Trailblazing golf star Kathy Whitworth, the record-breaking former LPGA Tour player and US Solheim Cup captain, has died at the age of 83.
Whitworth’s 88 LPGA wins are the most on any professional tour, exceeding the men’s PGA Tour record of 82 shared by Sam Snead and Tiger Woods.
Whitworth won six major titles – the Titleholders Championship in 1965 and 1966, the 1967 Western Open and the Women’s PGA Championship in 1967, 1971 and 1975, the latter year also marking her induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“I don’t think about the legacy of 88 tournaments,” she once said.
“I did it because I wanted to win, not to set a record or a goal that no one else could surpass.
“I’m not some great oddity. I was just fortunate to be so successful. What I did in being a better player does not make me a better person.
“When I’m asked how I would like to be remembered, I feel that if people remember me at all, it will be good enough.”
She also became the first woman to earn $US1 million ($A1.5 million) on the LPGA Tour.
Remembered for her rivalry with 13-time major winner Mickey Wright, Whitworth later became the United States’ first Solheim Cup captain in 1990.
“The golf world and the world in general lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement on the organization’s website.
“Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on the golf course and off.”
Whitworth’s partner Bettye Odle said: “It is with a heart full of love that we let everyone know of the passing of the winningest golf professional ever, Kathy Whitworth.
“Kathy passed suddenly Saturday night celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends.
“Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories.”
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