PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Susie Maxwell Berning, a three-time US Women’s Open winner who became a pioneering mother while competing on the LPGA Tour, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 83 years old.
The LPGA said Berning, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, died at his home in Palm Springs.
“We are saddened by the passing of one of our stars,” LPGA Tour commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “Susie Maxwell Berning was not only an amazing player and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, but she was also an amazing ambassador for the LPGA and women’s sports in general.
“We will always point to her as a great example of balancing home life and work, winning major championships while raising a family. Susie was a strong, pioneering athlete that I admired and her legacy will continue to inspire future generations of athletes.”
Inducted into the World Gold Hall of Fame in a class that included Tiger Woods, Berning won the US Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973 and the then-major Western Open in 1965. He had 11 LPGA Tour titles and was the rookie of the year in 1964. if the year.
Susie Maxwell was born in Pasadena, California, and her family moved to Oklahoma City when she was 13. He was taught golf in a very unusual way.
He was walking his calf on the bridle path when it broke and broke, and the little girl was chasing him down the fairways and across the green of the Lincoln Park Golf Course. The head pro said he would never forget the incident when teaching his children to ride, and the coach ended up inviting him to the course where Patty Berg was teaching a clinic.
“I said to myself: ‘Oh, boy, you’re so excited. If that’s a golf thing, I think I want to try it,'” Berning said.
She won three straight high school titles and became the first female player to receive a golf scholarship to Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team.
“Golf has been good to me,” Berning said in 2021 when he was elected to the Hall. “Throughout my golf career, I was able to raise a family, which was the icing on the cake. That’s one reason I didn’t play for many years or many events. But when I did, I enjoyed it.”
Family, including his two daughters, came first.
She only played nine times in 1968 because she took time off to tour after marrying Dale Berning. She won her first of three US Women’s Open titles that year.
She played just seven tournaments in 1970 while pregnant with her daughter, Robin, returning to win the Women’s Open in 1972 and 1973. She played twice in 1977, the year she gave birth to her second daughter, Cindy.
“I always thought that having my family on the trip was not only a blessing, but a benefit,” said Berning when he was ordained. “No matter how the round went, I was a mother first. The most important thing for me was always to make sure that their day goes well and spend time with them, show them and teach them that their goals are important to follow, that tough competition can be a loving place.”
Berning, a student of Jim Flick, became a well-known teaching specialist. He split time between The Reserve Club in Palm Springs and Maroon Creek Country Club in Aspen, Colorado.
“I still believe we should swing the golf club,” Berning said in 2021. “We don’t try to hit the ball with our core. My hands are the most important thing I have in golf. Then the second most important. My feet are how I play.
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