Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; February 16, 1934 – May 16, 2023) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950.[1] She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Marlene Hagge
Hagge in 1956
Personal information
Full nameMarlene Bauer Hagge
Born(1934-02-16)February 16, 1934
Eureka, South Dakota, U.S.
DiedMay 16, 2023(2023-05-16) (aged 89)
Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceLa Quinta, California, U.S.
Career
Turned professional1950
Former tour(s)LPGA Tour (Founder)
Professional wins26
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour26
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
Western Open2nd: 1965
Titleholders C'ship3rd: 1957
Chevron ChampionshipT26: 1987
Women's PGA C'shipWon: 1956
U.S. Women's OpenT2: 1952
du Maurier ClassicT25: 1981
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame2002 (member page)
Associated Press
Female Athlete of the Year
1949
LPGA Tour
Money Winner
1956
Commissioner's Award
(LPGA Founders)
2000

Amateur career

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Hagge was born in Eureka, South Dakota on February 16, 1934. She had a progressively successful amateur experience, starting to play golf from the age of 3. At age 10, she won the Long Beach City Boys Junior. At age 13, she won the Western and National Junior Championships, the Los Angeles Women's City Championship, the Palm Springs Women's Championship, Northern California Open and the Indio Women's Invitational. In 1947, at age 13, she became the youngest player to make the cut at the U.S. Women's Open and finished eighth. In 1949, at the age of 15, she became the youngest athlete ever to be named Associated Press Athlete of the Year, Golfer of the Year and Teenager of the Year, and she won the U.S. Girls' Junior and the WWGA Junior titles.

Professional career

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Hagge was the youngest of the thirteen women who founded the LPGA in 1950, and remains the youngest ever member of the LPGA Tour. Her older sister, Alice Bauer, was also a founder. She won her first tournament in 1952 at the Sarasota Open. She would go on to win a total of 26 events on the LPGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1956 LPGA Championship. That year, she was also the tour's leading money winner and led the tour in wins with eight. In 2002, she was voted into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame through the Veteran's Category and was officially inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Her final competitive appearance on the LPGA Tour came in 1996.

Hagge appeared on the June 18, 1961, episode of the CBS game show What's My Line.[2]

Personal life and death

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Marlene Bauer married Bob Hagge, her sister Alice's ex-husband in late 1955.[3] They divorced in 1964.

Hagge was married to former PGA Tour golfer Ernie Vossler from 1995 until his death on February 16, 2013. They lived in La Quinta, California, where she remained until her death.[4]

Hagge died in Rancho Mirage, California, on May 16, 2023, at the age of 89, of complications from a fall.[5][6]

Professional wins

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LPGA Tour wins (26)

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Major championships

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship Winning score Margin Runner-up
1956 LPGA Championship −9 (69-73-73-76=291) Playoff 1   Patty Berg

1 Won on first hole of sudden-death playoff.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "About the LPGA - Our Founders". LPGA.
  2. ^ "What's My Line?". CBS. September 30, 2014. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  3. ^ "Golfer Marlene Bauer Marries Man Divorced By Her Sister, Alice". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. Associated Press. December 7, 1955. pp. 1, 14. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  4. ^ Golf World, March 2, 2009, p. 22
  5. ^ Goldstein, Richard (May 17, 2023). "Marlene Bauer Hagge, Last of the L.P.G.A.'s Founders, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  6. ^ "Marlene Hagge-Vossler, last surviving LPGA founder, dies at 89". Associated Press News. May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
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