Women’s golf legend Kathy Whitworth died on Saturday at the age of 83, her partner Bettye Odle announced on Sunday. The American has won 88 tournaments on the LPGA Tour, the absolute record.
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“Kathy passed away suddenly on Saturday evening while celebrating Christmas Eve with her family and friends. Kathy left this world as she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories,” Bettye Odle said in a statement released by the LPGA Tour.
Kathy Whitworth won the first of her 88 LPGA tournaments in 1962 and her last in 1985. Winner of six Majors, she is the first woman to have won a million dollars on the circuit.
She who has never won the US Women’s Open once said, “I would have traded being the first to win a million for winning the Open, but it was a consolation that took away a bit of the pain of not winning it.”
“The world of golf and the world at large has lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth. Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on and off the golf course,” responded LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan.
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