Hilda McAusland Beck

WSWGA Champion

Mrs. Beck dominated the State Championship in the 1930s with wins in 1933,1934,1937, 1938  as well as her initial win in 1929 and her final win in 1957.

Mrs. Beck represented Broadmoor and Overlake Golf Clubs.

                     
                               JoAnne Gunderson Carner

Sand Point

WSWGA Runner-Up

1955  

 "In 1954, Gunderson was offered a junior membership at Seattle’s Sand Point Country Club. The
membership came about after Sand Point’s head pro, John Hoetmer, had seen the youngster in competition and was impressed by her length off the tee. Hoetmer knew the importance of Gunderson’s joining a private club, as she’d be eligible for USGA-sponsored events as well as PNGA championships (Juanita Golf Course was not a PNGA-member club). He went to Sand Point’s Board of Directors and asked about Gunderson being allowed to play at the club if he could find a couple to “adopt” her. The board accepted the proposal, and Sand Point member Al Burnham and his wife agreed to do so.

During her Sand Point years, Gunderson lived with her parents in Kirkland while Sand Point’s Women’s Division helped prepare her for tournaments. The women members hand-sewed proper golf attire for Gunderson to wear, helping her to meet USGA requirements and be ready for competitive golf..."

U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion 1957, 1960, 1962, 1966 & 1968; Finalist 1956 & 1964

U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion 1956; Finalist 1955

Women’s National Collegiate Champion 1960

Women’s Western Amateur Champion 1959

Western Junior Girls’ Champion 1955; Finalist 1956

PNGA Women’s Amateur Champion 1956 & 1958

PNGA Junior Girls’ Champion 1956

Women’s Trans-National Amateur Champion 1961

Eastern Women’s Amateur Champion 1968

Helen Lee Doherty Invitational Champion 1968

Women’s Harder Hall Invitational Champion 1968

Washington State Women’s Golf Association Finalist 1955

Washington State Women’s Public Links Association Champion 1954

Curtis Cup Team Member 1958, 1960, 1962 & 1964

Pat Lesser Harbottle Sand Point and Tacoma Washington State Women’s Golf Association
Champion 1952 & 1974; Finalist 1950; Medalist 1950 & 1952

Besides being the WSWGA Champion in 1952, Mrs. Harbottle  was the first woman to play on Seattle University men's collegiate golf team in 1952. 

Some of Mrs. Harbottle's other great golfing accomplishments include:

1950 U.S. Girls' Junior

1953 Women's National Collegiate Championship

 1953 Canadian Women's Amateur

1955 U.S. Women's Amateur

Curtis Cup Team Member 1954 & 1956.
 

     Ann Swanson

   Inglewood & Sand Point CC

WSWGA Champion

1973, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996

WSWGA Runner-Up

1971, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1998, 2001

WSWGA Senior Champion

2003, 2004, 2005 

As quoted from the PNGA's Champions and Friendships, ..."her combined 21 victories in individual state and city championships are unparalleled. She has also earned four PNGA championship trophies for good measure."

It is rare for a player to win 9 championships in a career and it is even more rare for that same player to share the same number of runner-up finishes in the same championship.... Ann continues her quest to match her performance by winning three, to date, WSWGA Senior Championships.

Ann has given back to the game as much it has given her. She serves as a representative from Washington on the Women’s Trans-National Board of Directors and on the WSGA’s Championship Committee. She also served as assistant golf coach for the women’s team at the University of Washington from 1976-81..."

Swanson is pictured above blasting out of the bunker on Rainier's difficult 15th in the 1972 WSWGA Championship.

                                      
                                                 Liz Culver

                         WSWGA Champion 1970 & 1972

                                              Overlake GCC

 Liz celebrates her Championship win over Ann Swanson in 1972. Liz also served as WSWGA Trustee and for more than 15 years volunteered her time, knowledge, and efforts as the PNGA Ladies' Advisory Chairwoman. While performing these duties she found enough time to win the 1978 PNGA Amateur.

                         Edean Anderson Ihlanfeldt

                             (pictured left with Grace DeMoss)

                                   Inglewood and Broadmoor

Washington State Womens' Golf Association Champion

1961, 1962, 1963, 1975

In addition to Edean's four WSWGA Titles she has garnered Montana's state title, regional and national titles for her trophy cabinet.

USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Champion 1982; Medalist 1981
Canadian Women’s Open Champion 1952
PNGA Women’s Amateur Champion 1949, 1951, 1962, 1963 & 1964;
Finalist 1948, 1958 & 1966; Medalist 1947, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1958 & 1961
PNGA Senior Women’s Amateur Champion 1986, 1987 & 1988
Women’s Trans-Mississippi Amateur Champion 1953

Montana State Women’s Amateur Champion 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 & 1949

Edean was never one to be without admires and friends in the golfing world. An opponent once said after losing a match to Edean, "...Edean is so gracious, so caring, win or lose. The women golfers respect her like crazy. She’s known nationwide. Everybody knows and loves Edean.”

Edean started the University of Washington Womens' Golf Team and coached from 1975 - 1981 and certainly not for the grand salarly that came with the job. She saw a need for building a collegiate program at Uof W. She scouted the junior talent in the Northwest and through the years coached many of the amateur players that continue to triumph in local and regional events today. Edean's love for golf and the Northwest golfing community is exempilified in her book I've Been Blessed; of which all proceeds go to junior golf.

Edean is a role model to all golfers and all who have had the pleasure to know and laugh with her would agree.

                                  Anne Quast Sanders

   Everett & Broadmoor

Washington State Womens' Amateur Champion

1955 & 1956

Widely known in, not only golfing cirlces, but all sporting circles, as the greatest womens' amateur champion, Anne Sander had the goal to be the best amateur champion ever.  Ms. Sander's first formal exposure to golf started at Everett Country Club.

"...Young Anne’s first formal golf lessons were the result of her mother’s attempt at learning to play the game. Neither of her parents had played golf. Anne tagged along with her mother, who began taking lessons from Ken Tucker, the professional at Everett Golf & Country Club. Her mother never could master the game, but Tucker saw potential in the youngster and continued instructing her. After a few years, Anne joined the Everett club, where she received considerable support and encouragement from the members over the years."

Most would agree Ms. Sanders has met her goal, as her list of titles is vast and varied over the last fifty years:

U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion

1958, 1961 & 1963;

Finalist 1965, 1968 & 1973

U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Champion

1987, 1989, 1990 & 1993

U.S. Girls’ Junior Semifinalist & Medalist 1952

Curtis Cup Team Member

1958, 1960, 1962, 1968, 1974, 1984 & 1990

World Amateur Team Member 1966, 1968 & 1988

British Women’s Amateur Champion 1980

Women’s Western Amateur Champion 1956, 1961 & 1988; Finalist 1955

Women’s Western Junior Girls’ Champion 1954;

Finalist 1955

North & South Women’s Amateur Champion 1982 & 1983; Finalist 1987

Women’s South Atlantic Golf Champion 1956

Helen Lee Doherty Invitational Champion 1957

Hollywood Women’s Invitational Four-Ball Champion

1956

(team partner Ruth Jessen)

Washington State Women’s Public Links Finalist 1951

Washington State Junior Girls’ Champion 1952, 1954 & 1955

Oregon Junior Championship Finalist 1952

Ruth Jessen

Inglewood

Washington State Womens' Amateur Champion

1954

More widely known for her 20 year LPGA career Ms. Jessen developed her skills at the amateur level in Washington winning the 1954 state amateur and winning the PNGA amateur in 1954 and 1955.

As quoted from Dan Raley's Seattle P-I article in August 2007, "...Jessen used to have all of the magical shots. She grew up a half-block from the now-defunct Meadowbrook Golf Course, hunting for golf balls and getting in her first swings. She honed her game and a wieldy reputation at Jackson Park and Inglewood Country Club. At Roosevelt High School, the principal used to let her out of class early if she would agree to play golf with his buddies. She held her own in the golden era of Northwest women's golf, competing against the likes of Joanne Carner, Ann Sander and Pat Lesser-Harbottle, winning several regional titles."

Ms. Jessen turned pro at 19.

"Jessen, the youngest player on the LPGA Tour, later won for the first time. By 1964, she was a golf headliner, winning five times that season and finishing second on five other occasions, including losing the U.S. Open in a playoff."

Ms. Jessen passed away from complication of cancer in September 2007

                      Connie Oldershaw Guthrie

                                   Manito & Spokane CC

     Washington State Womens' Golf Association Champion

                                          1951 & 1980

  From the beginning of her golf career Mrs, Guthrie was tenatious and competitive. She had to be in order to survive against Northwest players such as Ann (Quast) Sander, Grace (DeMoss) Zwahlen, Edean Ihlandfeldt, and Pat (Lesser) Harbottle. 

She is quoted in Championships and Freindships as saying..."I started to do well in tournaments from the very start. But I didn't think of it as being anything but fun. I liked to practice and to compete. At the time, somebody said I should enter some tournaments."

          After getting married and having children, Connie's      priorities changed due to motherhood.

"For anyone who is raising six children, there are many demands. My priorities were to do the best by my family. I was a full-time wife and mother."

By 1980, with most of her children grown, Connie learned the Washington State Women's Golf Association Championship was going to be played in Spokane. The tournament rekindled her competitive flame, and she decided to return to golf. Amazingly, despite decades away from the game, Guthrie won the event. In 1984, she won the event that  had eluded her most, the PNGA Womens' Amateur at Port Ludlow GC against 20 year old Jane Harris.

                            Mrs. Guthrie's titles:
                U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Champion

                                            1984 & 1986
             Women's Western Senior Amateur Champion

                                                     1986

             PNGA Women's Amateur Champion 1984;

                        Medalist 1952, 1953, 1957 & 1974

         PNGA Senior Women's Amateur Champion 1993

             Idaho Women's Amateur Champion 1951 & 1952

               Betty Jean Rucker

                  WSWGA Champion

                                 1946

 A youthful champion from Spokane, "BJ" once matched scores with Patty Berg in a USGA event in 1946. She married and moved to Rhode Island where she continued her golfing dominance as she won 6 Rhode Island State titles.

Her many golf accomplishements include:

U.S. Women’s Open Semifinalist (Match Play) 1946

            U.S. Women’s Amateur        Quarterfinalist 1949 & 1953

PNGA Women’s Amateur Champion 1945 & 1946; Medalist 1941, 1945, 1946 & 1957

Broadmoor Invitational Champion 1944

Rhode Island Women’s Amateur Champion 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 & 1955

Spokane Women’s City Amateur Champion 1939, 1942, 1943 & 1944

Notable WSWGA State Championship Runners-Up:

1955

JoAnne Gunderson, Sand Point

1956

Mrs. R. Jones, Rainier

1959

Judy Hoetmer, Sand Point

1960

Edean Ihlanfeldt, Inglewood

1962

Claudia Lindor

1964

Sue McCoy, Inglewood

1965

Pat Reeves, Everett

1966

Iris Pascuzzi, Royal Oaks

1967

Mrs. H. Hulscher, Fircrest

1968

Elizabeth Culver, Overlake

1969

Barbara Peterson, Inglewood

1970

Linda Challman, Linden

1971

Ann Swanson, Inglewood

1972

Ann Swanson, Inglewood

1973

Sue Dougherty, Sahalee

1974

Linda Fuller, Sahalee

1975

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1976

Laurie Campbell, Rainier

1977

Ginney Burkey, Fircrest

1978

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1979

Elizabeth Culver, Overlake

1980

Tari Pharr, Glendale

1981

Edean Ihlanfeldt, Broadmoor

1982

Jan Whiting, Wenatchee

1983

Edean Ihlanfeldt, Broadmoor

1984

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1985

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1986

Edean Ihlanfeldt, Broadmoor

1987

Ann Johnson, Meridian Valley

1988

Mimi Racicot, Broadmoor

1989

Elizabeth Culver, Overlake

1990

Amy Elieff, Inglewood

1991

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1992

Sara Berlin, Twin Lakes

1993

Wannie Chung, Inglewood

1994

Tari( Pharr) Lebeck, Glendale

1995

Lisa Smith Newman, Tacoma

1996

Sharon Johnston, Fircrest

1997

Jani Japar, Everett

1998

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

1999

Jani Japar, Everett

2000

Mimi Racicot, Everett

2001

Ann Swanson, Sand Point

2002

Alisa Wilson, Everett

2003

Anne Carr, Fairwood

2004

Anne Sander, Broadmoor

2005

Kari Sampson, Clarkston

2006

Jane Harris, Rainier

2007

Denise Kieffer, Fircrest

2008

Anne Carr, Fairwood

2009

Leslie Folsom, Rainier

2010

Pat Terry, Wenatchee

2011

Nancy Eglin, Yakima Elks

2012

Leslie Folsom, Rainier

2013

Denise Kieffer, Fircrest

2014

Denise Kieffer, Fircrest

2015

Madisen Bentley, Fircrest

2016

Jamie Hou, Fairwood

2017

Sue Ursino, Sahalee

2018

Jamie Hou, Fairwood

2019

Michelle Hood, Sahalee