Ginger !

Excerpts from gingers book at: CLICK HERE
THESE ARE THE KICK ASS WOMEN OF GOLF!!!
WOMEN’S GOLF/LPGA Many who read about and hear about golf but have not followed it closely may think that women’s golf has only become popular in the last 20 years or so. But women’s golf and women’s professional golf has been around for many, many decades. In fact, one of the first golfers was Mary, Queen of Scots, who played the game more than 400 years ago. This queen may be responsible for the term “caddie.” The name is believed to come from the word cadet. These military assistants to English royalty were enlisted to carry clubs for the queen. Though some have jokingly written that “golf” stands for “gentlemen only ladies forbidden” or something similar, St. Andrews was the site of the first club for lady golfers in 1867! History records that Louise Pounds participated in many sports, including golf, in the 1890s. She is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame in Lincoln, Nebraska. The first Women’s Amateur golf championship was held in 1895. At about the same time, the British Amateur was contested. 34 BABE DIDRIKSEN - ONE OF THE GOLFING GREATS Most followers of the game of golf are at least familiar with the name Babe Didriksen. Mildred E. Didriksen grew up in Texas and first played on a woman’s basketball team. She was an excellent multi-sport athlete, starring in track and field, as well as basketball and other sports. She was an Olympic track and field start and was named Woman Athlete of the Year. She even participated in baseball at the major league level during spring training. The 1930s brought two changes to Didriksen’s life: marriage to George Zaharias and an increasing interest in golf. She won both the Texas Open and the Western Open in 1940, then went on to win 17 tournaments in a row, including the British Amateur for Women. She became a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, which was formed in 1950. Babe Didriksen Zaharias died of cancer in 1956. Zaharias was a founding member of the LPGA, with such golfing greats as Louise Suggs, Patty Berg and Marlene Hagge. This fledgling organization grew from a schedule of 14 events and $50,000 in prize money and nearly doubled in size in a few years. Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright were two of the more famous names in women’s golf during the early years. Wright won 68 tournaments during the 1960s; Whitworth 53. THE LPGA GROWS The 1970s was a time of great change for the Ladies Professional Golf Association. A full-time commissioner was hired to run the organization more like a business. JoAnne Carner dominated tournaments during the decade, winning 23 times during the decade, but shared the spotlight with young Nancy Lopez from California. Lopez started winning as an amateur in the early 1970s, then moved on to play winning golf on the professional tour. She won the LPGA Championship in 1978 and again in 1985 and 1989. She finished in the top 10 in major tournaments 23 times during her career. Other top players at the time were Amy Alcott, Judy Rankin and Carol Mann. Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel and others led the way through the 1980s for U.S. golf and by 1989 the tour featured nearly 40 events with an average purse of more than $350,000. 35 No one dominated women’s golf like Annika Sorenstam after she turned pro in 1992. She has won nearly 90 times, including 10 majors. Sorenstam won at least five tournaments each year for six straight years and has been named player of the year eight times. Yet she is just 36 years old. Some people expect these same great things from Michelle Wie, though the young golfer from Hawaii is just 17. She will not be able to join the professional tour until she turns 18 October 2007. BRITISH, JAPANESE AND EUROPEAN WOMEN’S GOLF On the British Isles, the Ladies Golf Union oversees most of the competitive golf, including the women’s Open Championship. Karrie Webb of Australia has won the women’s title three times, as has Sherri Steinhauer of the U.S. This is the only tournament recognized by the Ladies European Tour. This tour also recognizes the Evian Masters, played in Switzerland, as a major tournament for women. The LPGA Tour of Japan is one of the richest professional tours. This tour has its own set of majors. Many of the best players from Japan and Korea compete regularly on the professional tour in the United States and Europe.Excerpts from gingers book at: CLICK HERE