Polly Riley, 75; Winner of the LPGA Tour’s First Sanctioned Event
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Polly Riley, 75, who won the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. Tour’s first sanctioned event in 1950 and competed in the Curtis Cup six times, died of cancer Wednesday in Fort Worth.
Riley, who started playing golf at age 12, won the 1950 Tampa Open, beating Louise Suggs by five strokes in the LPGA Tour’s first event.
She had finished second in the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open. In 1948, she gave Babe Didrikson Zaharias the most lopsided defeat of Zaharias’ career.
Riley clinched the 36-hole, match-play final of the Texas Women’s Open when she took a 10-hole lead over Zaharias with only nine left to play.
Riley, who captained the 1962 U.S. Curtis Cup team, maintained her amateur status throughout her career.
She is a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
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