The Sacramento Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour that was held intermittently between the years 1951 and 1962 at three different golf courses in the Sacramento region. In 1953, it was held at our own Bing Maloney Golf Course and it was called the Barbara Romack Open in honor of a very popular and beloved professional golfer from the Sacramento area. Elizabeth Earle “Betsy” Rawls won the tournament that year.
Rawls scored 145 for the two-day tournament. The total purse for the event was $3236 and Rawls took home a check for $875 for the win. Times have certainly changed in the past sixty years when it comes to earning a pay check for having your name on top of the leaderboard, haven’t they?
Rawls was a distinguished golfer on the LPGA Tour who won eight major championships in her career and a total of 55 LPGA Tour events overall. She is also a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1951, Rawls won her first Sacramento Open (then called the Sacramento Women’s Invitational Open) at the Del Paso Country Club. It was her first win after joining the LPGA Tour. When the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame was created, Betsy Rawls was one of the first six to be inducted.
