Marlene Bauer Hagge - Inducted 1973

First woman named to South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Born Feb. 16, 1934, in Eureka. Was just 3 years old when she had her first set of golf clubs. Her dad, Dave Bauer, leased the municipal golf course in Aberdeen (then called Hyde Park, now Lee Park) and moved his family to living quarters in the clubhouse in 1938. Marlene was literally raised on a golf course. Dave saw great potential in Marlene and her older sister, Alice, so he moved the family to the Los Angeles area in 1944. In 1949 at the age of 15, Hagge so dominated the California amateur circuit that she became the youngest athlete ever to be named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, Golfer of the Year and Teenager of the Year. Marlene was one of the founders and, with sister Alice, one of the 11 charter members of the LPGA in 1950. In 1952 at age 18 she got her first Tour victory, in the Sarasota Open. She remains the youngest player to ever join the LPGA Tour and the youngest winner of an LPGA event. In 1956 Hagge became the first woman on the Tour to top $20,000 in a single year ($20,235). That year she won eight tournaments, including the LPGA Championship. The 5-2, 110-pound blonde's sex symbol status made her the glamour girl of the Tour. She won 25 Tour events from 1952-72. She earned $481,031 in her career, though never more than $27,000 in a season. She set the LPGA record for nine holes with a 29 at the 1971 Buick Open. Was still playing in LPGA events in the 1990s. Finished ninth in the 1997 Sprint Titleholders Senior Challenge. Was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002. (Photos at middle right and at bottom are courtesy of the LPGA)

Golf cart photo is (from left) SD golf legends John Rachetto, Phil Donohue, Marlene Hagge, Ev Comstock and Ralph Porter.