NORTON, Massachusetts (May 8, 2024) – Mass Golf today announced that it has accepted the entire collection of more than 100 personal artifacts from Pat Bradley, a Massachusetts native and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee.
This collection of trophies and memorabilia — including her 1981 U.S. Women’s Open sterling silver trophy — will be displayed in the newly-created “Pat Bradley Room” inside the William F. Connell Golf House in Norton, Mass Golf’s official headquarters, as a tribute to Bradley’s remarkable legacy.
Bradley is the winningest female professional golfer to hail from Massachusetts, with 31 LPGA Tour victories, including three of her six majors in 1986 that capped off a career grand slam.
“I am thrilled that Mass Golf has accepted the donation of my trophies and memorabilia,” Bradley said. “It brings me great joy to know that my collection will be proudly displayed at Golf House in Massachusetts, a place I still call home.”
“It is absolutely fitting to dedicate an entire space to Pat Bradley, a defining figure in golf and one of the greatest players of all time,” added Jesse Menachem, Mass Golf Executive Director/CEO. “She is tremendously proud of her Massachusetts roots, and we are delighted that she has chosen to entrust us with her entire collection and give it a forever home here in Golf House.”
Pat Bradley, who grew up in Westford, Massachusetts, had won all four of the LPGA’s major golf titles by 1986. (Courtesy, Golf Magazine)
The collection of Bradley’s artifacts includes trophies, awards, medals, clubs, tapes, and clothing. In addition, there are several scrapbooks from her early amateur career that her father, Dick, proudly pieced together to document his daughter’s achievements locally and nationally.
“It is truly an honor that we have been given this opportunity to steward Pat’s extensive collection,” said Catherine Carmignani, Assistant Executive Director for Mass Golf. “With such a responsibility, we have retained the services of the two foremost experts in this field who could truly do this collection justice: Renowned sports estate and memorabilia appraisal expert Leila Dunbar and author, historian, and museum curator/consultant Rand Jerris.”
Dunbar has appraised collections for the USGA Golf Museum as well as collections/estates of Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Orr, and Hank Aaron. Jerris interned at the USGA Golf Museum beginning in 1988 and became its librarian/historian in 1999. He then served as director of the Museum from 2002 to 2011 and remains active in researching and promoting the history of the game, with an emphasis on the history of golf course architecture and golf art.
Online: Golf Museum & History | Mass Golf Home
Born March 24, 1951, in Westford, Massachusetts, Bradley had success in athletic endeavors ranging from tennis to alpine skiing. But she truly excelled at golf, winning the New England Women’s Amateur in 1972 and 1973 and the 1972 Massachusetts Women’s Amateur. She graduated from Florida International University in 1974 and soon after turned pro.
Bradley personified competitive excellence in her LPGA Professional career, which began 50 years ago. Never the longest hitter on tour, Bradley shined with her short game and concentration, which fellow players have said was the most intense on tour. Sports psychologist Bob Rotella wrote in his 1996 book “Golf Is a Game of Confidence” that Bradley was the most mentally tough athlete he knew.
Almost all her professional victories came in the United States, but her first individual professional title was in Australia in the 1975 Colgate Far East Ladies Tournament. Though not recognized as an official LPGA victory, the trophy is among her vast collection. Bradley’s mother, Kathleen, emphatically rang a cowbell at the family home in Westford for each of Pat’s wins, and upon receiving a phone call in the middle of the night informing her of the victory, the cowbell sounded at 3 a.m.
It would ring several more times throughout the peak of her career over the next decade-plus. Between 1980 and 1991, Bradley captured 26 victories, including all six of her majors, conquering some of golf’s greatest milestones while playing among fellow greats such as Kathy Whitworth, Betsy King, JoAnne Carner, and Nancy Lopez. Bradley maintained trophies honoring her status as the first player in LPGA Tour history to eclipse $2 million, $3 million, and $4 million in earnings.
By winning the Nabisco Dinah Shore (now The Chevron Championship) and LPGA Championship in 1986, Bradley joined Louise Suggs and Mickey Wright as the only players to achieve the career grand slam at the time. Unsurprisingly, she was named LPGA Player of the Year that year and again in 1991.
Bradley also overcame Graves’ disease, an overactive thyroid condition, in the late 1980s and still returned to top form. In 1988, Golf Magazine named Bradley a recipient of the “100 Heroes of the First Century of Golf” Award, and the framing of the award is part of the collection.
Bradley’s signature victory came in the 1981 U.S. Women’s Open at LaGrange Country Club just outside Chicago. In a final-round showdown with Beth Daniel, Bradley sank a 70-foot birdie putt on the 15th. Leading by one on the par-5 18th, Bradley hit a bunker shot to 3 feet and sank a side-hiller, right to left to finish with a final round 66. That mark stood as the low final round by a champion for 23 years.
“To be a member of the USGA family of champions is an amazing accomplishment, and still thrilling to me,” Bradley wrote before competing in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018.
Bradley was inducted into the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame in 2002, along with Francis Ouimet, Donald Ross, and Fred Corcoran. She holds a particular affinity for Ouimet, who is considered the father of American Golf and has an individual room inside Golf House honoring his achievements. Soon, Bradley will have a similar space.
“Growing up here, I never would have dreamed that one day I would be celebrated this way,” Bradley said. “I now know where I’ll be memorialized for eternity, and the thought that I will be across the hall from where Mr. Francis Ouimet is honored is unbelievable to me.”
)
)
)
)
