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Betsy
Rawls of Wilmington, Del., was presented the Digger Smith
Award Wednesday, July 29 by the American Junior Golf Association
at the event’s tournament banquet for her longstanding
commitment to the McDonald’s Betsy Rawls Girls National
Championship.
Rawls
and Beth Reuter, the tournament director, discuss
the event prior to the first round. |
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Each year
the AJGA presents the Digger Smith Award to an individual
whose service to junior golf goes above and beyond the call
of duty. The award is named for AJGA Chairman of the Board
J.R. “Digger” Smith, who has dedicated himself
to the AJGA and junior golf for more than two decades. Smith
was honored as the Golfweek “Father of the
Year” in 1995.
Rawls
and the LPGA McDonald’s Championship Committee first
approached the AJGA with the idea of a junior girls national
championship in 1989. Since that first year, the event has
become one of the premiere junior girls tournaments in the
nation, attracting the best young female golfers in the world.
Past winners of the event include Kellee Booth, Cristie Kerr,
Grace Park and Beth Bauer.
Never
one to settle for mediocrity, Rawls has taken complete responsibility
for the event’s success. The LPGA Tour Hall of Famer
is famous for doing anything and everything to ensure the
tournament runs smoothly.
"She
has always been extremely involved in the tournament, from
pounding stakes and setting up tents to being the Senior Rules
Official," said Beth Reuter, AJGA vice president of Player
Services and tournament director for the Girls National Championship.
“Betsy is a wonderful person and it has been my honor
to work with her over the past several years. She is well
deserving of this award.”
Reuter,
Rawls and Tournament Champion Jane Park at the
awards ceremony this year. |
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Her involvement
with the AJGA has been more than just assisting with the tournament,
as Rawls also served as the AJGA National Co-Chairman from
1995-96.
Rawls’
dedication to this event mirrors the passion with which she
has given her time and energy to women’s golf for more
than 50 years. Winner of 55 LPGA Tour events, including eight
majors, Rawls was named to Golf Magazine’s
“100 Heroes” during the 1988 Centennial of Golf
in America celebration. Her major victories include four U.S.
Women’s Open titles, two LPGA Championships and two
Western Opens.
She was
one of the six inaugural inductees into the LPGA Tour Hall
of Fame when it was created in 1967, after having been inducted
into the Hall of Fame of Women’s Golf in 1960.
Though
Rawls did not take up golf until the age of 17, she went on
to be one of the game’s most influential individuals,
serving for six years as the LPGA’s tournament director,
being named executive director for the McDonald’s Championship
and, with her deep knowledge of the Rules of Golf, becoming
the first woman to serve on the Rules Committee for the men’s
U.S. Open.
Other
honors include the 1995 Sprint Lifetime Achievement Award,
the 1996 Bob Jones Award and recognition as one of the LPGA’s
top 50 players and teachers during the Association’s
50th Anniversary in 2000.
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