Pat Bradley, a Massachusetts native and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, has donated her entire collection of trophies and memorabilia to Mass Golf.
The collection includes her 1981 U.S. Women’s Open sterling silver trophy, and all will be displayed in the newly-created Pat Bradley Room inside the William F. Connell Golf House in Norton, Mass Golf’s official headquarters.
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, a Westford native 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.”
The collection includes trophies, awards, medals, clubs, tapes and clothing. There are several scrapbooks from her amateur career that her father, Dick, proudly pieced together to document his daughter’s achievements locally and nationally.
Mass Golf has retained the services of 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 in 1988 and became its librarian/historian in 1999. He then served as director of the museum from 2002 to 2011.
Bradley, 73, 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 turned pro.
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.
Her first individual professional title was in Australia in the 1975 Colgate Far East Ladies Tournament. 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 many more times throughout her career. Between 1980 and 1991, Bradley had 26 victories, including all six of her majors, conquering some of golf’s greatest milestones while playing among such fellow greats as Kathy Whitworth, Betsy King, JoAnne Carner and Nancy Lopez. Bradley was the first player in LPGA Tour history to eclipse $2 million, $3 million and $4 million in earnings.
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 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.”
