Marlene Hagge

Born: February 16, 1934, in Eureka, South Dakota
Also Known As: Played as Marlene Bauer until getting married, then as Marlene Bauer Hagge for a time.

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LPGA Championship: 1956

• Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
• LPGA money leader, 1956
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, 1949

Marlene Hagge, on being one of the 13 LPGA Tour cofounders: "I never thought of myself as a pioneer. We were just a bunch of stubborn women who loved golf and figured we could make it happen."

• Marlene Hagge joined the LPGA Tour at age 16 in 1950. She remains the youngest golfer to join the LPGA.

• Won 1952 Sarasota Open two weeks prior to her 18th birthday, making her the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history.

• In 1971, Hagge set an LPGA Tour 9-hole scoring record of 29 at the Lem Immke Buick Open. The record stood for 13 years.

• She played competitively on the LPGA Tour in each of the tour's first five decades of existence.

If you thought Michelle Wie was a young golf phenom, you should have seen Marlene Hagge - then known as Marlene Bauer - in the 1940s and '50s. She was the famous child golfer of her time, and her accomplishments were such that the Associated Press named her its Female Athlete of the Year in 1949. She was only 15 years old.

Hagge went on to a long career on the LPGA Tour, playing competitively in each of the tour's first five decades, and although she might not have won as much as some would have expected, her career did take her to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Hagge began playing golf at age 3, and she dominated the California amateur circuit in the late 1940s. In 1947, just 13 years old, she became the youngest player to make the cut at the U.S. Women's Open, and finished eighth. In 1949, she won the first-ever U.S. Girls Junior Championship, then added the prestigious Western Girls Junior Championship. She also finished sixth at the U.S. Women's Open that year.

How big a part of women's golf had Hagge become by this age? So big that, just 16 years old, she was one of the 13 cofounders of the LPGA Tour (her older sister Alice Bauer was also a cofounder).

And when Hagge began her LPGA career in 1950, she did so as the youngest tour member (16) - a distinction she still holds.

Hagge was a petite, pretty blonde whom some have called the tour's first "glamour girl." But as we've seen, she could definitely play. After that stellar amateur career, it took her a while to get started on the LPGA, her first win coming at the 1952 Sarasota Open when she was just shy of 18 years old.

Hagge's best season, by far, was 1956, when she led the LPGA with eight wins, finished second nine times, and led in earnings. She also claimed her only major title that year at the LPGA Championship.

While she never had another season approaching that one, Hagge did continue playing well for a long time. In 1971, she set a 9-hole scoring record that stood for 13 years. She continued playing a full or partial schedule all the way through 1990.

Hagge was voted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002 through the LPGA's Veterans category.