Club Times - June 2021

GOLF

The February 1990 issue of Club Times reported, “In less than six months, the grounds and courses will be alive with the activity of the most prestigious women’s golf tournament played. Before this can happen, though, an enormous amount of planning and preparation must occur. In this area, you as members can provide a great deal of help. With enthusiasm and support, we can produce the best U.S. Women’s Open ever.” The article’s intent was to encourage members to help with program advertising and ticket sales, but was mainly to recruit the twelve hundred volunteers needed to help run the event. The Club’s First Major The 1990 US Women’s Open

Betsy King

From July 9 to July 15, the top amateur and professional women golfers, who had qualified regionally, came to Atlanta to participate in the championship. The winner was to receive a gold medal and a significant share of the half-million- dollar purse. That week, the AAC played host to Nancy Lopez, Jan Stephenson, Amy Alcott, Georgia’s Hollis Stacy, Laura Davies, Ayako Okamoto, and Liselotte Neumann. The 1990 U.S. Women’s Open Championship was played over the AAC’s Riverside course, formed from the two Robert Trent Jones nines that bordered the Chattahoochee River. For the second year in a row, Betsy King won with a remarkable 4-under-par. Her seventy-two- hole total of 284 defeated Patty Sheehan by one stroke. Sheehan had led for two rounds with a 66 and 68, but dropped eight shots with twenty- three holes to play. She finished with rounds of 75 and 76 for a total of 285. King was nine shots behind Sheehan after thirty-six holes and eleven behind with thirty-three holes to play. But her final rounds of 71 and 70 made her the fifth player ever to win back-to-back U.S. Opens. A rain delay required a thirty-six-hole final, and she captured the $85,000 purse. The executive committee of the tournament agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds to the March of Dimes to assist in its fight against birth defects.

Past president Don Sands served as chairman of the event, and Martha Kirouac as co-chair. During the planning, the members convinced Kirouac to play in the Southern Women’s Open at

“Open courses are so good that you

don’t see many fluke winners.”

-Betsy King

the Polo Fields in Cumming, and though she had not played competitively for over twelve years, she promptly won it. The reigning U.S. Women’s Open Champion was thirty-four-year-old Betsy King, who in 1989 broke many LPGA all-time records and won $654,132 in a single season. She was named Golf World’s Player of the Year. At the press preview at the AAC, she admitted that her putting had not been strong that year, but reserved most of her concern for the AAC’s Bermuda rough. When asked about the heat in July, she replied, “Many previous tour stops have been in the South. Most players should be ready for the heat.” She was excited about the layout of the Riverside course, explaining, “Open courses are so good that you don’t see many fluke winners.” When asked to speculate about who might contend in the event, she cited Beth Daniel, Nancy Lopez, and, of course, herself.