Beth Daniel biography
Date of birth : 1956-10-14
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Nationality : American
Category : Sports
Last modified : 2011-10-10
Credited as : woman professional golfer, LPGA tour,
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Major Championships:
Professional - 1
• LPGA Championship: 1990
Amateur - 2
• U.S. Women's Amateur: 1975, 1977
Awards and Honors:
• Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
• Vare Trophy winner (LPGA low scoring average) 1989, 1990, 1994
• LPGA Player of the Year 1980, 1990, 1994
• Member, U.S. Curtis Cup team, 1976, 78
• LPGA Rookie of the Year, 1979
• U.S. Solheim Cup team, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005
Beth Daniel was an amateur golf phenom who roared onto the LPGA Tour, had success for many years, then endured two major slumps before earning her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Daniel began playing golf at age six, growing up in a golfing family. The Daniel family was members at the Country Club of Charleston, where Daniel's earliest teacher was 1938 Masters champion Henry Picard.
Daniel advanced through the amateur ranks and wound up on one of the all-time best women's college teams at Furman University. The 1976 national championship team included Daniel, fellow future Hall of Famer Betsy King, and future LPGA players Sherri Turner and Cindy Ferro.
Daniel won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1975 and '77, and was on the U.S. Curtis Cup teams in '76 and '78 (going 4-0 in '76). She turned pro at the end of 1978 and joined the LPGA Tour in 1979.
Daniel's first victory came that year at the Patty Berg Classic, and she went on to win the LPGA Rookie of Year award. Over the next five years, when Nancy Lopez was at her most dominant, Daniel still managed to win 13 tournaments, including four in 1980 when she was named LPGA Player of the Year.
Daniel led the Tour in wins in 1982, 1990 and 1994. She also led in scoring three times, including in 1989 when she became just the second golfer (at that time) in Tour history with a scoring average below 71.00.
The year 1990 was her best. She won seven times, including her lone major at the LPGA Championship.
Along the way, Daniel, a range rat and fiery competitor who was known for showing her anger on the course, endured two major slumps. She was winless from 1986-88, then again from 1996-2002. Putting woes and a series of injuries fueled the slumps.
When she finally won again in 2003, she became - at age 46 years, 8 months and 29 days - the oldest winner in Tour history. And she had outlasted most of her contemporaries such as King, Patty Sheehan and Amy Alcott, remaining competitive on the LPGA Tour.
By 2005 she was cutting back her schedule, and played just five events in 2007. That year she also served as assistant captain on the U.S. Solheim Cup team, and was named as captain for the American squad in 2009.