Marlene Hagge | |||||||||
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![]() Hagge in 1956 | |||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Full name | Marlene Bauer Hagge | ||||||||
Born | Eureka, South Dakota, U.S. | February 16, 1934||||||||
Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | ||||||||
Sporting nationality | ![]() | ||||||||
Residence | La Quinta, California, U.S. | ||||||||
Career | |||||||||
Turned professional | 1950 | ||||||||
Former tour(s) | LPGA Tour (Founder) | ||||||||
Professional wins | 26 | ||||||||
Number of wins by tour | |||||||||
LPGA Tour | 26 | ||||||||
Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 1) | |||||||||
Western Open | 2nd: 1965 | ||||||||
Titleholders C'ship | 3rd: 1957 | ||||||||
ANA Inspiration | T26: 1987 | ||||||||
Women's PGA C'ship | Won: 1956 | ||||||||
U.S. Women's Open | T2: 1952 | ||||||||
du Maurier Classic | T25: 1981 | ||||||||
Achievements and awards | |||||||||
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Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950.[1] She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Amateur career
Hagge was born in Eureka, South Dakota and had a progressively successful amateur experience. She started playing golf at age 3. At age 10, she won the Long Beach City Boys Junior. At age 13, she won the Western and National Junior Championships, the Los Angeles Women's City Championship, the Palm Springs Women's Championship, Northern California Open and the Indio Women's Invitational. In 1947, at age 13, she became the youngest player to make the cut at the U.S. Women's Open and finished eighth. In 1949, at the age of 15, she became the youngest athlete ever to be named Associated Press Athlete of the Year, Golfer of the Year and Teenager of the Year, and she won the U.S. Girls' Junior and the WWGA Junior titles.
Professional career
Hagge was the youngest of the thirteen women who founded the LPGA in 1950, and remains the youngest ever member of the LPGA Tour. Her older sister, Alice Bauer, was also a founder. She won her first tournament in 1952 at the Sarasota Open. She would go on to win a total of 26 events on the LPGA Tour, including one major championships, the 1956 LPGA Championship. That year, she was also the tour's leading money winner and led the tour in wins with eight. In 2002, was voted into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame through the Veteran's Category in and was officially inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Her final competitive appearance on the LPGA Tour came in 1996.
Hagge appeared on the June 18, 1961 episode of the CBS game show What's My Line.[2]
Personal
She married Bob Hagge, her sister Alice's ex-husband in late 1955.[3] They divorced in 1964.
Hagge was married to former PGA Tour golfer Ernie Vossler from 1995 until his death on February 16, 2013. They lived in La Quinta, California, where she remains.[4]
Professional wins
LPGA Tour wins (26)
- 1952 (2) Sarasota Open, Bakersfield Open (tied with Betty Jameson, Betsy Rawls and Babe Zaharias)
- 1954 (1) New Orleans Open
- 1956 (8) Sea Island Open, Babe Zaharias Open, Pittsburgh Open, Triangle Round Robin, LPGA Championship, World Championship, Denver Open, Clock Open
- 1957 (2) Babe Zaharias Open, Lawton Open
- 1958 (2) Lake Worth Open Invitational, Land of Sky Open
- 1959 (2) Mayfair Open, Hoosier Open
- 1963 (1) Sight Open
- 1964 (1) Mickey Wright Invitational
- 1965 (5) Babe Zaharias Open, Milwaukee Open, Phoenix Thunderbirds Open, LPGA Tall City Open, Alamo Open
- 1969 (1) Stroh's-WBLY Open
- 1972 (1) Burdine's Invitational
Major championships
Wins (1)
Year | Championship | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|
1956 | LPGA Championship | −9 (69-73-73-76=291) | Playoff 1 | ![]() |
1 Won on first hole of sudden-death playoff.
See also
References
- ^ "About the LPGA - Our Founders". LPGA.
- ^ "What's My Line?". CBS. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
- ^ "Golfer Marlene Bauer Marries Man Divorced By Her Sister, Alice". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press. December 7, 1955. pp. 1, 14. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ Golf World, March 2, 2009, p. 22
External links
- Marlene Hagge at the LPGA Tour official site
- Marlene Hagge at golf.about.com at the Wayback Machine (archived February 18, 2007)