Fay Crocker
| Fay Crocker | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born |
2 August 1914 Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Died | 16 September 1983 (aged 69) |
| Nationality |
 Uruguay
|
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1954 |
| Retired | 1961 |
| Former tour(s) | LPGA Tour |
| Professional wins | 12 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| LPGA Tour | 11 |
| Other | 1 |
| Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 2) |
|
| Western Open | T2: 1955 |
| Titleholders C'ship | Won: 1960 |
| Women's PGA C'ship | 2nd: 1958 |
| U.S. Women's Open | Won: 1955 |
| Achievements and awards | |
|
Golf Digest Most Improved Female Professional Golfer |
1955 |
Fay Crocker (2 August 1914 – 16 September 1983) was a Uruguayan professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. In her career, she won 11 LPGA tournaments, including two major championships, the 1955 U.S. Women's Open and 1960 Titleholders Championship. Crocker was the oldest player to win her first LPGA event, the first U.S. Women's Open champion from outside the United States, and the oldest women's major champion.
Crocker was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1914. Her father Frederick was a rancher. Also a golfer, he was a 27-time national champion in Uruguay. Crocker's mother, Helen, was a national champion in multiple sports, playing tennis and golf. She was a 6-time Uruguayan golf champion. Fay Crocker began playing golf at the age of six and became an accomplished player in South America, claiming her home country's national title on 20 occasions and Argentina's championship another 14. Crocker traveled to the United States to compete in the U.S. Women's Amateur as early as 1939. After bowing out of the match-play event in the third round, she did not play in the tournament again for 11 years; in 1950, she advanced to the fourth round before losing to Mae Murray in 27 holes, nine more than the regulation 18. At the time, it was the longest playoff in a women's match-play event organized by the United States Golf Association. Crocker became a professional golfer when she was 39 years old, in 1954.
In Crocker's 19th professional tournament, the 1955 Serbin Open, she won for the first time. At the age of 40, she is the oldest player to win for the first time on the LPGA Tour event as of 2013. Later in 1955, Crocker posted a seven-stroke victory in the Wolverine Open. At the Women's Western Open, she started the final round one stroke out of the lead and finished tied for second, two strokes behind winner Patty Berg. Crocker added to her two previous wins in 1955 by claiming a victory in the U.S. Women's Open. In a tournament that featured 45-mile-per-hour wind gusts, Crocker was the only player to finish in under 300 strokes; her final score of 299 was four strokes ahead of runners-up Louise Suggs and Mary Lena Faulk. The win made Crocker the first U.S. Women's Open champion from a country other than the United States. At the end of the season, Golf Digest named Crocker the Most Improved Female Professional Golfer.
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