GolfNewsRI

Rhode Island women’s golf legend Glenna Collett-Vare is ranked as one of the top amateur players to never turn pro, according to Amateurgolf.com. 

Collett-Vare was born in New Haven, Connecticut but grew up in Providence and learned the game at Metacomet, according to her Hall of Fame page.

“America’s “First Lady of Golf,” Glenna Collett-Vare, dominated the field of women’s golf in the 1920s, winning six U.S. Amateur Championships, two Canadian Ladies Opens, and the French Ladies Open. She learned to play golf when she was 14 and won her first U.S. Women’s Amateur championship in 1922. She regained this title five times (1925, 1928–30, and 1935) and was runner-up twice (1931 and 1932). She won the Canadian championship in 1923 and 1924 and the French championship in 1925. In the mid-1920s she won 59 of 60 consecutive matches in tournament play. She was the captain of the American team in the Curtis Cup competition against Britain in 1934, 1936, and 1948,” writes AmateurGolf.com in their article. 

Of course, turning pro back then was a lot different, especially for women, because there was no LPGA Tour.

That didn’t come along until 1950.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur was considered the most prestigious event that you could win, and Collett-Vare won six of them.

Collett-Vare died in 1989 and played in her last tournament just two years prior at Point Judith. 

She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. 

Since 1953, the LPGA has awarded the Vare Trophy to the golfer who has the lowest average strokes per round in professional tour events.

In 1965, Collett-Vare was the recipient of the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.