September 7

One of the world’s greatest woman golfers, Mae Louise Suggs, was born in Atlanta. Comedian Bob Hope nicknamed her “Miss Sluggs.” Golfer Ben Hogan called her the “sweet–swinging Georgia Miss.”

Louise Suggs grew up in a sporting family. She began playing golf at age ten and won eight championships during her amateur career. In her first professional tournament, the 1949 Women’s Open, she beat the legendary Mildrid “Babe” Zaharias by fourteen strokes and set the 72–hole record that stood for nearly 40 years.

Suggs was a charter member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She went on to win 58 LPGA tournaments, including eleven major championships, and was the first female inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was in the first class in the LPGA Hall of Fame and was the first woman inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. The pioneering golfer who has been called a “certified Georgia legend” was born on September 7, 1923, Today in Georgia History.