1948 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
The 1948 U.S. Women's Open was the third time this major championship was played, and just the second time it was a stroke-play tournament. The champ was Babe Zaharias, who won by eight strokes.
Winner: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 300
Where it was played: Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, New Jersey
Tournament dates: August 12-15, 1948
Leader after first round: a-Peggy Kirk, 74
Leader after second round: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 147
Leader after third round: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 222
What Happened in the 1948 U.S. Women's Open
Babe Zaharias won the 1948 U.S. Women's Open going away, compiling an 8-stroke victory. It was the first of her three wins in this major. Her other victories were in 1950 and 1954, and when she won the 1954 USWO she became the tournament's first 3-time champ. It was the eighth of 41 wins by the Babe that today are counted as LPGA Tour victories, and it was the fifth of her 10 career major-championship wins.Zaharias opened with a 75, one off the lead. She went in front when she scored 72 in the second round, which was a new course record for women at Atlantic City Country Club.
Following the third round, Zaharias' lead had grown to eight strokes. In second was amateur Grace Lenczyk, whose third-round 73 included a 32 on the back nine. According to newspaper reports at the time, that was the lowest-known score over any front nine or back nine yet recorded in any significant women's golf tournament.
But Lenczyk had an 83 in the final round. She still tied for fourth place and was the low amateur. The runner-up, eight behind Zaharias, was Betty Hicks. Hicks never won on the LPGA Tour — she later became better-known as an instructor than as a pro tournament player — and this was one of a handful of runner-up finishes she had.
Marilynn Smith, later an LPGA major winner, played here as an amateur in her first USWO appearance. It was the start of a streak of 29 consecutive years playing the U.S. Women's Open, and when the streak ended after the 1976 U.S. Women's Open, it was the record (since broken) for most consecutive starts.
Of the 51 players who entered the tournament, 40 completed all four rounds. Of those 40, only 10 were professionals. The last-place finisher scored 104-over-par and played only one round in fewer than 100 strokes.
1948 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Babe Zaharias | 75-72-75-78—300 |
| Betty Hicks | 84-75-72-77—308 |
| Betty Jameson | 79-77-78-78—312 |
| a-Grace Lenczyk | 79-78-73-83—313 |
| Patty Berg | 80-78-81-74—313 |
| a-Mary Wall | 79-78-78-80—315 |
| a-Peggy Kirk | 74-80-81-80—315 |
| Mary Mozell | 79-77-83-79—318 |
| a-Beverly Hanson | 78-81-82-77—318 |
| Sally Sessions | 76-81-79-85—321 |
| Katherine Hemphill | 80-73-83-85—321 |
| Helen Dettweiler | 79-79-81-83—322 |
| a-Ann Casey | 81-79-80-82—322 |
| a-Pat O'Sullivan | 80-80-85-79—324 |
| a-Carol Diringer | 82-83-82-77—324 |
| a-Catherine Park | 79-80-81-85—325 |
| a-Helen Sigel | 85-83-79-79—326 |
| a-Mrs. John Germain | 81-81-82-82—326 |
| a-Shirley Spork | 82-85-81-80—328 |
| a-Maureen Orcutt | 85-87-78-81—331 |
| a-Evelyn Glick | 82-82-83-84—331 |
| a-Marilynn Smith | 84-82-84-83—333 |
| a-Mary Downey | 83-82-85-85—335 |
| a-Betty Bush | 88-80-85-82—335 |
| Hope Seignious | 87-89-81-80—337 |
| a-Carol Patton | 85-86-83-85—339 |
| a-Pat Devany | 89-88-80-85—342 |
| a-Nancy Maples | 88-88-80-91—347 |
| a-Ruth Woodward | 91-91-85-83—350 |
| a-Mrs. Theodore Schluderberg | 87-91-89-83—350 |
| a-June Vogel | 92-87-90-86—355 |
| a-Mrs. George Edwards | 92-89-95-90—366 |
| a-Buttons Cosgrove | 92-95-92-95—374 |
| a-Grace Pennrose | 93-95-90-97—375 |
| a-Ruth Sabin | 95-95-96-90—376 |
| a-Mrs. Charles Spalding | 96-95-96-90—377 |
| a-Mrs. James Brogan | 93-99-93-93—378 |
| Bea Gottlieb | 91-98-98-95—382 |
| a-Dorothy Riddle | 102-96-92-95—385 |
| a-Mrs. Stanley Jakubowski | 106-98-100-100—404 |
Sources:
Chattanooga (Tenn.) Daily Times. "Mildred Zaharias Women's Open Ace," The Associated Press, August 15, 1948.
St. Joseph (Mo.) Gazette. "Babe Zaharias Cops National," The Associated Press, August 16, 1948.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champions, 1948, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1948.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, 1948, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1948.
