1955 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
Winner: Fay Crocker, 299
Where it was played: Wichita Country Club in Wichita, Kansas
Tournament dates: June 30-July 1, 1955
Leader after first round: Fay Crocker, 74
Leader after second round: Fay Crocker, 146
Leader after third round: Fay Crocker, 225
What Happened in the 1955 U.S. Women's Open
Fay Crocker, from Uruguay, became the first U.S. Women's Open champion not from the United States, taking a four-stroke victory over runners-up Louise Suggs and Mary Lena Faulk. Crocker led wire-to-wire, the second golfer (after Babe Zaharias one year earlier) to win the U.S. Women's Open in that fashion.Crocker opened with a 74, two strokes better than anyone else in the field. In the second round, played in winds that gusted up to 40 miles per hour, Crocker's 72 was three better than any other score. Her 146 total after two rounds produced an 8-stroke lead at the halfway mark, still today tied for the largest 36-hole lead in USWO history.
A 79 in Round 3 cut into her lead and produced a 54-hole score of 225. But Crocker came back to score 74 in the final round, a score only two golfers in the field were able to better. Her final score of 299 was four better than Suggs and Faulk. Crocker's first-round score of 74 and third-round total of 225 are both still tied for tournament records: highest scores to lead the USWO field after the first round and third round, respectively.
For Suggs, it was the second of an eventual five times she finished runner-up in the U.S. Women's Open (she also won it twice). Faulk, in her rookie year on the LPGA Tour, later won a major championship — the 1961 Women's Western Open.
Future four-time USWO champ Mickey Wright played the tournament for the first time since turning pro and finished 17th.
1955 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Fay Crocker | 74-72-79-74—299 |
| Louise Suggs | 79-77-72-75—303 |
| Mary Lena Faulk | 77-77-72-77—303 |
| Jacqueline Pung | 79-76-76-75—306 |
| Patty Berg | 78-80-78-71—307 |
| a-Jacqueline Yates | 76-79-76-78—309 |
| a-Polly Riley | 80-78-74-77—309 |
| a-Patricia Lesser | 81-76-79-75—311 |
| Betty Jameson | 83-77-76-76—312 |
| Beverly Hanson | 87-76-77-72—312 |
| Marilynn Smith | 80-79-79-75—313 |
| Betty Hicks | 81-81-72-79—313 |
| Marlene Bauer | 85-75-76-77—313 |
| Peggy Bell | 84-80-75-75—314 |
| Alice Bauer Hagge | 81-80-74-80—315 |
| Betty Bush | 87-76-78-81—322 |
| Mickey Wright | 86-76-78-83—323 |
| Wiffi Smith | 81-85-77-82—325 |
| Betsy Rawls | 84-81-84-77—326 |
| a-Ann Johnstone | 81-86-76-83—326 |
| a-Virginia Dennehy | 86-79-74-88—327 |
| a-Natasha Matson | 84-79-82-84—329 |
| Bettye Danoff | 83-81-78-88—330 |
| a-Gloria Fecht | 86-83-77-84—330 |
| Gloria Armstrong | 79-84-81-86—330 |
| Vonnie Colby | 89-83-80-79—331 |
| a-Jean Ashley | 83-85-78-85—331 |
| a-Ruth Jessen | 83-79-90-80—332 |
| a-Mrs. H.T. Williford | 84-84-80-85—333 |
| Betty MacKinnon | 84-83-80-86—333 |
| a-Beverly Gammon | 84-82-88-82—336 |
| Diana Garrett | 88-86-78-88—340 |
| a-Betsy Cullen | 93-83-81-84—341 |
| a-Jill Kreager | 87-86-79-90—342 |
| a-Lucille Mann | 90-87-86-85—348 |
| a-Edith Flippin | 88-89-86-87—350 |
| a-Dale Fleming | 93-89-86-94—362 |
| a-Susan Casey | 93-89-93-96—371 |
Sources:
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champions, 1955, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1955.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, 1955, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1955.
