Four years later, the Texan labeled the greatest woman athlete of the 20th Century, humbled by colon cancer, made perhaps the greatest recovery in sports.
Mildred Didrickson Zaharias was a primary reason a women’s professional golf tour existed. An Olympic athlete in 1932, “Babe” Zaharias won two of the three track and field events she entered. Earlier in the year, at the AAU Track Meet (which served as the Olympic trials), “The Babe,” by herself, took the first-place team title, winning eight of 10 competitions. She set three world records.
The Babe was natural at so many sports that she was envied and regaled at the same time. She earned her first name hitting home runs, although not as many as Babe Ruth.
She excelled — strongly — at tennis, polo, basketball, marbles, soccer, fencing, skating, lacrosse, billiards and playing the harmonica. She loved performing any sport in front of a crowd, and she entertained her gallery with jokes and running commentary.
The Babe was athletic, engaging but also direct and, sometimes, crude by 1930s standards. She never spoke poorly of others but was proud of her own accomplishments and talent.
She played her first round of golf at age 16 and pounded out 260-yard drives with a homemade swing that was refined over the years.
In 1938, she married George Zaharias, a professional wrestler. He worked while she played golf exhibitions around the world.
During World War II most amateur golf competitions were suspended. The Babe returned to golf after the war, winning 13 consecutive amateur and professional tournaments in 1946 as an amateur.
In 1947, she was offered the impossibly-rich sum of $300,000 to make a series of golf movies. She turned professional and, two years later, helped organize the Ladies PGA.
Clearly, The Babe was The Star of the LPGA. In 1950, she won five of the 11 events on the LPGA schedule. The next year, she won seven of 16. She won the U.S. Open in 1948 and 1950.
After a fine 1952 season, The Babe started 1953 with two early wins. Then in April, complaining of severe abdominal pains, she visited a doctor, something she did rarely. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery. She survived the operation, but some thought The Babe might not play any sports again. At times, depressed, she held the same opinion.
She returned to golf early in 1954 and won twice before the U.S. Women’s Open was played in early July at Salem Country Club in Massachusetts. The Open format, mirroring that of the men’s championship, called for single rounds on Thursday and Friday followed by double rounds on Saturday.
Many questioned The Babe’s stamina for the 36-hole final day. She had grown tired at the end of single-round days in other events, and her game quickly reflected a lack of energy.
After rounds of 72 and 71, she held a seven-shot lead over Betsy Rawls. Before the cancer, such a lead was a lock for The Babe.
She was paired for the final two rounds with young amateur player Mickey Wright, the 1952 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion. Wright’s classic swing and style contrasted with The Babe’s homegrown effort and raw power.
Wright finished with 79 and 76 to share fourth place with Rawls.
The Babe won the championship with a morning round of 73 that gave her a 10-stroke lead.
Her swing held up for 14 holes before fatigue took its toll with sharply-hooked tee shots. But the margin was insurmountable. Her victory assured, The Babe fought to complete it in style.
On the final hole, holding a 13-shot lead but overcompensating for her hook, she sliced her tee shot into trees. She could have pitched safely into the fairway but opted for a long-iron shot through a small opening in the trees. In true Babe style, the shot worked; and though she bogeyed the hole, she took a commanding 12-shot victory. She won $2,000 from a $7,500 purse.
Betty Hicks was second, and Louise Suggs was four more shots back.
The Babe won again, but not the U.S. Open; and she rarely showed her dominant style.
Her final victory came in April 1955 at the Spartanburg, S.C., Peach Blossom Classic.
Her 1954 Open win was her third in only five tries in this championship. Wright and Rawls would win four titles each, but not with the same emotion that The Babe used to win this championship.
“This makes me feel good for 20 more years,” she said at the closing ceremony at Salem Country Club. “If I had any doubts about going on — and let me tell you that I’ve had plenty — they are gone now. For the first time since the operation, I feel like the same old Babe.”
She won the 1954 Ben Hogan Award for her comeback.
Twenty six months later, The Babe was dead from colon cancer.
Next: Pung’s 1957 disaster.
