-l tr,Xtr,CI-JTIVtr, GO LF'tr,R Complimentary take home copy courtesyof your club professional r executivegolfermagazine.com. August 2008 I for t bore the 1 Ir fron to ai AthleticWonder Babe Didrikson Zaharias hurd It HeldNothing Back In Pursuit of GolfGreatness the a !t semi of limited opportunities,the talentedTexan Casu In an era found job r fame and fortune on thefairways, blazinga trail for womenpros a slol at 45. Didr beforecancer cl"aimed her life $7s E-p THE SCOTIISH TO\Ari'{ of Gullane is steepedin golf her only realistichope of greaterstardom," writes Susan for tl history. An unpretentious coastal village located about Cayleff in her 1995 Zahariasbiography,Babe. Cycl 20 miles northeastof Edinburgh,it is home to storied With yearsof tirelesspractice and lessons from instruc- Won Muirfield, site of l5 British Opens. tors such as Tommy Armour, Zahaias developedinto a Leag I got a flavor for the placewhile coveringthe 1998 world-classgolfer. A founding LPGA membeqZaharias Athl( British Amateur at Muirfield. That June, lS-year-old won 41 pro titles,including three U.S. Women's Opens. popu Spanishphenom Sergio Garcia swept convincingly to the Even though Zahariaswas diagnosedwith cancerat Gold title. More than half a centuryearlieq, the peopleof Gullane age42, the diseasedidn't rob her of determination.She title, had witnessedanother promising golf careeron the rise. returnedto competitionl4 weeksafter undergoing sur- Amer In June 1947, American Babe Didrikson Zaharias gery in April 1953 and the next summerwon the U.S. D came to Gullane Golf Club for the British Ladies Women's Open by 12 strokes.Ti'agically, her life and and r Amateur Championship.She captured the title and the careerwere cut short when shedied at the ageof 45 in for heartsof t}re locals,who greetedher enthusiasticallyalong 1956 after a courageousthree-year battle. village streetsand invited her into their homes for tea. prolr EmbracingScottish culture and the media spotlight, she GrcrnoGrnr G.arrusOtvvrtc Gronv Shea posed in kilts for photographersand after her semifinal Mildred Ella Didriksenwas born June26, l9ll, in Port ticing victory dancedthe Highland fling with her opponent. Arthuq,Texas. She was the sixth of sevenchildren born to of ba Unlike the teenagedGarcia, 35-year-old Zaharias was Norwegianimmigrants Ole and HannahDidrilsen. Her pract a celebritywhen she arrivedin Scotland.She had won nickname was a derivative of "Baby" which her family Eumi two track-and-fieldgold medalsin the 1932 Olympic called her from birth, Cayleff writes-though Zaharias A1 Games and earned All-American acco- claimed in her autobiographythat her Chan lades as a semipro basketball player. She beDidrikson schoolgirl slugging exploits prompted world aharias had starred in a vaudeville show, barn- peersto nameher afterBabe Ruth. (She A"g.l stormed the country with an all-male later changedthe spellingof her surname dles,s baseballteam and played golfexhibitions to Didrilaon.) tory s with Gene Sarazen. An accomplished After a l9l4 hurricane hit Port swimmel, bowler and tennis playeq the Arthur, the family moved inland to Lun Babe was widely regarded as the world's Beaumont.A mischievousbut endearing After greatest female athlete. child, Didrikson embracedsports early. from Realizing that most of her sporting By the time shereached Beaumont High Brenb endeavors could only take her so far in an School,it wasclear that she"was blessed scorec era of limited opportunity for women with raw talent and virtuoso skill in MissI widely diverse sports that took the doubt athletes,Zahaias had turned her focusto I golf in the mid-1930s."This sport offered ) t .$. schoolby storm," Cayleff writes.Playing inast 48 EXECUTIVEGOLFER AUGUST2oog t Sliceof History for the basketball, golf and tennis teams, Didrikson har- In February1933 Didrikson's appearancein a Dodge bored a iofty goal,according to her autobiography:to be automobile advertisement prompted the AAU to bar her the greatest athlete that ever lived. from amateur competition. Turning professional,the 2l - In 1928 Ole read his children newspaper reports year-oldparlayed her Olympic fame into variouspaying from the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, inspiring Babe gigs that showcasedher talents. to aim for the '32 Gamesin Los Angeles.To practice,she She signed an endorsement deal with Chrysler and hurdled hedgesin neighbors'yards. headlined a Chicago stageshow in which she sang,acted In the meantime, Didrikson's basketball skills caught and played harmonica. Despite lucrative pay, positive the attention of Melvin McCombs, the coachof a Dallas reviews and advancebookings in New York Ciry she quit semipro team for women sponsoredby the Employers after a week. "l want to live my life outdoors,"she told her Casualty InsuranceCo. In 1930 McCombs offered her a sister Nancy. "l want to play golf" job with Employers Casualty and Having saved$1,800, Didrikson a slot on the team upon graduation. ft#'|; spent a few months in California Didrikson accepted the offer for learning the game. Teaching pro $75 a month as a secretary for StanleyKertes gave her free lessons, Employers Casualty and played and after a week she outdrove him ;an for the company team, the Golden by 30 yards."Right then, I knew she Cyclones. Competing in the had the makings of a champion," ! Women's National Basketball Kertessaid later. )a League governed by the Amateur Attending a 1934 exhibition '1as Athletic Union, the team was a golf match featuring Bobby Jones S. in Dallas.In 1931 the further stoked Didrikson's golf popular draw J.r 'at Golden Cyclones won a national Ir>a , aspirations.After more lessonsand )ne title, and Didrikson was an A11- practice in Dallas,where she had ur- American in 1930-32. returned to work for Employers .I.S. Didrikson also played baseball Casualty, she shot 77 in her first rnd and competed in track and fleld tournament, the Fort Worth iin for Employers Casualty. Her Women's Invitation. Although she desireto succeedin track and field was qualifying medalist by five prompted her to train relentlessly. strokes,she lost early in match play. She applied similar effort to prac- In April 1935 Didrikson won 'ort ticing golf, often hitting hundreds * her first tournament, the Texas rto of balls for hours at a stretch. "l State Women's Championship in ler practiced until my hands bled," she told a Saturday Houston. In June, however, the United States Golf :rily Euening Postwriter in 1947. Association banned her from amateur competition for rias At the 1932 AAU Track and Field National three years,reasoning that her play-for-pay endeavorsin her Championship, Didrikson won six gold medals,broke four other sports made her a professional. ted w&ld records and qualified for the Olympics. In Los As she had after the Olympics, Didrikson embarked She Angeles, she won golds in the javelin and S0-meter hur- on the exhibition circuit. She spent a month touring with rme dles, setting world recordsin each event.The hurdles vic- Gene Sarazen,fresh off his dramatic double eagleand vic- tory she wrote, was"the payoff on all that hedge-hopping." tory at the Augusta National Invitation Tournament (later )ort to become the MastersJ.The exhibitions drew large gal- to LraRlnNc Tur, Gemn leries and paid well-$500 each according to Didrikson, ring After the Olympics, Didrikson accepted an invitation though other estimateshave varied. In addition, an equip- ady. from sports writer Grantland Rice to play golf at ment endorsementcontract paid her $2,500 a year. Iigh Brentwood Country Club in nearby Santa Monica. She Although Didrikson was a crowd-pleaser and took ;sed scored around 100, but her potential impressedRice. "lf pointers from Sarazen,her game was still developing. "lf lin Miss Didrikson would take up golf seriously,there is no she harbored the ambition to become a champion the doubt in my mind but that she would be a world beater golfer...the Babe had a long way to go,"writes Herbert ying in a short time," he wrote. Warren Wind in The Story of American Golf. (continued) AUGUST2oog EXECUTIVEGOLFER 49 Sliceof History ExnrcrnoN Dws ANo Tnr, A*ternun Wv standing.Although most major tournamentshad been sus- str( In 1937 Didrikson spent a few months training under pended becauseof the wa1,she honed her game playing Gu. golf great Tommy Armour at Medinah Country Club smaller events in Southern California. She won back-to- noc outside Chicago where Armour was the pro. She "prac- back WesternWomen's Opens in 1944-45, the latter after hol ticed every morning and every afternoon to make certain learning of her mother's death during the tournament. Spo that she absorbed Tommy's theories so thoroughly that she did the right thing instinctively," Wind writes. A DottnNeNT FoRCr pita As a promotional gambit, organizersof the men's Los Between August 1946 and July 1947 Babe dominated that Angeles Open invited Didrikson to compete in January women's competition in America and beyond,winning l7 garr 1938. As part of the stunt, they paired her with George tournaments. In September 1946 Babe won her firsq wea Zaharias, a professional wrestler known as "The Crying national golf championship,the U.S.Women's Amateur.In dles Greek from Cripple Creek." early 1947 Babe overcame a lO-stroke deficit after 36 'hio Neither Didrikson nor Zaharias made the 36-hole cut, holes to win the prestigiousTitleholders Championshipin "'D but they connected.A year later they married and settled Augusta,Georgia. And at the North and South Amateur in rytl in Los Angeles. After a Hawaiian honeymoon in April Pinehurst, North Carolina, she defeated Louise Suggsin the 1939, the couple traveled to Australia, where the Babe extra holes for the title. for t embarked upon a monthsJong golf exhibition tour. In one With urging from George and Tommy Armour, Babe ing match, playing from the back teeg she sailed for Scotland in May, seeking to that shot 72 and nearly defeated Australian become the first American to win the acro PGA champion Charley Conners.