Marlene Hagge-Vossler was one of the 13 women who co-founded the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950, the last of the group to survive.
- Died: May 16, 2023 (Who else died on May 16?)
- Details of death: Died in Rancho Mirage, California of complications from a fall at the age of 89.
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Marlene Hagge-Vossler’s legacy
Hagge-Vossler was playing golf almost as soon as she could walk, and she soon became a champion. Going by her maiden name of Marlene Bauer, she won the Long Beach City Boys Junior at the age of 10. Haggler-Vossler also found a mentor in Dolores Hope (1909–2011), wife of comedian Bob Hope (1903–2003), who took her and her sister under her wing and helped them gain entry to golf clubs and tournaments that wouldn’t have allowed young women to play on their own. When she was 13, she won several matches, such as the Palm Springs Women’s Championship and the Los Angeles Women’s Golf Championship, and she finished eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open.
By 15, Hagge-Vossler had been named Associated Press Athlete of the Year and was helping found the LPGA, the youngest of the golfers who created the organization. Among her co-founders was her oldest sister, Alice Bauer. Two years after the LPGA’s founding, Hagge-Vossler won her first tournament, the Sarasota Open. Her first and only major championship was the 1956 LPGA Championship. Yet she continued to excel, with 26 total LPGA Tour wins over the course of her career.
In 2002, Hagge-Vossler was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2016, she was featured in the documentary “The Founders,” about the origins of the LPGA Tour.
Notable quote
“When I won the [Los Angeles] City Women’s Championship in 1947 when I was 13, on the back of the score card it said, ‘No children under 14 are permitted on the course.’ When I won the Long Beach [City] Boys [Junior], I was the only girl, so they didn’t think anything about it. They didn’t fear me.” —from a 1987 interview for the Los Angeles Times
Tributes to Marlene Hagge-Vossler
Full obituary: Palm Springs Desert Sun
