PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Susie Maxwell Berning, the three-time U.S. Women's Open winner who was a pioneer as a mother while competing on the LPGA Tour, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. She was 83.
The LPGA said Berning, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, died at her home in Palm Springs.
“We are saddened by the passing of one of our greats,” LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “Susie Maxwell Berning was not just a fantastic player and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, but also a wonderful ambassador for the LPGA and women’s sports overall.
“We will always point to her as a role model for balancing homelife and career, winning major championships while also raising a family. Susie was a strong, pioneering athlete who I have personally admired and whose legacy will continue to inspire future generations of athletes.”
Inducted into the World Gold Hall of Fame in a class that featured Tiger Woods, Berning won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973 and the then-major Western Open in 1965. She had 11 career LPGA Tour titles and was the 1964 rookie if the year.
Susie Maxwell was born in Pasadena, California, and her family moved to Oklahoma City when she was 13. She was introduced to golf in a most unusual way.
She was walking her colt on a bridle path when it got spooked and broke free, and the young girl chased after it down fairways and across greens at Lincoln Park Golf Course. The head pro said he would forget the incident if she taught his kids how to ride, and the pro eventually invited her to the course where Patty Berg was giving a clinic.
“I said to myself: ‘Oh, boy, she’s having a lot of fun. If that’s what golf is about, I think I want to try it,'" Berning said.
She won won three straight state high school titles and became the first female player to receive a golf scholarship to Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team.
“Golf has been great to me,” Berning said in 2021 when she was elected to the Hall. “Throughout my golf career, I was able to raise a family, which was icing on the cake. That’s one reason I didn’t play as many years or as many events. But when I did play, I enjoyed it.”
Family, including her two daughters, came first.
She played only nine times in 1968 because she took time off for a honeymoon after marrying Dale Berning. She won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Open titles that year.
She played just seven tournaments in 1970 when she was pregnant with her daughter, Robin, returning to win the Women's Open in 1972 and 1973. She played twice in 1977, the year she gave birth to a second daughter, Cindy.
“I always thought that having my own family on tour was not just a blessing, but it was an advantage,” Berning said when she was inducted. “No matter how the round went, I was mom first. My priorities were always to make sure their day went well and to spend time with them, to show and teach them that their goals are worth going after, that tough competition can happen in a loving environment.”
Berning, a pupil of Jim Flick, became a renowned teaching professional. She split time between The Reserve Club in Palm Springs and Maroon Creek Country Club in Aspen, Colorado.
“I still believe that we should swing the golf club,” Berning said in 2021. “We don’t try and hit the ball with our core. My hands are the most important thing I have in golf. And then the second most important thing is my feet. That’s the way I played. I swung the club.”
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FILE - Susie Maxwell Berning speaks during her induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, March 9, 2022, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Susie Maxwell holds the silver trophy after winning the 36th annual Women's Western golf tournament, June 14, 1965, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Larry Stoddard, File)
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Krathon made landfall Thursday in the major port city of Kaohsiung, bringing torrential rains and fierce winds to southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan, according to weather authorities.
Krathon made landfall in the industrial Siaogang District of Kaohsiung around 12:40 p.m., the Central Weather Administration said. The typhoon packed maximum sustained winds of 126 kph (78 mph) near its center, with gusts of 162 kph (101 mph).
The typhoon is forecast to move slowly north and weaken into a tropical depression by Friday before it reaches the capital, Taipei.
Kaohsiung earlier urged its residents to take cover from potentially disastrous winds.
The slow-moving typhoon, which has been inching toward Taiwan at a speed of about 4 kph (2.5 mph), doused eastern and southern parts of the island over the past five days, forcing thousands to evacuate from mountainous or low-lying areas. Schools and government offices have been shut around the island for two days, and all domestic flights have been canceled.
Gusts and heavy rains pelted the empty streets.
Many residents woke up Thursday to mobile phone alerts urging them to take shelter from the potentially dangerous winds. The weather administration posted a Facebook message warning Kaohsiung and Pingtung County residents to not go outside when the eye of the storm passes above their area and the weather calms briefly, because the winds and storms will pick up again afterward.
Weather-related events attributed to Krathon injured at least 123 people around the island, according to Taiwan’s fire department. Two people died — one after driving into fallen rocks on the road in the southeastern Taitung county, and the other while trimming tree branches in the city of Hualien. Two others remained missing.
A fire at a hospital in Pingtung County killed at least eight people early Thursday. The deaths were attributed to smoke and the cause was under investigation. It was not immediately clear whether the blaze was related to the typhoon.
Thousands were evacuated from areas vulnerable to mudslides and landslides. Almost 40,000 troops were on standby to help with rescue efforts.
Mountainous areas in the island’s south have seen up to 169 centimeters (5.5 feet) of rain over the past five days.
China's weather agency said some eastern and southern parts of Taiwan are set to see extremely heavy rains of up to 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) over the next 24 hours.
Typhoons rarely hit Taiwan’s west coast, affecting instead the mountainous, eastern side of the island.
Kaohsiung officials, in urging residents to be vigilant about the weather, recalled the destruction brought by Typhoon Thelma, which in 1977 devastated the city and caused 37 deaths.
Earlier in the week, Typhoon Krathon lashed northern Philippine islands, where four people were killed and at least 5,000 were displaced, officials said.
A view of Love River as Typhoon Krathon arrives in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A hotel staff prepares to move a human figure from the doorway to inside as Typhoon Krathon arrives in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A man rides in the wind and rain generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Traffic cones litter the pavement as Typhoon Krathon arrives in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A street view from a hotel that taped the glass of its front door as Typhoon Krathon arrives in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A woman struggles in the wind and rain generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Wind and rain blow through Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, as Typhoon Krathon arrives Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A man struggles in the heavy wind and rain generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A woman struggles with winds generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, Southern Taiwan, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A woman struggles with winds generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, Southern Taiwan, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A woman struggles with winds generated by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung, Southern Taiwan, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
