Swing out sister: a quiz about female golfers

American Fitness, Sept-Oct, 1998 by Jack Connelly

How much do you really know about golf? To help you decide, here's a little test about the game with the small white ball and the seemingly smaller hole. The quiz won't improve your stroke, but you'll sound like a real pro if you can answer every question

1. What female golfer won the U.S. Women's Open four times, the U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association tournament four times, and a then-record 82 tournaments during her career, including a record 13 tournaments in 19637 She twice took the Open and LPGA in the same year (an unparalleled feat), was the top money winner in 1961 through 1964, and finished her tournament golf career in 1978.

2. What is the form of handicapping that enables a player to take a stroke or strokes at any hole? The advantage of this handicap system is that a player can choose to use it even after a hole is completed, but before beginning the next.

3. By the end of 1985, she had won 34 events and $1.5 million. She once won five consecutive tournaments, including the LPGA Championship. She slumped badly in 1983-84, but made a comeback in 1985, topping the money list with a record $400,000. Her husband is a former baseball player, and sometimes her caddie.

4. What female golfer turned professional in 1947 and won three U.S. Ladies' Opens, one by 12 strokes, before her untimely death in 1956 at age 42? She excelled in several sports, and received the overwhelming consensus vote as "Greatest Woman Athlete of the Half-Century" for 1900 to 1950.

5. What's the proper name for a working golfer who, in return for performing duties around the golf course, is allowed to play on the course at restricted times at a reduced fee?

6. Who made the only hole-in-one in the history of the U.S. Women's Open? She had 26 amateur victories before turning pro in 1940, then took 57 professional trophies. A three-time Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, she won the 1963 Bob Jones award and was the first woman recipient of the 1976 Humanitarian Sports award.

7. What term describes a four-ball match in which the lowest-scoring ball of each pair of partners counts at each hole? It can apply to either stroke or match-play conditions.

8. What lady professional was the first to top $3,000,000 in career earnings in 19907 She also set a record in 1986 with over $492,000 earned for the year, and became the all-time women's money leader, with more than $4,000,000. In 1991, she won the Performance Average Award with .797.

9. In 1949, she was named Associated Press Athlete of the Year, Golfer of the Year, and Teenager of the Year. At 5'2", she had a remarkably powerful swing. In 1956, she took the LPGA championship, seven other LPGA titles and was number one in earnings. She established the low score of 29 for nine holes in 1971.

10. What's the term for a competition consisting of two or more rounds, in which a player's best score at each hole during the course of the entire competition counts toward her eventual 18-hole total?

11. Who has won more tournaments (88) than any other player, man or woman? From 1965 to 1973, she led the money list each year, except in 1969 when she was second. She was LPGA Player of the Year and won the Vare Trophy--each seven times. She missed the Grand Slam because the U.S. Women's to eluded her. In 1981, she became the first woman to win over $1,000,000. In 1967, she became LPGA president.

12. What's the name for the series of matches between women amateurs from the U.S. and Britain? Since 1964, the competition has been composed of three 18-hole foursomes each day.

13. Who has won the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur title three times since 1987?

14. Despite a bad marriage and a mugging that left permanent scars, she scored victories in three major championships and had 13 other wins on the LPGA.

15. What woman, born in 1939, became a five-time U.S. Amateur champ, a two-time U.S. Open Champion (1971, 1976), and a three-time LPGA Player of the Year (1974, 1981, 1982)? She won five Vare Trophies, was nicknamed "Big Mama," and won 19 tournaments by 1977. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982.

16. In 1969, at age 13, she was rated the best in the country for her age in skiing. As a pro golfer, she became the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1981. Despite arthritic hands, she was Player of the Year in 1983, and won the LPGA championship in 1983 and 1984.

17. Born in 1923, she won 11 Majors and 50 LPGA events overall from 1949 to 1962. She won two U.S. Opens (1949, 1952), and was one of the founders of the LPGA. In 1957, she won the Vare Trophy and the LPGA Championship, and was the first member elected to the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1951.

18. Name two animals whose names are included in golf jargon. (Hint: They're not birds).

19. What country is generally accepted as being the birthplace of golf?.

20. What do expert golfers and inept boxers both see plenty of?

ANSWERS

1. "Mickey" Wright 2. Bisque 3. Nancy Lopez (Mrs. Ray Knight) 4. "Babe" Didrikson (Didrikson Zaharias) 5. Artisan Golfer 6. Patty Berg 7. Better Ball 8. Pat Bradley 9. Marlene Hagge 10. Eclectic 11. Kathy Whitworth 12. Curtis Cup 13. Anne Sander 14. Jan Stephenson 15. Joanne Carner 16. Patty Sheehan 17. Louise Suggs 18. Dogleg; lynx (links) 19. Scotland 20. Birdies