Louise Suggs To Receive Gold Tee

Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA in 1950 and the first woman inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame, will be recognized for her achievements by the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association at their 58th National Awards Dinner on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich in Old Greenwich, CT. Suggs will receive the Gold Tee Award, the MGWA’s highest honor.

Suggs has one of the finest career records in golf--men's or women's--or in any other sport, as far as that goes. She racked up 58 professional victories including eleven majors. She was a dominant force in the U.S. Women's Open, competing 29 times and securing more top‐five (14 times) and top‐10 (19 times) finishes than anyone in the championship’s history. In the 1949 U.S. Women’s Open she beat defending champion Babe Zaharias by 14 strokes, a victory margin that remains a championship record.

In 1966, Suggs became the first woman to be elected to the Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2007, she was honored with the USGA’s Bob Jones Award, bestowed on an individual in recognition of their distinguished sportsmanship in golf. In 2008, she was honored by the Golf Writers Association of America with the William D. Richardson Award for her consistent and outstanding contributions to golf.

Suggs joins an elite club of distinguished individuals who have received the Gold Tee Award that includes Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Patty Berg, Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.

The MGWA’s National Awards Dinner is the largest and longest-running golf dinner held annually in the U.S. It's supported by all of golf’s governing bodies--the USGA, PGA of America, the LPGA, PGA TOUR and Champions Tour—-and some 700 industry leaders and local golfers attend. Proceeds from the dinner go to the Metropolitan (New York) area scholarship programs and the MGA Foundation. More than $950,000 has been raised over the years for charitable endeavors.

For advance table and ticket sales reservations or additional information, please contact Kate Keller at (914) 347‐4653 or kkeller@mgagolf.org. Tickets also may be obtained online at www.metgolfwriters.org.


Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo