1950 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
Winner: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 291
Where it was played: Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kansas
Tournament dates: September 28-October 1, 1950
Leader after first round: Louise Suggs, 74
Leader after second round: Betty Bush, 149
Leader after third round: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 221
What Happened in the 1950 U.S. Women's Open
Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the second of her three U.S. Women's Open titles, running away over the last 36 holes to a 9-stroke victory. Zaharias previously won in 1948, and won again in 1954. Her 291 total was the only score under 300, and tied the young tournament's 72-hole scoring record set the previous year by Louise Suggs.Zaharias was at 151, two behind leader Betty Bush, following the second round. But then she scored back-to-back 70s in the third and fourth rounds. Those 70s weren't just the low scores in each of the last two rounds, but were the only scores lower than 72 by anyone in the tournament.
Her lead following the third round was four over amateur Betsy Rawls, and Zaharias wound up winning by nine. Suggs, the defending champion, finished third, 11 behind Zaharias. (In the 1949 U.S. Women's Open, Zaharias was runner-up, and 14 strokes behind, to Suggs.)
Rawls was the first amateur to finish solo second in this major. She won the title one year later and went on to become the U.S. Women's Open's first four-time champion.
1950 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Babe Zaharias | 75-76-70-70—291 |
| a-Betsy Rawls | 76-74-75-75—300 |
| Louise Suggs | 74-76-78-74—302 |
| Helen Dettweiler | 79-76-73-76—304 |
| Patty Berg | 77-77-81-72—307 |
| a-Beverly Hanson | 76-79-73-80—308 |
| Marlene Bauer | 79-76-76-77—308 |
| a-Fay Crocker | 80-79-73-76—308 |
| a-Betty Bush | 76-73-78-87—314 |
| Betty Jameson | 77-86-75-77—315 |
| Alice Bauer | 77-79-80-80—316 |
| Sally Sessions | 80-78-80-79—317 |
| a-Peggy Kirk | 83-75-80-79—317 |
| Marilynn Smith | 78-82-79-79—318 |
| a-Dot Kielty | 82-83-80-76—321 |
| a-Ann Johnstone | 76-82-79-84—321 |
| Shirley Spork | 78-82-84-84—328 |
| a-Pat Garner | 329 |
| a-Mae Murray | 82-83-84-83—332 |
| a-Elma Smith | 333 |
| Opal Hill | 86-84-83-83—336 |
| a-Mrs. Robert Johnson | 341 |
| a-Tillie Becker | 344 |
| a-Mrs. George Wilcox | 346 |
| a-Marion Gault | 346 |
| a-Mrs. H.T. Williford | 348 |
| a-Gail Curtis | 353 |
| a-Jeanie Dobbin | 355 |
| a-Carolyn Dunham | 387 |
| a-Tasha Matson | 391 |
Sources:
Washington (D.C.) Evening Star. "U.S. Women's Open Is Pushover for Babe Zaharias," Associated Press, Oct. 2, 1950.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champions, 1950, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1950.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, 1950, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1950.
