Legendary Georgian Louise Suggs, a co-founder of the LGPA, is one of 14 women who have been named as members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
The club voted in September to admit women as members, breaking a 261-year tradition of a men’s only club. Suggs was one of seven honorary members. The others on the list are Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Renee Powell, Belle Robertson, Lally Segard and Princess Anne.
Suggs, 91, was born in Atlanta and was the first to complete the LPGA’s career grand slam. Suggs won the 1947 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 1948 British Ladies Amateur. She turned professional in 1948 and won 58 times, 11 of them majors, including the U.S. Women’s Open in 1949 and 1952. Suggs, who now lives in Delray Beach, Fla., was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1979.
Seven other women were invited to become “ordinary” members. The club did not release those names. The club is expected to name eight additional honorary members and eight more ordinary members over the next three years.
Jimenez to defend title at Gwinnett: Miguel Angel Jimenez will return to defend his title at the Greater Gwinnett Championship, April 13-19. Jimenez made his Champions Tour debut last year at TPC Sugarloaf and came out a winner.
“My immediate impression was how friendly and welcoming the players were to me,” Jimenez said. “And, of course, to secure the victory made it a really great week.”
Jimenez won by two shots ahead of 2013 champion Bernhard Langer, who also committed to return. Other commitments include Duluth resident Scott Dunlap, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, Larry Mize and Jay Haas. Last year’s field was one of the deepest on the Champions Tour.
Around the Tours
- Jimmy Walker has been on an incredible run since the calendar flipped to 2015, with a win at the Sony Open in Hawaii and runner-up at the Tournament of Champions. Here's why: Walker has gone 225 consecutive holes without scoring anything higher than a bogey. Since making a quadruple bogey at the HSBC Championship, he is 53 under par. That includes 71 birdies, 18 bogeys and 136 pars. No wonder he leads the FedEx Cup standings.
- Check out Dustin Johnson's history at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Since playing there for the first time in 2008, Johnson is 33 under par. That includes two wins and last year's second-place finish. In seven starts he has five top-10 finishes in the tournament. Johnson returned from his six-month exile last week at Torrey Pines and missed the cut.
- Ernie Els will make his 2015 PGA Tour debut this week at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It marks only the second time Els has played in the event. In fact, he's played in more U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach (two) than he has at the annual tour stop.
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