Legendary LPGA star Kathy Whitworth dead at 83

Hall of Fame golfer Kathy Whitworth, who won more tournaments than anyone on the LPGA and PGA tours, died Saturday. She was 83.

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Whitworth won 88 times on the LPGA Tour, six more than fellow Hall of Fame member Mickey Wright. Tiger Woods and Sam Snead have won 82 tournaments on the PGA Tour, according to the Golf Channel.

“It is with a heart full of love that we let everyone know of the passing of the winningest golf professional ever, Kathy Whitworth,” Bettye Odle, Whitworth’s longtime partner, said in a release provided by the LPGA. “Kathy passed suddenly Saturday night celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends. Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories.”

Odle did not disclose a cause of death.

Whitworth was the first woman to earn $1 million on the LPGA Tour, The Associated Press reported. She won her first title at the Kelly Girls Open in July 1962. She broke fellow Hall of Famer Mickey Wright’s LPGA record of 82 victories when she won the Lady Michelob title in 1982.

It was the same year Whitworth was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was elected to the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1975.

Whitworth was born Sept. 27, 1939, in Monahans, Texas, according to the Golf Channel. She grew up in Jal, New Mexico, where her father owned Whitworth Hardware and Supply. She was the youngest of three daughters.

From 1963 to 1973, Whitworth was the tour’s leading money winner eight times, second on the money list twice and third once. During that decade, she won the Vare Trophy and Player of the Year honors seven times each.

“Mickey (Wright) was the greatest golfer, but Kathy was the greatest winner,” LPGA founder Louise Suggs once said of Whitworth.

Whitworth won the 1957 New Mexico Women’s Amateur, just two years after taking up the game, Golf.com reported. She repeated as champion the next year.

Before finally breaking through for her first win, Whitworth nearly quit the game in 1959 as she won just $1,217, the website reported. But Whitworth overcame her slump, and after five second-place finishes won her first event in 1962.

“She just had to win. A lot like Mickey Wright and Louise Suggs,” fellow Hall of Famer Betsy Rawls said. There’s just something that drives them. Kathy was a very intelligent person. It was unacceptable for her to make a mistake. She hated herself when she made a mistake. She was wonderful to play with -- sweet as she could be, nice to everybody -- but oh, man, she berated herself something awful. And that’s what drove her.”

In 1981, Whitworth topped $1 million in career earnings.

Her final victory came in 1985 at the United Virginia Bank Classic, the AP reported.

“Winning never got old,” Whitworth once said.

“The golf world and the world in general lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on the golf course and off. In the short time I spent with Kathy, I was truly blown away by her and her approach to the game and to life. Her strength, insightfulness and vibrancy were obvious from the minute you met her! She inspired me as a young girl and now as the commissioner and I know she did the same for so many others. We all mourn with Bettye, her family and the entire golf world.”

Whitworth was named The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1965 and 1967. She was also captain of the victorious U.S. team in the inaugural Solheim Cup in 1990.

“I’m not some great oddity. I was just fortunate to be so successful,” Whitworth once said. “What I did in being a better player does not make me a better person. When I’m asked how I would like to be remembered, I feel that if people remember me at all, it will be good enough.”

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