University of Minnesota Athletics
Patty Berg - M Club Hall of Fame
Patty Berg
Women’s Golf, 1939
HOF Class of 1995
Minneapolis native Patty Berg is known as Minnesota’s best-ever woman golfer.
Six years after she launched her career on her backyard course at Interlachen Country Club, in 1939 Berg golfed for the Gophers, under the tutelage of longtime U of M coach Les Bolstad.
After winning 28 amateur titles, Berg turned pro in 1940. From 1941 through 1962, she won 57 professional golf tournaments, 15 of them majors. She was also a two-time member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team. The three-time Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year won a total of 87 victories in 40 years of competition, posting a career stroke average of 75.5.
Co-founder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association and its first president from 1949 to 1952, Berg was also a longtime spokesperson for the Wilson Sporting Goods Company.
Berg received virtually every major golf award. She was inducted into the LPGA, American, Minnesota, Florida and PGA Halls of Fame, and in 1974, the World Golf Hall of Fame. The LPGA named one of its top awards for Berg, honoring her sportsmanship, diplomacy, goodwill and contributions to the game. In 1995, she became the first woman to receive the PGA’s Distinguished Service Award.