Senior Women's Amateur Blog

She was born in Minneapolis in 1918, and spent the winters of her childhood in Fort Myers. Later, she made this town her year-round home and she died here five years ago. She was Patty Berg. Fiddlesticks C.C., where Patty attended numerous tournaments in her honor to raise money to fight cancer, chose to honor Berg this week. Some memorabilia and numerous photos made up a display in the clubhouse. Tribute was paid to her at the Players Dinner. These players are old enough to have attended some of the 10,000 golf clinics she gave. She even played golf with a few of them. And how she could play golf.  Berg’s amateur record was thrilling. She won 28 big titles, including the U.S. Amateur, Women’s Western Amateur and Trans-Mississippi all in the same year, 1938. She won the respected Doherty five times in a row (1936-40). She played on two Curtis Cup teams. She won the Titleholders in 1937 and was named Woman Athlete of the Year in 1938. She turned pro in 1940 and won a record 15 majors. More than that, she made a million friends for golf. She was Patty Berg and she’s a part of this championship. There’ll never be another one like her. -- Rhonda Glenn