1959 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
Winner: Mickey Wright, 287
Where it was played: Churchill Valley Country Club in Blackridge, Pennsylvania
Tournament dates: June 25-27, 1959
Leaders after first round: Louise Suggs, Marlene Hagge, 71
Leader after second round: Louise Suggs, 145
Leader after third round: Mickey Wright, 216
What Happened in the 1959 U.S. Women's Open
With her victory in the 1959 U.S. Women's Open, and already the defending champion, Mickey Wright became the first back-to-back champion in the history of this tournament. It was her second USWO win, and the third of her 13 career wins in majors. It was Wright's 12th LPGA Tour win out of an eventual 82 career victories.Louise Suggs was the first- and second-round leader. Wright was one off the lead following the first round, two behind at the halfway mark. But in the third round she scored 69 (tied for low round of the tournament) and moved in front. Suggs had a third-round 75, dropping four off Wright's pace.
In the final round, Suggs had her own 69. But Wright was on fire and appeared ready to lower her score from that third-round 69 until she bogeyed each of the final three holes. Her cushion was wide enough before that, however, that she still beat runner-up Suggs by two strokes.
For Suggs, it was her fourth time as runner-up in the USWO, the tournament record at the time. Suggs finished second again in 1963 and still shares the tournament record for most second-place finishes.
One year earlier, Wright finished first, Suggs finished second, Anne Quast was low amateur, and Wright broke the USWO scoring record. All four things happened again this year. Wright's 287 lowered her own scoring record from the previous year's 290.
Kathy Whitworth made her USWO debut this year, tying for 32nd place. Whitworth eventually became the LPGA's all-time wins leader with 88, the only golfer with more wins than Wright. But she never won a U.S. Women's Open. Whitworth played the tournament 31 times from 1959 through 1991, the first 29 of those years consecutively. At the time her streak ended in 1988, Whitworth shared the tournament record (since bettered) of 29 consecutive starts.
LPGA co-founder and first U.S. Women's Open champ Patty Berg made a hole-in-one during the tournament, just the second ace ever recorded in this major. (Berg's ace is sometimes reported as the first ever scored by a woman in any USGA competition. How can that be true if it was the second ace in the USWO? Because the first USWO ace was made by amateur Martha Cowden in 1951, before the USGA took over running this championship.)
The host golf course, Churchill Valley in Pennsylvania, no longer exists. It closed in 2013. The land is now protected green space enjoyed by Pittsburgh-area residents.
1959 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Mickey Wright | 72-75-69-71—287 |
| Louise Suggs | 71-74-75-69—289 |
| Joyce Ziske | 75-73-72-72—292 |
| Ruth Jessen | 75-74-72-71—292 |
| Marlene Hagge | 71-76-73-72—292 |
| Patty Berg | 72-75-75-74—296 |
| Betsy Rawls | 76-73-72-76—297 |
| Murle MacKenzie | 77-75-75-71—298 |
| a-Anne Quast | 75-76-75-73—299 |
| JoAnn Prentice | 77-74-77-74—302 |
| a-Barbara McIntire | 76-77-74-76—303 |
| a-Joanne Goodwin | 80-78-72-73—303 |
| Mary Lena Faulk | 76-77-76-75—304 |
| Wanda Sanches | 75-73-77-80—305 |
| Marilynn Smith | 76-74-78-78—306 |
| Betty Jameson | 76-75-81-74—306 |
| Betty Hicks | 78-76-76-76—306 |
| Beverly Hanson | 79-75-78-74—306 |
| Fay Crocker | 77-74-75-80—306 |
| Kathy Cornelius | 75-77-76-78—306 |
| Wiffi Smith | 77-79-78-73—307 |
| a-Barbara Williams | 76-77-80-78—311 |
| Betty Bush | 77-79-79-76—311 |
| Gloria Armstrong | 81-76-73-81—311 |
| a-Betty Kerby | 75-79-80-78—312 |
| Barbara Romack | 81-79-75-78—313 |
| a-Sherry Wheeler | 81-75-77-82—315 |
| Bettye Danoff | 79-77-78-81—315 |
| a-Phyllis Preuss | 81-80-77-78—316 |
| a-Judy Bell | 79-81-78-78—316 |
| Barbara Rotvig | 83-81-76-77—317 |
| Kathy Whitworth | 83-74-82-79—318 |
| Peggy Bell | 77-81-80-80—318 |
| a-Anne Richardson | 83-77-79-81—320 |
| a-Mary Downey | 80-80-84-78—322 |
| a-Cynthia Sullivan | 76-84-81-83—324 |
| Gloria Fecht | 79-83-86-77—325 |
| a-Mrs. Edward Stumpp | 84-79-78-85—326 |
| a-Meriam Bailey | 84-80-79-86—329 |
| a-Diana Hoke | 80-82-85-85—332 |
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1958 U.S. Women's Open - 1960 U.S. Women's Open
Sources:
LPGA.com. Athletes, Patty Berg, Bio, https://www.lpga.com/athletes/patty-berg/82714/bio.
LPGA Tour. 2004 LPGA Tour Media Guide, Player Biographies, Kathy Whitworth.
Neubel, Kaitlyn. "How Pittsburgh Residents Worked Together to Convert a Country Club into Protected Green Space," Pittsburgh Magazine, August 3, 2021, https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/how-pittsburgh-residents-worked-together-to-convert-a-country-club-into-protected-green-space/.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champions, 1959, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1959.html.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Records, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/media/online-media-center/usga-records/u-s--women-s-open-records.html.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open, Records & Results, 1959, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1959.
