PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Susie Maxwell Berning, a three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner and pioneer as a mother while competing on the LPGA Tour, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with cancer of the lung. She was 83 years old.
The LPGA said Berning, a 2022 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, died at her home in Palm Springs.
“We are saddened by the passing of one of our greats,” LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “Susie Maxwell Berning was not only a fantastic player and World Golf Hall of Famer, but also a wonderful ambassador for the LPGA and women’s sports in general.
“We will always cite her as a role model for balancing family life and career, winning major championships while raising a family. Susie was a strong and pioneering athlete who I personally admire and whose legacy will continue to inspire future generations of athletes.
Inducted into the World Gold Hall of Fame in a class featuring Tiger Woods, Berning won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973 and the then Western Open in 1965. She won 11 career titles on the LPGA Tour and was the rookie of 1964. if the year.
Susie Maxwell was born in Pasadena, California, and her family moved to Oklahoma City when she was 13. She was introduced to golf in a very unusual way.
She was walking her foal on a bridle path when he got frightened and broke free, and the girl chased him down the fairways and through the greens of the Lincoln Park golf course. The head professional said he would forget the incident if she taught her children to ride, and the professional eventually invited her to the class where Patty Berg was teaching.
“I thought, ‘Oh, boy, she’s having a lot of fun. If that’s what golf is, I think I want to try it,” Berning said.
She won three consecutive state high school titles and became the first player to receive a golf scholarship to Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team.
“Golf has been great for me,” Berning said in 2021 when she was elected to the Hall. “Throughout my golf career, I was able to raise a family, which was icing on the cake. This is one of the reasons why I haven’t played as many years or as many events. But when I played, I loved it.
Family, including his two daughters, came first.
She performed only nine times in 1968 because she took time off for a honeymoon after marrying Dale Berning. She won the first of her three US Women’s Open titles that year.
She played only seven tournaments in 1970 while pregnant with her daughter, Robin, and came back to win the Women’s Open in 1972 and 1973. She played twice in 1977, the year she gave birth to a second daughter, Cindy.
“I always felt that having my own family on tour was not only a blessing, but also an advantage,” Berning said at his induction. “No matter how the round went, I was mom first. My priorities have always been to make sure their day goes well and to spend time with them, to show and teach them that their goals are worth pursuing, that tough competition can occur in a loving environment.
Berning, a student of Jim Flick, became a renowned teaching professional. She split her time between the Reserve Club in Palm Springs and the Maroon Creek Country Club in Aspen, Colorado.
“I still believe we should swing the golf club,” Berning said in 2021. “We don’t try to hit the ball with our core. My hands are the most important thing I have in golf. And then the second most important thing is my feet. That’s how I played. I swung the club.
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