It's
a toasty late-July afternoon in Delaware, and you
would think Betsy Rawls could afford to take a break.
After all, the LPGA major she runs concluded nearly
two months ago, and the AJGA event bearing her name is
well under control.
But Rawls
still has plenty on her plate - like
bananas, for instance. The shipment for the junior
tournament arrived too early and would have likely
spoiled before the final round. She stepped in and
made sure another batch was on the way. Her initiative
certainly didn't surprise AJGA Tournament Director
Beth Reuter.
Working together at last month's event, Rawls
and Reuter talk to volunteers. |
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"She
has always been extremely involved in the
tournament, from pounding stakes and setting up tents
to being the Senior Rules Official," Reuter said
While
making sure the bananas are ripe is a
microscopic detail in the overall operation of a golf
tournament, it paints an accurate picture of what
Rawls is all about. Her name is on the tournament, and
so are her hands.
"I'm
a perfectionist and I want everything to go as
smoothly as it does during the LPGA tournament," said
Rawls, an LPGA Hall-of-Famer turned tournament
director. "It's an important event for these players
and I want to be sure they enjoy it."
Rawls,
a true role model for golf's next generation, stands
for a picture with Paula Creamer and Taylor Leon
at this year's Players Dinner. |
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Juniors
have been enjoying the McDonald's Betsy Rawls
Girls National Championship since 1989, when Rawls and
the LPGA Championship Committee approached the AJGA
with the idea of staging a national championship for
girls. The formula - with the LPGA event as the
sponsor and the AJGA as the conductor - has worked.
In addition,
Rawls, now 74, has served as honorary
chair of the event since its inception.
"It's
very flattering and I'm quite honored," said
Rawls, glancing down at the shirt with her name
prominently displayed on the logo. "I read the paper
and it says 'So-and-so wins Betsy Rawls' and I'm
shocked to see my name in the paper like that."
Although
Rawls may be surprised to see her name in the
paper as something someone wins, she has plenty of
experience seeing her name in print after winning.
During
her playing days, Rawls won 55 (yes,
fifty-five) times in her 25-year LPGA career,
including eight majors. Not bad for someone who didn't
pick up the game until she was 17.
"We
didn't have any junior programs. I grew up in
Texas and there was not one organized junior program
in the state as far as I knew," said Rawls, who went
on to attend college at the University of Texas. "I
played in college but it wasn't even a golf team. Back
then, the Southwest Conference didn't have
intercollegiate athletics for women."
In 1951,
shortly after graduating from Texas, she
joined the newly formed LPGA Tour and found instant
success with two wins in her first season - including
her first of four U.S. Women's Open victories.
There
were more wins ahead for Rawls - 53 more to be
exact. In 1960, she became the fifth member of the
LPGA Hall of Fame, and her career continued until she
hung up the spikes in 1975 - her playing career, that
is.
"I
didn't have any great future plans while I was
playing," Rawls said. "Towards the end of my career
the LPGA asked if I was interested in becoming a
tournament director.
"It
was the ideal job because I didn't have to change
my routine - I still went to the airport every Monday
morning. I've been really, really lucky to stay in
golf all my life."
Many would
say that golf has been lucky to have her,
for it's hard hard to imagine a better ambassador of
the game. She was the first woman to serve on the
rules committee for a men's U.S. Open and was named
one of Golf Magazine's "100 heroes" during the 1988
Centennial of Golf in America celebration - but those
are just two of her many honors.
Celebrating
Janangelo 's back-to-back wins, Rawls greets her
with a hug as she walks off the 18th green. |
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With her
current involvement with the LPGA and the
AJGA, Rawls' legacy continues to grow, and her love of
golf has never waned.
"I've
learned over the years there is nothing like
golf," said Rawls, emphasizing every syllable. "It's
absolutely the greatest game in the world - and the
hardest. It amazes me that players can call penalties
on themselves and play without officials. It's still a
game of honor and that's what really still delights me
about golf."
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