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The Country Club of Charleston, Charleston, SC ~ August 11-12, 2009 ~ Conducted by the SC Junior Golf Association and the Country Club of Charleston

Beth Daniel

Amateur career
Daniel played her collegiate golf at Furman University and was on the 1976 national championship team included 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 1977, and was on the U.S. Curtis Cup teams in 1976 and 1978 (going 4-0 in 1976). She turned pro at the end of 1978 and joined the LPGA Tour in 1979.

beth_daniel_2002_lpga Professional career
Daniel's first victory came that year at the Patty Berg Classic, and she went on to win the LPGA Rookie of the 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 Tour 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. That year she was also named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. Along the way, Daniel endured two major slumps. She was winless from 1986-88, then again from 1996-2002. 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. In 2007, she joined The Golf Channel as a substitute analyst for LPGA Tournament coverage. Her first event was the 2007 Safeway Classic.

LPGA victories (33)