Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias by Don Van Natta Jr

Author:Don Van Natta Jr. [Natta, Don Van Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports & Recreation, Golf, Biography & Autobiography, Sports, women
ISBN: 9780316175913
Google: Mwd9Mdd69NsC
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2011-06-02T00:23:26.582523+00:00

Finally, Babe was reinstated as an amateur golfer on January 21, 1943, three years to the day after her application for reinstatement. A letter from the USGA made it official. Nearly all the national amateur tournaments had been canceled for the year, but there were a few local contests in southern California on the schedule. A month after the letter arrived, Babe played her first match as an amateur—a special single-day, thirty-six-hole charity event against Clara Callender, the California Women’s Amateur champion, at the Desert Golf Club in Palm Springs. In the morning round, Callender shot a 72, but Babe finished with a 70. In the afternoon session, Callender shot another 72, but this time Babe shot a 67, shattering the course record and winning the match, 4 and 2 (meaning Babe had won four more holes than Clara with two left to play).

Two weeks later, Babe competed in the Midwinter Women’s Golf Championship at the Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, a long, challenging track. Babe and Callender had a rematch in the final round, which Babe won, 4 and 3. The highlight was Babe’s double eagle on the par 5 tenth hole. “The hole was 405 yards, and it ran uphill,” Babe recalled. “I had a tee shot of more than 250 yards. I used a six-iron on my second, and darned if that ball didn’t drop on the green and trickle right into the cup.”

The following spring, Babe played her first major tournament as an amateur, the Women’s Western Open, the same tournament she’d won as a professional in 1940. She won that, too, defeating Dorothy Germain, 7 and 5. And the next year, in June 1945, Babe traveled to Indianapolis to defend her title at Highland Golf and Country Club. After winning her first match, she received a phone call from George, who was in Denver. That morning, Babe’s mother had suffered a massive heart attack. She was in critical condition at a Los Angeles hospital and not likely to pull through. Babe told George she would come home right away.

“Your Momma wants you to finish the tournament,” George said.

Babe then called her sister Esther Nancy, who was at the hospital with Momma. She told Babe the same thing. Because strict wartime travel restrictions made it impossible for Babe to get a seat on any plane or train out of Indianapolis, she played her quarterfinal match the following morning. “I sure didn’t have my heart in it,” she recalled, “but somehow I played well enough to win.”

That night, Esther Nancy called Babe to tell her that Momma had died. “I’ve got to get back,” Babe said.

Esther Nancy said no again. “You go ahead and win that tournament. That’s the way Momma would want it.”

Babe didn’t listen. She tried to buy a plane or train ticket to Los Angeles, enlisting the help of tournament organizers and other “big shots” in Indianapolis to pull a few strings. But every seat on the westbound planes was taken by a soldier or a military officer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.