Betsy Rawls

Betsy Rawls was an American professional golfer and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, and one of the founding-era stars of the LPGA Tour. No reliable net worth figure was ever publicly documented for Rawls, whose income came primarily from tournament winnings during an era of far smaller prize funds than modern golf, followed by decades of work as a tournament administrator.

Early Life & Family

Rawls was born on May 4, 1928, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She studied physics at the University of Texas at Austin and did not take up golf seriously until age 17.

Rise to Fame

Rawls finished runner-up to the legendary Babe Zaharias at the 1950 U.S. Women’s Open while still an amateur. She turned professional in 1951 and won that year’s U.S. Women’s Open in her rookie season as a professional.

Career History

Rawls went on to win the U.S. Women’s Open a record four times (1951, 1953, 1957 and 1960), a mark later equalled by Mickey Wright. Over her career she won eight major championships and 55 LPGA Tour titles, and captured the Vare Trophy for the tour’s lowest scoring average in 1959, a season in which she won ten times. She retired from full-time competition in 1975, and from 1987 to 2004 served as tournament director of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, in addition to other administrative roles with the LPGA and USGA.

How They Built Their Wealth

Rawls’s income during her playing career came from tournament prize money in the 1950s to 1970s, a period when LPGA purses were a small fraction of today’s, followed by decades of salaried work as a tournament director and golf administrator. No total net worth figure was ever publicly documented for her.

Personal Life

Rawls never married and had no children. She died on October 21, 2023, in Lewes, Delaware, at the age of 95.

Betsy Rawls passed away in 2023 as one of the founding legends of women’s professional golf, remembered for her record four U.S. Women’s Open titles and her decades of service to the sport off the course.