Last month the greatest swinger of the golf club passed away in Port St. Lucie, Florida at age 85. You might wonder how I could make such an assessment. Well, for my money’s worth, I’ve always ascertained that the best ball strikers in the history of golf were Texans born one generation apart, namely Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino. Yet when pressed by members of the media way back in the 1960s and beyond, Hogan always had the same response. Hogan contended that “the best pure swing I’ve ever seen belonged to Mickey Wright.”
Mickey Wright is basically unknown to modern fans of the game. She played on the LPGA Tour in its formative years, yet she was a dominant performer for an extended period of time and her story needs to be told.
Born in 1935 in San Diego, Mary (Mickey) Kathryn Wright picked up the game at a young age. Although she was most probably a child prodigy, there was little opportunity in those days for women golfers let alone junior girls. However, the USGA did hold a Girls Junior championship and Mickey won it in 1952 as a 17-year-old. It was just the fourth year of existence for the U.S. Girls Junior. As an interesting aside, the inaugural U.S. Girls Junior had just 28 contestants in 1949. From 1953 through late 1954, Wright attended Stanford University. She lost in the finals of the 1954 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Alleghany Country Club to future LPGA regular, Barbara Romack. Later that summer Mickey won the Women’s World Amateur. She left Stanford and decided to turn professional at the conclusion of the year.
Mickey was an LPGA rookie in 1955 as a 20-year-old and it only took her one full season to get used to the competitive world of the LPGA Tour. She had her breakthrough victory in 1956 at the Jacksonville Open and from that point on there was no stopping her. She repeated the feat by winning in Jacksonville again in 1957 along with two other LPGA Tour victories. People started to take notice of Wright in 1958 as she won five times on tour, including two LPGA majors, the LPGA Championship and the United States Women’s Open.
For the next 10 years, Mickey Wright was atop LPGA leader boards with uncanny regularity. She won four times in 1959, including a second U.S. Women’s Open. In 1960 she added six more titles to her golfing resume and acquired a second LPGA Championship. After that it got crazy good as Mickey won 10 times in 1961, another 10 times in 1962, an unbelievable 13 times in 1963, and added 11 more victories in 1964. She won at least one major championship each year during that run. Wright won twice in 1965, seven tournaments in 1966, and took home four LPGA titles in both 1967 and 1968.
By then Mickey was 33 years old and her career started to slow. She recorded her final LPGA Tour win in 1973. She would continue to play on a semi-regular basis on tour but had to severely cut back her schedule in the early 1970s because of foot issues. She played some degree of senior women’s golf and her final tournament of any sort was in 1995 in the Sprint Senior Challenge at Daytona Beach. The 60-year-old closed out her career by making birdie on the final hole at the Sprint Senior.
The record book on Mickey Wright is jaw dropping. She accumulated 82 wins on tour, second most to Kathy Whitworth, who had 88. Mickey also was second in major title victories with 13, second best to Patty Berg with 15. She was the leading money winner on the LPGA Tour for four consecutive years (1961 through 1964). She won the LPGA Vare Trophy for the lowest stroke average for five consecutive years (1960 through 1964). Mickey was the Associated Press’ female athlete of the year in 1963 as well as 1964. From 1956-1969 she was not only in the top 10 on the money list, but she also won at least one tour title during that 14-year run.
In 1995 Wright decided to walk away from the game and the limelight. She was a veritable recluse from that point on. She did pen an instructional golf book entitled “Play Golf the Wright Way,” but other than that she was unseen and unheard from the next 25 years. When the LPGA celebrated its 50th anniversary a short drive away from her home, she failed to attend. In 2012 the USGA opened up the Mickey Wright Room at the USGA Museum in New Jersey, but she missed that event as well. She made the decision that her public days from age 15-60 were officially over. She fished and hit golf balls from her back deck onto the neighboring golf course. She was quoted as saying, “That’s all I want to do.”
In 2000, Golf Digest Magazine ranked the top 100 golfers of the 20th century. Jack Nicklaus was ranked No. 1 and Mickey Wright was ranked No. 9. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1976 and received the Bob Jones Award for her commitment to the game in 2010. A four-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Open, the champion at each year’s Women’s National Open is awarded the Mickey Wright Medal.
Although I was very aware of Mickey Wright during my formative years, I never got to see her play up close and personal. Yet I’ll take Ben Hogan’s word for it; she was the owner of golf’s greatest swing.
Closer to home
Former Kelseyville High School golf star Matt Wotherspoon continues to play impact golf in Southern California for Cypress College. Two weeks ago Wotherspoon shot a 3-over-par 75 at Victoria Country Club in Riverside at the RCC Invitational. His team finished in third place behind the College of the Canyons and Reedley College. This past Monday at the Orange Empire Conference’s team matches at Navy Golf Club in Cypress, Wotherspoon carded a 1-over-par 73. His team came in first among the six teams in their league and shot a team score of 362 for their top five scores. That pencils out to a very impressive 72.4 average and puts Cypress atop the early standings in the OEC. A state juco title could be on the horizon.
Finally, the Coastal Mountain Conference’s South Division kicks off its season next Thursday at Rooster Run Golf Club in Petaluma. Without putting a golfing jinx on them, this is the year that Middletown High School will be the prohibitive favorite to win their first CMC South title since 1998. Middletown is well-coached by HVL golf professional Richard Pritchard. Mark my words, this will be the year when MHS keeps St. Vincent from claiming its 10th straight league title.
