Susie Maxwell Berning balanced family and a Hall of Fame career

Words by Ron Sirak

The first entries into Susie Maxwell Berning’s World Golf Hall of Fame resume were etched on the playing fields of Oklahoma, and the last came on the practice tees of California and Colorado, where she was an acclaimed instructor. Along the way, she won four major championships – the U.S. Women’s Open three times – and was a trailblazer as a mom on the LPGA Tour.

Berning began playing golf at the age of 15 and quickly excelled at the game. She won three straight Oklahoma State High School Golf Championships, which helped earn her the first female golf scholarship offered by Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team.

She was the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in 1964 and went on to win 11 LPGA Tour events, including the 1965 Western Open and the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973, joining fellow Hall of Fame members Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright, Babe Zaharias, Hollis Stacy and Annika Sorenstam as the only players to win that championship three or more times. She’s also one of only seven players to win the U.S. Women’s Open in back-to-back years.

A two-year battle with lung cancer

Berning passed away on Wednesday October 2, 2024 at home in Palm Springs, California after a more than two-year battle with lung cancer. She was 83.

“We are saddened by the passing of one of our greats,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “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 home life 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.” 

Because Berning had an abbreviated career as she balanced family and professional life, recognition came late. But when she was inducted into the World Gold Hall of Fame in 2021, it was with a class that included Tiger Woods, elevating her name into the same sentence with the greats of the game.

“Quite an honor,” she said at the induction ceremony. “Just to be in the same room as Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth, Judy Rankin and Patty Berg. To be honored alongside them is something I thought would never happen. I never even thought about it. I'm now part of their family, which makes me very proud.”

Balancing personal and professional life

That Berning managed to win 11 times is remarkable, considering she always placed her personal life above her professional pursuits. In 1968, she played only nine events because she took time off for a honeymoon after marrying Dale Berning, yet she still won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Open titles that year.

In 1970, she played in only seven events when she was pregnant with her daughter Robin and then came back to win the Women’s Open in 1972 and ‘73. And, in 1977, she made only two appearances, ultimately giving birth to her daughter Cindy that year.

At the peak of her career – one that spanned 10 years from 1968 through 1977 – Berning averaged fewer than 13 tournaments a year. After retiring from Tour play, Berning became a well-respected teaching professional, dividing her time between The Reserve Club in Palm Springs, Calif., Maroon Creek Country Club in Aspen, Colorado, and spending more time with her family.

Winning a Major as a mother

The list of women who’ve won an LPGA Tour major after becoming a mother is even shorter than those who’ve won the U.S. Women’s Open three or more times. It is one that includes only Nancy Lopez, Juli Inkster and Catriona Matthew along with Berning. And when Berning played on Tour, the Child Development Center had yet to become a travelling fixture helping working moms on the LPGA.

“In my second year, I think I played every tournament," Berning said. In fact, she played 30 events in both 1965 and 1966 and 26 in 1967. “When I joined the Tour in 1964, we had to play every week because the Tour needed us to keep the sponsors happy,” she said. “After I got married in 1968, when I won the Open, I had played one tournament before that, but I hadn't played in like four weeks before that because I was on my honeymoon.”

Susie Maxwell Berning route into golf

Susie Maxwell was born July 22, 1941, in Pasadena, California. Her family moved to Oklahoma City when she was 13 years old, and she took up golf at 15, quickly mastering the game. She won both the Oklahoma State High School Championship and the Oklahoma City Women’s Amateur three consecutive times. She also won the 1963 Oklahoma Women’s Amateur.

Berning joined the LPGA in 1964 and picked up her first professional win at the 1965 Muskogee Civitan, later winning the Western Open that same year, which was a major championship at the time. In 1967, she won the Louise Suggs Invitational and the Milwaukee Open. But it was in the majors that she played her best.

“I found myself giving more attention and more focus to every shot during a major,” Berning said. “When it came time for the majors, for some reason, I tried harder. I often asked myself, ‘Why can't I try that hard in a regular tournament?’ And I don't know the answer to that.”

U.S. Women's Open victory

Berning won her first U.S. Women’s Open in 1968 at Moselem Springs Golf Club near Reading, Pennsylvania, finishing three strokes ahead of Mickey Wright, who already had four U.S. Women’s Open trophies of her own. A newlywed of less than two months, Berning led wire to wire, closing with a 71 to hold off Wright’s hard charging 68.

Berning triumphed again in the 1972 U.S. Women's Open at Winged Foot after finishing 10th in her previous start, also a major.

“I probably went into that year's Open with some confidence because I'd finished pretty good in the LPGA Championship,” said Berning, who won at Winged Foot by one stroke over Kathy Ahern, Pam Barnett and Judy Rankin.

“When you're playing good, you want to continue playing in tournaments and at that time I didn't play in every tournament because I was married, and I was raising a family. I had a two-year-old daughter, so I played maybe just 10 or 11 tournaments that year.”

Berning is especially proud of the fact that she won at Winged Foot despite a first-round 79. “To this day, that's still the highest opening round of any winner of the U.S. Women's Open,” she said.

A title defence at the U.S. Women's Open

Berning picked up her third U.S. Women’s Open – and successfully defended the title – in 1973 at Rochester Country Club. She opened with a 72 but faltered with a 77 in the second round that included four three-putts. That night, Dale handed her a lighter putter he bought for $5. She practiced with it in their motel room and closed 69-72 to win by five strokes over Gloria Ehret and Shelley Hamlin on her 32nd birthday.

A photo taken after that 1973 U.S. Women’s Open is an eloquent summation of the career of Susie Maxwell Berning.

In one hand, she is holding the championship trophy while she hugs her daughter Robin with the other, once again successfully balancing her professional life with her personal life.

She was a Hall of Famer at both.

This tribute was shared by the LPGA.