Betsy King - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Music playing  00:00

Mike Gonzalez  00:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin a couple of things. First of all, because I'm this guest's elder by nine days, she'll probably call me, Mr. Mike before we're done. And But secondly, when all is said and done, she may be remembered as much for her philanthropy, as for her incredible record in golf.

Devlin, Bruce  00:40

Oh, incredible record, you can say that again. 34, LPGA victories? And six? Yes, I said six major championships. And what a pleasure it is to have Betsy King with us this morning. Thank you for joining Mike and Betsy. We look forward to this for a long time.

King, Betsy  01:00

Well, thank you so much for having me on. I think it's a great thing that you guys are doing. And I'm just feel very grateful and happy to be a part of it.

Mike Gonzalez  01:09

Welcome to a fellow Leo. 

King, Betsy  01:12

All right. All right. 

Mike Gonzalez  01:13

Yeah. So as we've talked about, Betsy, what we try to do and telling your life story start at the very beginning. So we know you were born in Reading, Pennsylvania, grew up in that area. So tell us a little bit about life. In those days growing up in Reading.

King, Betsy  01:30

Well,  Reading isn't a particularly large town. It's about an hour from Philadelphia. My parents were not from that area. My dad actually was born in Canada, and moved to Rhode Island when he was about five and my mother was from Rhode Island. But my father ended up going to medical school in Philadelphia, following World War Two, he served in World War Two in the Canadian Air Force. And then, once he graduated medical school, he did his residency in Redding, Pennsylvania. And so that's how they ended up there. And that's so why I was born there. I have one older brother, who was a year ahead of me in school, his name's Lee. And really, for me, my success as an athlete, and as a professional golfer became because of him, and my parents. You know, I always had somebody to play with. And whenever my brother went outside, it was take your sister. Yeah, poor guy. So they ended up playing with my brother and his friends in all sorts of games. And I really think a lot of the players in my era. I know Patty Sheehan and Pat Bradley and others, they they all had older brothers. And so they learned to play sports, including golf because of that. At that time, there really wasn't the instruction level that there is today. And you know, you didn't even you couldn't even see your swing on film. And so it just was something where we learned I love playing sports. As I learned that my parents were both athletic. My dad went to college on a football scholarship at Dickinson College and my mom is in the University of Rhode Island Sports Hall of Fame. She played sports. So it was just something that my brother and I did. They introduced us to all kinds of sports and whatever we'd like to do, we kept doing.

Mike Gonzalez  03:34

I see you're, both of you are field hockey players.

King, Betsy  03:39

Yes. Yep. My mom played field hockey is her I think in college, she was field hockey and tennis and basketball. And I learned field hockey. I played four years in high school and actually continued at Furman for two years. Pennsylvania really is a hotbed for field hockey. Every Olympics there's always players on the team from Pennsylvania and even Berks County where I'm from there's been a number of players that have been Olympians on the field hockey team. So, in fact, my high school field hockey team could have beaten my college field hockey team, just because the level of field hockey in South Carolina was not what it was in Pennsylvania, even at the college level, it was lower than the high school level and in Pennsylvania.

Devlin, Bruce  04:27

So you didn't take that hockey stick above your shoulder did you

King, Betsy  04:30

know I know if it goes above your shoulder and field hockey, it's called sticks. It's it's you know, they blow the whistle on the other team gets a free hit. So you do have to learn to to adjust that. But I really liked playing all sports. I also played basketball three years in college. So it wasn't until my senior year that I concentrated on just golf but really what made me do that more than anything else was my sophomore year in college, I injured my knee three times initially and field hockey, and twice more in basketball. And I didn't know the extent of the injury at the time, I rehabbed it from crutches back to playing. And then eventually, when I was on the tour, during one off season, I had my knee scoped, and the doctors like, Well, you had five tears in your cartilage and your ACLs gone. So you know, I'd done that during college. And but again, in the era that I was in, we didn't even have trainers at the women's games. So I remember once I injured my knee, and I was going to PT, I was using the trainer from the football team, and I had to go over to where he was and change in the supply closet in order to get treated, so it's, you know, I feel like I grew up and played in an unique era, you know, that today, the the girls certainly have gotten a lot more support. It's great that there's been such a change in women's sports. But on the other hand, I really do feel like I was a pioneer and had a hand in making things better for women in sports and girls.

Devlin, Bruce  06:21

I agree.

Mike Gonzalez  06:23

Kind of a tweener air for you in that title nine had was brand new. And yet it took a while to take hold in that

King, Betsy  06:31

it did like for me at Furman, my last two years, I had a partial golf scholarship. And that's why I could play those other sports. I wasn't on a full ride where they could say, Hey, you can't do that. But now at Furman, they have six full scholarships for the women's golf team. And I was instrumental along with Beth Daniel, in starting a program that ran for over 20 years at Furman to raise money for the golf program, we would bring in LPGA. Pros. I think Brad Faxon might have played in one or two years because he went to Furman a course. And it was we wanted to make a difference and support the program. Dottie Pepper. You know, it's interesting firm in such a small school yet we had, I think to date, there's probably close to three professionals that have played on the LPGA tour that came out at Furman, Wow. Amazing, hard to believe. But you know, it happened. And, you know, we won a national championship when I was there and having Beth there a year behind me, you know, not realizing at the time, but it was probably one of the best things to help me develop my game because we definitely pushed one another.

Devlin, Bruce  07:45

Yeah. Yeah. Couple of big pushes right there.

Mike Gonzalez  07:52

So how old were you when you first held the golf club?

King, Betsy  07:56

I think I was a, I was I, I remember, I started with lessons. I was in fourth grade. My brother and I took lessons together. And you know, at the time that club, they didn't have a range, you know, you hit balls, and you know, shag the your balls. So I would hand out while he was getting his lesson and pick up the balls. And then he would do the same for me. The first pro that I took lessons from his name was Henry Po. And this was at the Reading Country Club. And he actually was a my godfather, and my and so I took lessons from the first teacher I took lessons with was my godfather. Cool. Yeah, he moved away from reading a couple years after that to Alabama to run a course for Vanity Fair. So then I started working with other pros as time went on.

Mike Gonzalez  08:53

So you took the lessons and you're taught by Henry, how quickly did your game develop?

King, Betsy  09:01

Um, you know, probably not that that quickly. The first time I played a national tournament level I played in the firt. I played in the U.S. Junior when I think it was between my junior and senior year in high school, my mom drove me down to Augusta, Georgia and the U.S. Junior was at Augusta Country Club. I believe Hollis Stacy won that I know Hollis and Amy Alcott were in the finals in Hollis won and I didn't even know who any of those people were. I didn't even qualify for the match play at that time. You played two rounds, a stroke play on site. And then it went into the match play and I didn't qualify for the match play. And then I think well maybe that was when I was 16 I believe two years later. I went and played in the junior again because it was in New Jersey. I could drive over there. And that time I made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Junior. So that probably was, you know, the two years that I developed was in high school I, I didn't play high school golf, you know, through the school because there wasn't a girls team. And I wasn't allowed to play on the boys team. And so I played softball instead in the spring. And so I just competed in the summer. And mostly, it just in Pennsylvania, except for that those two U.S. juniors, I there was central Pennsylvania, women's Central Pennsylvania Golf Association. And that's where I did most of my play. And then I also played I think I won the state. Junior twice, there was a Pennsylvania State Junior.

Mike Gonzalez  10:50

So you just went to Furman, then did you started with no golf scholarship?

King, Betsy  10:55

Correct. I wasn't recruited? No, they really weren't doing that at the time. I just went there. My brother went to Wake Forest for two years at the time, my parents had a place at Hilton Head that they would go down to, and they wanted me to go somewhere to a private school in the south. And that's what I ended up doing. I in fact, I never even saw the Furman campus until I'd already been accepted as a student. That's interesting. Yeah, I only applied to two colleges. And I got I applied to East Carolina and Furman got accepted at both. And then I saw Furman on Easter weekend, my senior year in college, I went down, and I did see the campus and it was a beautiful campus. They have their own Golf Course on campus. So I thought, you know, I knew the weather would be better than it is in Pennsylvania. And so I decided to go down there. I didn't know anyone at the school, no other students. You know, obviously not the coach yet or any of the professors.

Mike Gonzalez  12:01

They must have seen something in your game. Did your game develop sort of in steps then as you're at Furman, what were some of the key key things that happened to you that helped you develop?

King, Betsy  12:14

Well, I, you know, I played on, I can't even remember how many people well, my freshman year there was a player there named Beth Solomon, who was a junior, and she actually turned pro. Her father was a club professional, and she turned pro after her junior year. So, you know, she was the best player on the team at the time. And so I think I was learning from her. And then, you know, Beth came the following year, my sophomore year, and that year, no, actually my freshman year, I think it was my freshman year, or a lady named Cindy Ferro, transferred from Ithaca College to Furman. And she ended up playing on the tour. So it was it really was just coincidental that we ended up with the good players, I believe Beth was recruited. But she became I remember her coming and visiting the college, you know, Beth, from Charleston, so it makes sense and, and then the coach, my junior and senior year, Doc Meredith, he read, he knew about Sherri Turner, who lived in Greenville, and actually hadn't gone to college out of high school. So he talked her into coming. And so they really were the first two that were kind of recruited to play golf.

Mike Gonzalez  13:39

So how's that for a women's team? How about that? Betsy King, Beth Daniel, Sherri Turner and Cindy Ferro.

King, Betsy  13:47

Yeah, I know. It's just we ended up winning nationals by one shot over Tulsa, who had Nancy Lopez. Nancy Aronson at the time, I think, Kathy Reynolds who played on tour, and it's funny because I saw Nancy I went over she lives out in the desert in Palm Desert, and I saw her a couple of years ago. And you know, we one by one shot and she said oh, one of the players back handed upon missed and loans all that and you know, I just saying, Hey, we won by one shot. I didn't know what the.

Devlin, Bruce  14:24

That's right. Yeah, I actually was a pretty good you at the firm in 1976. You and Beth and Sherri and Cindy win. And then you also played pretty good in the U.S. Women's Open that year too as an amateur.

King, Betsy  14:40

Yeah, I was you know that probably. I played right before I went off to college. I played in a women's professional event and LPGA event that was in the Philly area. And you know, I didn't break at either day. And then while I was at Furman, I played started playing in the women's U.S. Open and when I had that finish between my junior and senior year, I think I tied for eighth and was low am and that told me that maybe I had the game to play on the tour. That was really helpful for me on terms of saying hey, maybe I can I can do this and and continue to pursue going to the next level and golf.

Mike Gonzalez  15:27

Yeah, that was Rolling Green Country Club. T-8 was Susie Berning another future Hall of Famer at the time. And JoAnne Carner won that one in a playoff against Sandra Palmer.

King, Betsy  15:39

Right. And Sandra had won the year before. And then I you know, I remember coming, and I actually drove back and forth from home each day to that to Rolling Green, it was about an hour away from my home, in outside of Reading. And I had a friend Caddying for me that had played college golf at Furman a couple years and then had transferred. But it was a great experience to get to play with the pros. And and, you know, if you do okay, you feel like, Hey, I have a shot at going to the next level.

Mike Gonzalez  16:13

Well, and we always love

Devlin, Bruce  16:14

to hear about that, don't we, Bruce? Yeah. And you made up your mind pretty quick, too. You turned pro in 1977. At the age of 22. I have to ask you, it took you a while to sort of get settled in. But you're learning all the time making a little bit of money, I'm sure.

King, Betsy  16:34

Yeah, I have to say I think I probably have the most unusual career ever on the LPGA tour I I don't know of another player, that it took me six and a half years to win my first event. And then I ended up winning the 34 times. Usually, if you win that many times, you start winning in a year or two. Right? And you keep going but for me, it just I remember saying to myself, Well, I'm just going to be the best non winner. there's ever been on the tour. That's no good. And I don't know if that's the best attitude to have. But what really was what changed my career. Two things. One was, I became a Christian in January of 1980. And it was even though I grew up in a church, I didn't have the deep day to day faith. Believer and that really changed my perspective on everything. Life and then also golf, even golf. And that's when I learned to channel hey, I gotta quit, I was ultra competitive, and to the point that you can actually resent other people that are preventing you from getting to your goals. So I had to I had to change that. And it became, you know, how can I be the best player that God's made me to be whatever that is, and it doesn't really matter what others are doing. And then, at the end of 1980, in the fall, I met Ed Oldfield, who is a pro out of Chicago, and he wintered in in Scottsdale. And I started seeing that for lessons actually moved to Scottsdale in the winters, I'd spent a couple of winters in Florida, and then I decided to come start coming to Scottsdale because of it. And that really, he made some changes in my swing. I won a professional event in Japan in 1981. And so I knew I was on the right track. And then when I won the first time, in 1984, the women's camp are open. I just realized what it took to win. And I'm Bruce I'm sure you know this too. I before you when you think I'm gonna have to play the best rounds in my life for four days in a row to have a chance to win. And you realize that no, but

Devlin, Bruce  19:02

so never happens. Nobody. Not so

King, Betsy  19:07

Yeah, nobody plays perfectly and particularly not four days in a row. So yeah. But it's really how you recover from your mistakes and handle that and so you learn to score without, you know, playing your best golf. And exactly, once I learned that it just made all the difference in the world. So and then here I am, you know, 34 wins later. So

Mike Gonzalez  19:33

yeah, well, let's, let's let's briefly recap, as Bruce did at the top of the playing record of Betsy King, we talked about her joining the LPGA Tour at age 22 and 1977. She had 39 Professional wins including 34 LPGA Tour victories, which is 14th in the old time list, three Japan Tour wins and leading money winner 1984, 89 and 93. You player the year and 84, 89 and 93. Vare Trophy winner in 87 and 93. And as we mentioned, top 10 all time and majors won with six. We'll talk about each of them. So that first win in Japan 1981 And I'll let you pronounce the name of that tournament

King, Betsy  20:20

Itsuki charity classic. It was in Yokohama, Japan. And Itsuki he was, I can't remember his first name, but that from what they told me, he was like the Frank Sinatra of Japan. He was always kind of good looking and was a singer. And so his name was on the event. And it was played the week after we were in Japan for an LPGA event. And they just were looking for some LPGA players to come this is, I mean, I think this is kind of funny or unusual. Well, one day I got $1,000 guaranteed a play basically gave me an envelope with $1,000 in it, that was the guarantee. Okay. And then secondly, at that time, they were still playing the small ball, golf ball in other parts of the world, including on the J LPGA. And so I had never hit the small ball. But I tried it in a practice round. And I felt like I could hit it. Like, I think I hit it about maybe seven yards further with the irons. And it's yeah, it seemed like it went better in the wind. And I said, I'm going to try and play the ball. I played it in the tournament, and I won the tournament. It's the only week I've ever played the ball in my life. Ended up winning, I thought, Oh, what the heck, I'll just try it and see what happens. So

Mike Gonzalez  21:50

So you never played any small balls growing up? Because I did as a kid.

King, Betsy  21:54

No, no, never. I never I never even saw any and reading. I don't remember. I mean, you know, bring you in there to try. So

Mike Gonzalez  22:03

I would suspect being a famous singer that missed it. Itsuki son would have fit in really nice with the karaoke competition on the tour bus with the girls. What do you think? Yeah,

King, Betsy  22:14

yeah, I think you would have oh man that those rides were. But, you know, the traffic after the last round getting back to Tokyo. Usually if we were playing outside of Tokyo, you know, what was an hour bus ride became about three hours and so people just, you know, thought

Devlin, Bruce  22:36

a little beverage. Karaoke thingy. Yeah. Well, the

King, Betsy  22:41

one one year that was really, I thought was kind of funny. Well, it was a lot of fun was when we played we used to do a team event against Japan, the U.S. versus Japan. And I remember when Kathy Whitworth was  playing, and we did a contest, and we all got up and and saying different songs. And I think what one I can't, with whoever she she sang "What's Love Got to do with it." 

Mike Gonzalez  23:10

With Amy Alcott 

King, Betsy  23:12

Yeah. So they won. But it was just, it was fun. That was a lot of fun. You know, it's always fun to do the team play, because no golf, you know, you're always individual. And it's fun to be part of a team like that. Well,

Mike Gonzalez  23:29

Bruce and I have heard a lot of stories about Yes, right.

King, Betsy  23:33

Yeah. Yeah. You know, later on. And, you know, I wasn't one of the Wilder ones for sure. But later on, they actually divided it up that you could choose to get on the party bus or to go the

Devlin, Bruce  23:45

other bus. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah.

King, Betsy  23:50

I felt badly for the driver because literally people are all just standing up in the aisle and blaring the music and in this bumper to bumper traffic. What he must have thought about Yeah, imperfection offers.

Mike Gonzalez  24:04

Yeah, see? So you get on the bus either with two coolers or with just with one I guess. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, it sounds like a lot of fun. So let's go to 1984. You mentioned it was about six and a half years before you get your first one at the Women's Kemper Open that was at Royal Kaanapali North by three over Pat Bradley. How did that one feel?

King, Betsy  24:26

Um, it felt pretty good. I know I had a lead going into the last round. And I another kind of funny story. I was staying with Theresa session that week who played on the tour and she then was the women's golf coach at Ohio State for 30 years. But I think I had a three shot lead going in the last round and and it was telecast on NBC at the time. Oh, yeah. And then Terese  was Catholic and so I happen to go with or Saturday night to mass Before the before the last round, and during the mass, I remember leaning over to her and saying, what's the largest lead anyone's ever lost on national? golfers are you get negative thoughts, you know? Yeah. And you just have to go beyond that. But fortunately for me, I ended up winning the next day. I don't believe I was paired with Pat Bradley. I think she was in another group. I, I believe I was with a Japanese player. I can't remember her name. But so anyway, in the last group, and and I managed to win. So

Devlin, Bruce  25:41

you did something there in the 1984 that a lot of people couldn't do. And that was validate that victory on the LPGA Tour didn't take you very long to do that. Did it one month?

King, Betsy  25:53

Yeah. No, it? Yeah. So I say once I learned what it took, that, you know, your confidence just changes. And so I know the second one was a course in Orlando. I don't remember the name of the course that we played, because we didn't play there. Maybe one or two years. Cypress Creek? Yeah. And then I won in Denver. I think it was Green Gables was the third win of the year, and I believe was in either August or September. But yeah, just the floodgates open once I won that first one.

Mike Gonzalez  26:28

So you mentioned briefly but give us a little bit more insight into what changed because you start now a 10 year run of multi win years.

King, Betsy  26:39

Just as I as I mentioned, there's really, once you learn how to win, it's that much easier. And to be honest, I think sometimes in our Solheim Cup events lately, the less competitions is we've had some players on the Solheim Cup team that have not even won on the LPGA Tour. And I really think that affects their ability to perform at their best at the Solheim, there's just something about winning that until you do it. Once you do that, it it just frees you up, like okay, I know what it takes. And it's not as hard as I thought it was. And I want to do it again. And all those thoughts. So, anyway, that's that's really what happened to me and I continued to work on my swing, you know, you definitely have to have a level of mechanics there. And another thing that was key for me was I became a really good putter and, um, you know, nobody wins a lot of tournaments without being able to

Mike Gonzalez  27:43

correct Yeah, and I helped you with that Ed helped you with that

King, Betsy  27:48

Ed taught me putting as well, and he was old school and the mechanics that you lead with your left hand. There's no releasing the putter that they talk about today. It's more leading with the left hand and keep the blade going to the to the whole, like if you he would watch me for five minutes, he'd watched from the back, he'd watch from the side and then he would go, Okay, your hands are okay, there forward, you're not turning it under, you're not opening it, you're not taking it back outside, you're not taking it inside, you're holding your hands, you're not breaking down, he would look at that your head still you're not moving. You know, he would just go through this checklist of mechanics. And I thought he was really good. I mean, he really took me from an average to, you know, one of the best

Devlin, Bruce  28:37

top players.

Mike Gonzalez  28:40

So you mentioned that third when and 84 that was at the Freedom/Orlando Classic. I'm sorry, the second when there was by two over Alice Miller and then the third one was at Green Gables in Denver by one over Muffin Spencer Devlin 

King, Betsy  28:58

Okay. You say so. 

Mike Gonzalez  29:05

You're just gonna have to trust us on some of this? 

Devlin, Bruce  29:07

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, three victories in 84 and then three more again in 85, starting with the Samaritan Turquoise Classic at Arizona Biltmore. And you did something that you've done to a lot of people you want to play off? Yeah. Patty Sheehan.

King, Betsy  29:28

Yeah, I don't know how she remembers that. But I remember that pretty well. It was we were paired together and she actually going into 18 She had a two shot lead. And I know and it's kind of a shortish car for and you know, I hit it on the green not that close and she was I think just left to the green but the pin was tucked left and and she chipped it on and, and I don't think obviously wasn't gimme but I don't remember if it was maybe within 10 feet, and you know, still with a two shot leave and I have like, I don't know. 25-30 footer, I make it for birdie. No, she misses the putt for par. And so we go into a playoff and I Eagle the first playoff hole. Thank you.

Devlin, Bruce  30:19

Hello, hello

King, Betsy  30:21

are five and I knocked it on it too and made the putt for Eagle. So anyhow, it was such a turnaround at that time.

Mike Gonzalez  30:29

Yeah. And then you went over to to the UK and won the Burberry Women's British Open at Moor Park by to over Marta Figueras-Dotti

King, Betsy  30:40

Yeah. Yeah. And that, you know, that's not counted as one of my majors because it wasn't part of LPGA Tour at the time. They were just a few of us. IMG was running it. And so I was, you know, invited by them to go out, you know, I got a guarantee to go and it was it was I obviously enjoyed it. The experience the guy that caddied for me, it was a guy named Brian Smallwood. And he's from Ireland. He lived in England and he caddied for me over here, off and on, and then he would caddy for me. Sometimes when we played over in England or France. And it was I just remember the last day the weather was pretty cold. And I think I had four iron in on the last hole and I hit a really good shot. And that kind of was what sealed the win. Other than that, I don't remember a lot of the details about it,

Mike Gonzalez  31:34

Marta had an interesting record there. She wanted once and was second once as an amateur. And then she was she had two seconds as a pro. Okay. Yeah, and I think you finished second the previous year though Ayako Okamoto at Woburn.

King, Betsy  31:52

Oh, I did. Okay. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  31:56

Just just you just gotta go with us on this day.

King, Betsy  31:58

Yeah. No. Previous Year, it was part of the LPGA. It wasn't a it was an official event. It wasn't a major. And then, and they did that for a few years before it ever became, you know, major on the LPGA. I'm glad obviously. I'm glad. I'm glad that it finally did. And I'm glad that I was still playing when we got to play some of the courses that the men play on, you know, I got to play Turnberry and Royal Lytham and oh, oh my gosh, the one in Bridgeport area. Royal Birkdale. So that was fun. That was fun.

Mike Gonzalez  32:37

Yeah. So finishing up at five. You come close to my hometown. You're in Springfield, Illinois at the Rail Charity Classic and one by two over Janet Anderson.

King, Betsy  32:46

Okay. Yeah, I, I, I had a connection with the Rail because I stayed with the daughter of the owner of the Rail. He was a local developer in Springfield. And you know, I just requested housing through the tournament. And so I ended up staying with Lois and Bill Collins, and it was Lois, his father Leonard Sapp that owned the Rail. And so I think I won there at least twice. Maybe three times. I don't remember. But it was a Golf Course. Well, when we started playing there, it was Robert Trent Jones, but it was pretty new. And the line that the players always said was there's no jail at the Rail. The trees were pretty small, and you could you know, fly it over the corner. Yeah. And of course, we played there, like 30 years in a row. So by that time, the trees obviously had grown up a lot so that the character, of course, had changed quite a bit.

Mike Gonzalez  33:44

But as I recall, there were years when people really went low there. Oh, yeah,

King, Betsy  33:48

very much. So I know the one year that I wanted the years, I won, I shot 60 I started out seven shots behind and and I said, someone asked me, What do you think I said, I think I need to shoot 63 to win. And I knew did yeah, I shot 63 and got in a playoff and one.

Mike Gonzalez  34:08

Yeah, so two more wins

Devlin, Bruce  34:10

and 86 Bruce, that's one of them that route charity classic again, and just prior to that you win at the Henredon Classic at Willow Creek Country Club in a playoff with JoAnne Carner.

King, Betsy  34:22

Yeah, yeah, that's probably the only time that you know, I went head to head with JoAnne, you know that we were both vying for the win at the same time. And obviously she was one of my or is one of my favorite players that I ever had the opportunity to play with i i say JoAnne was she played golf. She's the only professional that I've ever met that really played it like an amateur. And I mean it only from the sense that she went out and had a good time while she played like he would say on the first tee. Okay, girls, let's go out there and make some birdies today. Yeah, I really had a relaxed attitude and even though she was competitive as you know very much today Yeah, and you know wanted to do well and win and all but it really was a she, you know, she had won the amateur five times before she ever turned professional. met amazing. Yeah. So she just had such a great attitude about the game. So she was always great to play with.

Devlin, Bruce  35:23

teared high and let it fly. Yeah,

Mike Gonzalez  35:26

yeah. Yeah. Kind of wonder what record she could have posted. Had she not waited till age 30 to turn pro

King, Betsy  35:32

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, in our prime, she was, you know, one of the longest hitters in women's golf probably the longest at that time.

Mike Gonzalez  35:41

Thank you for listening to another episode of for the good of the game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe. Spread the word. Tell your friends until we tee it up again. For the good of the game. So long everybody

Music playing  36:03