 1957 Patty Berg 1958 Patty Berg 1959 Betsy Rawls 1960 Joyce Ziske† 1961 Mary Lena Faulk 1962 Mickey Wright† 1963 Mickey Wright 1964 Carol Mann 1965 Susie Maxwell 1966 Mickey Wright 1967 Kathy Whitworth
† indicates the event was won in a playoff