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Babe won the All-American Open, the World Championship and the United States Women’s Open all in the same year - 1948.
Here are Babe’s 17 amateur victories in a row from 1946 to 1947.
1. Tans-Mississippi in Denver beat Poly Riley in finals 6 and 5.
2. Broadmoor Invitational in Colorado Springs, beat Dorothy Kielty 6 and 4.
3. All-American Championship at Tam O’Shanter in Niles, Il., 310 (medal play).
4. U.S. (National) Women’s Amateur in Tulsa, OK., beat Clara Callender Sherman 11 and 9 for the biggest margin in the history of the tournament.
5. Texas Women’s Open, beat Betty Hicks 5 and 3.
6. Tampa Women’s Open, won by five strokes.
7. Helen Lee Doherty Women’s Amateur in Miami, FL., beat Margaret Gunther 12 and 10. Qualified eight below women’s par with 68
and four under men’s par. Babe was only one stroke off the men’s record for the course.
8. Florida Mixed Two-Ball, Partnership with Gerald Walker, won on 31st hole.
9. Palm Beach women’s Amateur, beat Jean Hopkins, 1 up.
10. Women’s International Four-Ball at Hollywood, Fl., with Peggy Kirk beat Louis Suggs and Jean Hopkins in 18 hole play off, 4 and 2.
11. South Atlantic Women’s Championships at Ormaond Beach, beat Peggy Kirk 5 and 4. 12. Florida
12. Florida East Coast Women's Championships at Ormand Beach, beat Peggy Kirk 5 and 4.
13. Women's Titleholder at Agusta, GA., overcame 10 stroke lead by Dorthy Kirby to win with 304, by five strokes.
14. North and South Women's Amateur at Pinehurst, NC., beat Louise Suggs on second extra hole.
15. Celebrities in Washington.
16.
Sheppard, Mrs. Val Reddan, Mrs. Cosmo Falconer, Frances Stephens and the Scottish champion Jean Donald, all in that order.
17. Broadmore Match Play, beat Dat Kielty 10 and 9.
In 1951 she won the All-American Open, World Championship, Ponte Verda Open, Tampa Open, Fresno Open, and Texas Open.
Babe set a record of 12 shots as the biggest victory margin in the 1954 Women's Open at the Peabody Country Club in Salem, Mass.. This record has been tied, but not broken. Babe set this mark after having undergone one hernia operation (in 1951) and the major colostomy operation for cancer in 1953.
In baseball, she was a pitcher on the House of David team which was managed by Grover Cleveland Alexander. She also played shortstop and third base.
In softball, she was on two teams which won city championships in Dallas, Texas.
In 1952, Babe was operated on for a hernia.
The Babe Zaharias Open was started in her honor in Beaumont, Texas in 1953. Babe won the first event and soon thereafter, cancer struck. She underwent a serious operation (involving colostomy) on April 17, 1953, in Beaumont, Texas.
Later that year, she competed in the All-American at the Tam O'Shanter, in the midsummer heat in Chicago Illinois, finishing third. Six months after her operation she won the Servin Women's Invitational.
The next year, as stated, she won the U.S. Women's Open and the Tam O'Shanter All-American.
In 1955 she won two tournaments but again was hospitalized in Galveston and underwent an operation for a ruptured disc.
Babe Zaharias died on September 27, 1956, at the age of 45, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas.
1976 - National Women's Hall of Fame.
from "WHO in Sport's"
by W.R. "Bill" Schroeder and Thad S. Johnson
| LPGA Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Events | Best Finish | Money | Stroke Average |
| 1950 | 10 | 1 | $2,875 | 75.88 |
| 1951 | 14 | 1 | $6,812 | 74.92 |
| 1952 | 8 | 1 | $4,730 | 75.76 |
| 1953 | 10 | 1 | $5,132 | 75.70 |
| 1954 | 17 | 1 | $11,437 | 75.61 |
| 1955 | 8 | 1 | $3,398 | 75.60 |