Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls (born May 4, 1928) is an American professional golfer. Rawls was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. After attending University of Texas at Austin, Rawls joined the LPGA Tour in its second season in 1951. She won 55 tournaments on the tour, including eight major championships. She topped the money list in 1959 and finished in the top ten nine times between its introduction in 1957 and 1970. In 1996, she was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
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LPGA Tour wins (55)
- 1951 (2) Sacramento Women's Invitational Open, U.S. Women's Open
- 1952 (8) Houston Weathervane, Bakersfield Open (tied with Marlene Hagge, Betty Jameson and Babe Zaharias), Seattle Weathervane, Eastern Open, Women's Western Open, Carrollton Open, Thomasville Open, Cross-Country 144 Hole Weathervane
- 1953 (4) Barbara Romack Open, Eastern Open, U.S. Women's Open, Fort Worth Open
- 1954 (3) Tampa Women's Open, St. Louis Open, Texas Open
- 1955 (1) Carrollton Open
- 1956 (3) Tampa Open, Sarasota Open, Peach Blossom Open
- 1957 (5) Tampa Open, Lake Worth Open, Peach Blossom Open, U.S. Women's Open, Reno Open
- 1958 (2) Tampa Open, St. Petersburg Open
- 1959 (10) Lake Worth Open, Royal Crown Open, Babe Zaharias Open, Land of the Sky Open, Triangle Round Robin, LPGA Championship, Mt. Prospect Open, Women's Western Open, Waterloo Open, Opie Turner Open
- 1960 (4) Babe Zaharias Open, Cosmopolitan Open, U.S. Women's Open, Asheville Open
- 1961 (2) Cosmopolitan Open, Bill Brannin's Swing Parade
- 1962 (1) J.E. McAuliffe Memorial
- 1963 (1) Sunshine Women's Open
- 1964 (2) Dallas Civitan Open Invitational, Vahalla Open
- 1965 (2) Pensacola Invitational, Waterloo Open
- 1968 (1) Mickey Wright Invitational
- 1969 (1) LPGA Championship
- 1970 (2) Dallas Civitan Open, Cincinnati Open
- 1972 (1) GAC Classic
LPGA Majors are shown in bold.
Other wins (2)
- 1951 Hollywood Four-Ball
- 1954 Inverness Four-Ball
Breast cancer
Rawls was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 and has no evidence of the disease as of 2006. "Looking back, it was a small blip in my life," Rawls said from her office in Wilmington, Delaware.[1]
