BETTY JAMESON HONORED WITH
WWGA’S WOMAN OF DISTINCTION AWARD
BETTY
JAMESON
At the WWGA’s Annual Meeting
held during the 28th National Senior Championship at Hershey
Country Club, Hershey, Pa., President Barbara H. West announced that
BETTY JAMESON is the 2006 recipient of the Women’s Western Golf
Association’s Woman of Distinction Award.
Betty has a long and
illustrious golfing career. She is one of the 13 founders of the LPGA and
won 13 events during her career – 12 as a pro and one as an amateur.
Born in Norman, Okla., she
began playing golf at age 11. She was an accomplished amateur winning 14
significant championships before turning pro in 1945. She won the 1932
Texas Publinx title at age 13 and the Southern Championship when she was
15.
Her major victory as an
amateur was the 1942 Women’s Western Open, then a major championship (held
from 1930-1967.) During that year she became the first player to win the
Women’s Western Open and the 42nd Women’s Western Amateur
Championship. She was the Finalist at the 1937 WWGA Amateur and won the
tournament in 1940 as well as in 1942. Betty was the runner-up at the 1949
WWGA Open Championship when Louise Suggs took home the title. She was
runner-up to Betsy Rawls in 1952 and won the championship again in 1954 when
she defeated Louise Suggs.
She 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 purpose in the name of Glenna
Collett Vare. In 1967 when the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame was instigated, Betty
was one of the six inaugural inductees. She was inducted into the Women’s
Sports Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1999 and at the LPGA’s 50th
anniversary (in 2000) was honored as one of the LPGA’s top-50 players and
teachers. In 2004, August 14th was proclaimed “Betty Jameson Day” in
Delray Beach, Fla. to commemorate her career accomplishments.
Previous recipients of this
prestigious award include Patty Berg, June Beebe Atwood, Alice Dye, Ann
Upchurch, Louise Suggs, Judy Bell, Nancy Lopez, Carol Semple Thompson, Co
McArthur, Wiffi Smith and Peggy Kirk Bell.
Peggy Kirk Bell
2005 WWGA Woman of Distinction
PEGGY KIRK BELL is one of America’s best
known, most admired and most honored golf celebrities.
As an
amateur in the 1940s, Peggy was one of the nation’s best players. She
played in many WWGA tournaments … in 1949 she was the Finalist in the
Women’s Western Amateur Championship held at Westmoreland Country Club in
Wilmette, Ill. In 1950 she was Runner-up to Babe Zaharias at the Women’s
Western Open held at Cherry Hills Country Club, Englewood, Colo. Peggy won
the coveted WWGA Marion Miley Trophy in 1948 and again in 1950. The trophy,
a 14K gold bracelet, was awarded to the low qualifier in the WWGA Amateur
and WWGA Open. During the 1940s she also won the Ohio Women’s Amateur three
times and captured the North and South Amateur in Pinehurst. Other major
wins were the Eastern Amateur and the Augusta Titleholders.
Bell was a
charter member of the LPGA. As an amateur, she teamed with Babe Zaharias to
capture the International Four Ball and was a member of the USGA Curtis Cup
team in 1950.
Author of
many books on golf, she has produced instructional videotapes including:
“How to Play Your Best Golf” and “Women’s Golf” and is a
frequent contributor to many national golf publications.
Bell moved
to Southern Pines, N.C. in 1953 when she and her late husband (Warren)
purchased Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. She became owner of Mid Pines Inn
& Golf Club, also in Southern Pines, in 1994. Both resorts feature classic
Donald Ross golf courses that date to the mid 1920s. When the Bells
purchased Pine Needles in 1953, one of her first projects was establishing a
unique series of golf schools called “Golfaris”. She is a pioneer in
the creation of golf schools and is one of the game’s finest teachers.
Throughout
her career as a player and resort owner, Mrs. Bell has been a tireless
contributor to the game of golf. For her many contributions she has been
the recipient of numerous major awards including the USGA’s Bob Jones Award;
the Golf Writer’s Association’s William Richardson Award, the National Golf
Course Owners Order of Merit award and now, Bell can add the coveted Women’s
Western’s Woman of Distinction Award. She is in four Golf Halls of Fame, a
Master Golf Professional, active in a number of civic, charitable and sports
organizations including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
The USGA awarded Pine
Needles the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open where Bell served as Honorary Chairman.
The event returned in 2001 and will be held again at Pine Needles in 2007.
The WWGA
is proud to award this
honor to
Peggy Kirk Bell!
McArthur and Smith Receive
2004 Woman of Distinction Awards
WWGA Director, Co McArthur Receives
2004 Woman of Distinction Award
Corine McArthur, affectionately known as Co or Cozy, to her many friends and
fellow Directors of the Women's Western Golf Association and Foundation,
received the WWGA's 2004 Woman of Distinction Award at the Maple Bluff
Country Club in Madison, Wisconsin.
Co joined the WWGA in 1968 and has been in charge of the scoreboards for the
three National Championships for many years. She has also been the
foundation Secretary and has ably managed the Foundation's nationwide
Scholarship Day. This is a most important job as it is the
Foundation's main source of revenue and yes, Scholarship Day is still
McArthur Day across the country!
Co, we thank you for the many years of devoted service to the WWGA and the
WWGF.
CONGRATULATIONS! THE HONOR IS WELL-DESERVED!!!
Wiffi Smith to be Honored at the
Senior Championship with the
2004 WWGA's Woman of Distinction Award
The Women's Western Golf
Association is pleased to announce that the 2004 Woman of Distinction Award
will be presented to Wiffi Smith, LPGA, at the Contestants' Dinner, Sunday
evening, September 26th, 2004.
Wiffi had an outstanding Amateur career before turning pro in 1957.
Peggy Kirk Bell says of Wiffi..."Wiffi simply had it all, starting with one
of the Greatest swings of all time.
She was longer off the tee than anyone, including Mickey Wright and she'd
have been the greatest ever, were it not for the accident".
(Wiffi
severely damaged both wrists in a motor-scooter accident)
She has spent many years teaching in Florida, Pine Needles and Colorado and
still travels to teaching assignments all over the country. We are
indeed honored to have Wiffi with us and she has graciously consented to
give two clinics, which will take place Sunday, September 26th. One in
the morning and one in the afternoon, thereby accommodating the practice
round T Times. Please check clinic times at the Registration Desk.
