Marilynn Smith to be inducted into WGCA Players Hall of Fame

CORAL SPRINGS, Florida – Kansas’ Marilynn Smith will be inducted into the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Players Hall of Fame on Sunday evening, December 2, 2018. The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, Nev. Heather Bowie of Arizona State University and the University of Texas and Jenny Lidback of Texas Christian University and Louisiana State University will also be inducted.  Smith, Bowie and Lidback will become the 73rd, 74th and 75th members of the WGCA Players Hall of Fame.  

Smith’s two-year career at the University of Kansas was highlighted by a 1949 NCAA Championship Individual title, and shortly after she accepted an offer from Spalding to turn pro. She was one of the original 13 founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950 and won 22 times on the LPGA tour, including the 1963 Titleholders, one of the major women’s events at the time. Smith was the first ever female television commentator for a men’s professional golf tournament in 1973, and in 1979 she received the inaugural Patty Berg Award for distinguished service to women’s golf. She was inducted into the Women’s Sports Foundation International Hall of Fame in 1991 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006 via the Lifetime Achievement category.

The annual Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational began in 2005 and switches between Alvamar Golf Course in Lawrence and Colbert Hills in Manhattan.

The Women’s Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents over 600 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.

Read more about Marilynn Smith’s time at KU here

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