The 1956 LPGA Tour was the seventh season since the LPGA Tour officially began in 1950. The season ran from January 14 to October 21. The season consisted of 25 official money events. Marlene Hagge won the most tournaments, eight. She also led the money list with earnings of $20,235.
The season saw the first tournament outside United States, the Havana Open in Cuba. There were five first-time winners in 1956, Kathy Cornelius, Betty Dodd, Mary Lena Faulk, Mickey Wright, and Joyce Ziske. Wright would win 82 LPGA events in her career, second only to Kathy Whitworth's 88.
The tournament results and award winners are listed below.
Tournament results The following table shows all the official money events for the 1956 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.
Date Tournament Location Winner Score Purse ($) 1st prize ($) Jan 15 Sea Island Open Georgia Marlene Hagge (4) 152 3,000 630 Jan 22 Tampa Open Florida Betsy Rawls (19) 293 4,500 900 Feb 5 Havana Open Cuba Louise Suggs (35) 227 4,500 1,000 Feb 12 Serbin Open Florida Fay Crocker (4) 144 3,500 630 Feb 19 St. Petersburg Open Florida Kathy Cornelius (1) 287 5,000 900 Feb 26 Sarasota Open Florida Betsy Rawls (20) 291 5,000 1,000 Mar 5 Jacksonville Open Florida Mickey Wright (1) 294 4,500 900 Mar 11 Titleholders Championship Georgia Louise Suggs (36) 302 5,000 1,000 Apr 15 Babe Zaharias Open Texas Marlene Hagge (5) 219 4,000 900 Apr 22 Dallas Open Texas Patty Berg (41) 291 7,500 1,350 Apr 29 Peach Blossom Open South Carolina Betsy Rawls (21) 292 4,000 900 Jun 3 Pittsburgh Open Pennsylvania Marlene Hagge (6) 293 6,000 Jun 10 Triangle Round Robin Virginia Marlene Hagge (7) +50 10,000 2,000 Jun 24 LPGA Championship Michigan Marlene Hagge (8) 291 6,500 1,350 Jul 1 Women's Western Open Iowa Beverly Hanson (8) 304 5,000 1,000 Jul 8 Syracuse Open New York Joyce Ziske (1) 221 6,500 1,316 Jul 29 U.S. Women's Open Minnesota Kathy Cornelius (2) 302 6,000 1,500 Aug 5 All American Open Illinois Louise Suggs (37) 301 5,000 1,000 Aug 12 World Championship Illinois Marlene Hagge (9) 298 14,000 6,000 Aug 19 St. Louis Open Missouri Fay Crocker (5) 288 4,000 880 Aug 26 Denver Open Colorado Marlene Hagge (10) 284 4,000 800 Sep 16 Clock Open California Marlene Hagge (11) 292 4,500 900 Oct 7 Kansas City Open Missouri Mary Lena Faulk (1) 214 5,000 880 Oct 14 Arkansas Open Arkansas Patty Berg (42) 287 4,000 880 Oct 21 Lawton Open Oklahoma Betty Dodd (1) 214 4,000 880
Awards AwardWinnerCountry Money winner Marlene Hagge Scoring leader (Vare Trophy) Patty Berg (3)
References
External links LPGA Tour official site