EDITOR’S NOTE: No other golfer, male or female, won more professional tournaments than the great Kathy Whitworth. The World Golf Hall of Famer from tiny Monahans, Texas, won 88 times on the LPGA, including six major championships. Whitworth died on Dec. 24, 2022, at age 83.
Whitworth’s passing left a hole in the heart of Texas Golf, and it greatly affected those who knew her. One of those is former TGA graphic designer Hallie (Cochran) Vasseur, who forged a loving friendship with Whitworth over the final decade of her life.
Vasseur, a TGA Member and two-time club champion at Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth, serves on the board of directors for both the Kathy Whitworth Foundation and Kathy Whitworth Invitational. She was kind of enough to share some thoughts on her friend Kathy with us.
I have known who Kathy Whitworth was for as long as I can remember. My dad grew up in a small New Mexico town about two hours from where Kathy grew up. I always remember him talking about her 88 wins, and what's even more impressive is her 92 second-place finishes.
That is 180 top-two finishes, which is just unreal.
I first met her when Kelly Kilgo (the Managing Director of the TGA Foundation) and I played in the Kathy Whitworth Classic at Trophy Club in 2015. Fast forward to 2020, and I was asked by the Chair of the Kathy Whitworth Invitational to join their committee. I am a member of Mira Vista Country Club, home to the Kathy Whitworth Invitational, and I was very excited to offer my skill set to help this event, as well as have the opportunity to really get to know Kathy on a more personal level. It was a win-win.
After about a year of serving on the committee, I was asked to co-chair the event, which was super exciting.
About a year and a half ago, Kathy and Bettye, along with several committee members, decided it would be a good idea to create the Kathy Whitworth Foundation. When the foundation was formed, Kathy asked me to be on the board. That was an easy yes! Between the KWI and KWF, that gave me monthly interactions with her, along with group texts and emails.
It was always exciting when I walked into a meeting, and she’d pop up to hug me or ask how my son was doing. All of us on the committee and board enjoyed “getting off topic†in our meetings. We loved listening to Kathy tell us stories or comment on the game’s current status.
She was so humble and just happy all the time. This past year, I sent her and Bettye a Christmas card from our family. A few days after she passed, we got a card in the mail that had the Peanuts Gang on it. My son, who is 2½ years old, took the card and opened and closed it for two days straight, dancing when it started to play music. Finally, I was able to see who it was from and saw that Bettye and Kathy had signed it.
How special that was. It’s a card we'll keep forever.
Kathy meant so much to not only Texas golf, but golf in general. She was someone who was going to give up her golf career early on, but her parents encouraged her to continue. She did, and then never stopped! I love this quote from her:
“There are no absolutes in golf. Golf is such an individual game, and no two people swing alike. Make sure that the career you choose is one you enjoy. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, it will be difficult to give the extra time, effort, and devotion it takes to be a success.â€
One thing that has been cool about being around Kathy is seeing how broad her fanbase is. At the Kathy Whitworth Invitational, you have the best junior girls in the country playing. Not only did they all want their picture taken with her as she would drive around the course watching them play, but their parents did, too!
We visited her this past year at the LPGA's VOA Classic, and fans, male and female of all ages, would come up to talk to her. She would also tell us that she and Nelly Korda would text a lot, and that she’d give Nelly advice. And then you have all the Trophy Club women who loved her so much. She appealed to everyone, and that says a lot.
Golf will miss her, and I’ll miss my friend.