Dorothy Kirby

Dorothy Kirby
Personal information
Full name	Dorothy Kirby
Born	January 15, 1920(1920-01-15) West Point, Georgia
Died	December 12, 2000(2000-12-12) (aged 80) Atlanta, Georgia
Nationality	United States
Career
Status	Amateur
Professional wins	2
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	2
Best results in LPGA Major Championships (Wins: 2)
Western Open	2nd: 1943, 1947
Titleholders C'ship	Won: 1941, 1942
U.S. Women's Open	7th: 1951

Mary Dorothy Kirby (born January 15, 1920 - December 12, 2000) was an American golf champion and sportscaster.

Born in West Point, Georgia, her family moved to Atlanta when she was ten. At the age of thirteen Dorothy Kirby's victory at the 1933 Georgia Women's Amateur Championship made her the youngest female golfer to ever win a state championship. It marked the first of her six Georgia championships, her last coming 20 years later in 1953.^[1] As well, she defeated amateurs and professionals in winning back-to-back National Titleholders Championships in 1941-42. In 1943 she won the North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championship at Pinehurst.

Dorothy Kirby played in her first United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship in 1934 at age fourteen. She was the runner-up to Betty Jameson in 1939 and to Louise Suggs in 1947 then won the most prestigious women's event in 1951. Attempting to defend her title, in 1952 she had the lowest round of the tournament but was still knocked out early. Dorothy Kirby was a member of four U.S. Curtis Cup teams 91948, 1950, 1952, 1954), and despite her success as an amateur, she chose not to join the professional LPGA Tour.

Dorothy Kirby retired from competition in the mid 1950s and worked as a radio and television sportscaster and sales representative for thirty-five years. In 1974 she was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.

She died in Atlanta in 2000.

Amateur wins

• 1933 Georgia Women's Amateur
• 1935 Georgia Women's Amateur
• 1936 Georgia Women's Amateur
• 1937 Southern Women's Amateur
• 1941 Georgia Women's Amateur
• 1943 North and South Women's Amateur
• 1951 U.S. Women's Amateur
• 1952 Georgia Women's Amateur
• 1953 Georgia Women's Amateur

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1941	Titleholders Championship	−1 (80-72-72=224)	16 strokes	Helen Sigel
1942	Titleholders Championship	[phone]=239)	5 strokes	Eileen Stulb

References

1. ^ Georgia Women's Amateur history

External links

• Georgia Sports Hall of Fame

Persondata
Name	Kirby, Dorothy
Alternative names
Short description	Amateur golfer
Date of birth	January 15, 1920
Place of birth	West Point, Georgia
Date of death	December 12, 2000
Place of death	Atlanta, Georgia