2,205 words Interview of Kathy Whitworth Prepared by The Center for Regional Studies The University of New Mexico Tobías Durán, Ph.D., Director January 26, 2007 Kathrynne Ann (Kathy) Whitworth, born September 27, 1939, and a 1957 graduate of Jal High School in New Mexico, is one of the most successful golfers in the history of the sport. During her professional golf career, she won 88 Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour events, more than any other individual on either the men's or women's tour. Sam Snead is the runner-up, having won 82 on the men's PGA tour. Blessed with natural athletic ability, which blossomed at the age of 15 when she took up golf, the 5-foot, 9-inch Whitworth won at least one tour tournament every year from 1962 through 1978. She won eight in 1965, nine in 1966 and 10 in 1968. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, an eight-time LPGA money leader, a seven time winner of the Vare Trophy for low stroke average, a two time Associated Press Athlete of the Year, and is a member of the Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. She is also noted for her work as an LPGA administrator in the days when it was run by the players themselves. As an active tour competitor, she held virtually every office in the association and was a three-time president. The purpose of the interview is to record the early part of Ms. Whitworth's life in New Mexico and to get her viewpoint on the life of women athletes before Title IX of the 1972 Education Act Amendments that provided equal rights for female and male students in sports and in the classroom. This interview is part of an initiative by The Center for Regional Studies’ Director Tobías Durán, Ph.D., to create an archive of information related to sports and its role in the social and cultural development of New Mexico and its borderlands as part of the Center's mission of inquiry into nineteenth and twentieth century social history. The interview was conducted by telephone on January 26, 2007 by UNM faculty researcher Ben Moffett. The responses of Ms. Whitworth were typed into a word processor, with the agreement that a final editing session or sessions for accuracy, clarity and additional thoughts would be made from a draft copy of the interview. 1 Question—Thank you, Kathy. Just to clarify the record, the biographies I've read on you show your birthplace as Monahans, Texas. Then somewhere down in the text itself, they point out that you are a graduate of Jal High School. So do you consider yourself more of a “Jal gal” or more of a Monahans Texan? Kathy Whitworth—I was born in Monahans, Texas, about 40 miles to the southeast, because that's where the hospital was. One of my sisters was born in Hobbs, N.M., and another in Pecos, Texas. Jal didn't have a hospital. I'm a third generation Jal resident on my mother's side. My mother was Dama Robinson and her parents came to Jal to homestead in the 1920s. My dad's father came to Jal as an employee of Acme Lumber, and then build his own business. My grandfather, Whit, short for Whitworth, started a hardware store which my mother and father eventually bought. So I'm mostly New Mexican. 2 Question—I think a third generation Jal resident qualifies you as a genuine New Mexican, whatever the newspapers write. And as a Jal resident, you first gained public recognition as a New Mexican? Is that correct? Kathy Whitworth—That's right, I won two New Mexico State amateur titles, the first in 1957 in Farmington, the year I graduated from high school, and the next at the Hobbs Country Club. 3 Question—The distances New Mexicans have to travel to compete for state titles in New Mexico are often long, and especially in the fifties they were hard, with single lanes in each direction. Hobbs, of course, is right next door to Jal, but Farmington is about 520 miles away— from the far southeast corner of the state to the far northwest. That's the distance between New York City and Cleveland. Did you go by car to that event? With your parents? Was that your first trip into northwestern New Mexico, your first big golfing journey so to speak? Kathy Whitworth —When my dad was working for Western Natural Gas we spent some time in the Four Corners area. I was in maybe the third grade, and we'd go in to Farmington every weekend. My first big tournament was the New Mexico State Amateur in Los Alamos. That must have been 1956. I don't remember where I finished. I got sick and didn't play too well. Yes, we did drive to Farmington for the 1957 tournament —three of us from the area who were competing. It is a long trek from Jal. 4 Question—And did you win these competitions at Hobbs and Farmington handily? Kathy Whitworth—It was match play so it's hard to say how easy it was. I remember closing out some of the matches fairly early, and others were tougher. I can't really remember how well I did in the championship matches. I prefer medal play. I didn't want anyone beating me and I hated beating up on someone else. 5 Question—You are one of several women in New Mexico who found a way to excel in sports at the highest level before Title IX. Some others were Olympic gold medal swimmer Cathy Carr, golfer Nancy López who hailed from Roswell Goddard High School and competed on the boys' team because girls' teams didn't exist, and 11- time world champion barrel racer Charmayne James of Clayton, who was on the cusp of Title IX, but elected rodeo over high school team sports. What is your own view of Title IX and how did you cope with the low priority given to women's sports when you were in high school? Kathy Whitworth—I came along way before Title IX, but I think Title IX is great. It has opened the door for a lot of women and for their participation in many sports. Back in my era, when I first started, golf was a sport that was good for girls, maybe because it was an individual sport. It was one of the few sports that was okay for girls to play and excel in, not that there were a lot of girls playing it. 6 Question—But you played team sports as a youngster, isn't that correct? Kathy Whitworth—Yes, I wasn't very old when my dad put up a basketball goal at home and cleared out a dirt court for me. I also played neighborhood sports. I played baseball with the boys at school—not softball, but baseball. I was a catcher and a pitcher. Very few girls showed any interest but the boys accepted me. I was born with athletic ability. It's not something that was nurtured. I liked tennis a lot. I was a varsity tennis player in high school. 7 Question—You like tennis, but you wound up playing professional golf. Why? Kathy Whitworth—It was more or less an accident. A couple of the girls I was playing tennis with wanted to start playing golf instead. This was at the end of my freshman year. They had memberships to the country club, where there was a nine-hole course, and invited me along. I thought, “oh, dear,” but I went along with them to the club. I borrowed my granddad's clubs. He was already gone, but my grandmother had kept them, woods, irons, a putter, and that's what I started out with. I don't remember playing tennis again. I probably did, but I can't recall it. 8 Question—So the game apparently just grabbed you from the first moment? Kathy Whitworth—Most sports came easy for me, but playing tennis was hard. Walking around a golf course, however, was an enjoyable experience. We went out the first time and started playing and I had never played before. I said to myself, I can hit this ball. It's just sitting there. Of course I whiffed it a few times, but the girls I was playing with helped me, and I got better. When I think back on my career, the fact I went out and played with these girls and got to grow up where there was a place to play—a lot of young players don't have that. Sometimes we would play two or three holes and if we didn't like our scores, we'd start over again. Then Harvey came along and I got some lessons, so it was fate that led to my career. 9 Question—“Harvey” would be Harvey Penick, the famous golf teacher? Kathy Whitworth—Yes, Hardy Loudermilk was the pro at Jal Country Club, and later became the 1968 PGA Golf Professional of the Year at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio. He got me started, and he knew Harvey Penick, and said he'd see if he could get Penick to take me. My mother started driving me from Jal to Austin for three- day sessions in 1957. We worked together well and he became my only teacher for 25 years. 10 Question—You mentioned that you were a natural athlete? Were your parents active in sports? Kathy Whitworth—My mother, who graduated from Jal in 1935, was a basketball player on the Jal varsity who played the full court game.