By Alex Myers
In the first of a four-part series revisiting the inaugural two seasons of Local Knowledge, we look at some of the unique characters highlighted in our episodes.

From trailblazers to folk heroes to singular personalities, these figures have made for some of our favourite subjects. Whether they racked up major championships or controversial headlines—and in some cases, both—all of them were compelling stories.

We start with Babe Didrikson Zaharias, arguably the most dominant athlete—not just golfer—the world has ever seen. Then we move to Jan Stephenson (At the 5:50 mark in the episode), who followed in the Babe’s footsteps on the LPGA Tour, but took a much different path.

Parts of our Moe Norman episode follow (10:15) before stories about Lee Trevino, Ben Hogan and Phil Mickelson from Golf Digest’s Guy Yocom (14:20). And we finish with current three-time defending world long drive champ Kyle Berkshire (19:50), who is leading a power charge that could be coming to the PGA Tour soon. Please have a listen:

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By Alex Myers
Tiger Woods has authored arguably both the most dominant win in golf history at the 2000 U.S. Open and the sport’s most unlikely comeback victory at the 2019 Masters. Emphasis on arguably, because what if you could somehow combine those two performances?

Then you’d pretty much have what Babe Didrikson Zaharias accomplished at the 1954 U.S. Women’s Open.

Zaharias, some 15 months removed from colon cancer surgery, blew the field away at Salem Country Club to win by 12 shots. And she did it while having a colostomy bag strapped to her side.

With the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open being played this week, we decided to revisit the most incredible win in the event’s history for the latest edition of Local Knowledge. And to examine an amazing woman who helped pave the way for all of today’s professional female athletes.

A winner of a staggering 82 amateur and pro golf tournaments including 10 majors and the only woman to make a PGA Tour cut, Didrikson Zaharias’ golf resume becomes even more impressive when you consider golf wasn’t even the first sport at which she excelled. Not even close.

To dive deeper into Didrikson Zaharias, we talked with ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., whose biography, “Wonder Girl,” is the most comprehensive work on Babe’s remarkable life and career. We discuss the obstacles she overcame, her vast athletic achievements that go well beyond golf, and why despite all of that, she has become as Van Natta describes, “one of the most-forgotten American superstars.”

We’ve done our best, though, to make sure she’s remembered during this week on the golf calendar. Please have a listen to our closer look at this sporting legend.

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By Daniel Rapaport
A trio of Hall of Fame golfers—Annika Sorenstam, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gary Player—will receive the United States’ highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Thursday from President Donald Trump.

W.L. Pate Jr., president of the Babe Zaharias Foundation, is expected to accept the medal in honour of Zaharias, who died in 1956.

The medal is described as a recognition of “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.” Only four other golfers have received it: Arnold Palmer (2004), Jack Nicklaus (2005), Charlie Sifford (2014) and Tiger Woods (2019). Trump awarded Woods with the medal shortly after he won the 2019 Masters.

The White House announced in March that Sorenstam and Player would receive the honour, but Zaharias is a new addition.

Sorenstam, 50, dominated women’s golf from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The Swede amassed 72 official LPGA Tour wins, including 10 majors, and was named player of the year a record eight times. She stepped away from playing full-time professional golf in 2008 and has since focused on philanthropic and business pursuits.

Zaharias is widely considered one of the finest athletes ever, having won gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw at the 1932 Olympics—all before she took up golf in 1935, at the age of 24, then became perhaps the greatest woman’s golfer in history. Like Sorenstam, she won 10 major championships and completed the Grand Slam in 1950, winning all three women’s majors at the time. She holds the distinction as the only woman ever to make a cut in a PGA Tour event, which she did three times.

Known as the “Black Knight” for his penchant for wearing all black, Player was one-third of golf’s “Big Three” alongside Nicklaus and Palmer. The South African is one of five players ever to complete the career Grand Slam by winning all four men’s majors, and he is the only non-American to have done so. He won 160 tournaments worldwide, including nine majors, and since his retirement he has remained an active presence in the game. He has designed over 400 golf courses worldwide and is the founder of the Player Foundation, which seeks to provide underprivileged children with access to education.

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By Joel Beall
The coronavirus pandemic has hit a giant pause button on fans being able to watch golf on TV, and in some cases, even kept people off courses. But while we hunker down and hope for a speedy return to normalcy, we can also use this time as an opportunity to learn more about the game we love. Here’s our latest instalment of “Did you know?”

A grand total of six women have teed it up on the PGA Tour. However, only one has ever made a cut.

That would be the great Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

A late adaptor to golf, Zaharias turned to the sport in 1935 after winning gold in track and field in the 1932 Olympics. Zaharias first entered the 1935 Cascades Open, missing the cut with an 88 and 86. Her follow-up performance was a WD at the 1937 Chicago Open, and she missed the cut at next year’s Los Angeles Open with consecutive rounds in the 80s.

But Zaharias persisted and made the 36-hole cut at the 1945 Los Angeles Open, and though a Saturday 81 prohibited her from playing on Sunday, she would make the cut and played all 72 holes at the Phoenix Open and Tuscon Open. She would play just once more on Tour, missing the weekend at the 1946 L.A. Open.

Zaharias attempted to become the first open to qualify for the U.S. Open in 1948, but her application was rejected by the USGA, which said only men could enter the event.

Despite her late introduction to the game, Zaharias won 10 women’s majors and over 40 events in her career, and in 1950 become one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA. There have been 12 starts on Tour by women since Zaharias’ last event, the most recent being Brittany Lincicome at the 2018 Barbasol Championship.

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