1961 - The Year Wright Showed Her Might
August 19, 2011

NORTH AMERICA, 1961. In Washington D.C, President Kennedy makes women's rights a key issue of his New Frontier plan on his way to election as US President.

A second wave of feminism spreads across the country, which would cause numerous protests in their struggle to reach equality. Helen Gurley Brown's book Sex and the Single Girl caused uproar among the predominately male society, while Helen Reddy's song ‘I Am Woman' became something of a feminist anthem among American women.

Away from these scenes in Florida, Mickey Wright had claimed victory in the St. Petersburg Open scoring a record-tying score of 279 and beating her nearest rival by four shots. This triumph would turn out to be the start of the greatest year in Mickey's golfing career, one that would see her begin to dominate the ladies game and cement her place among the all-time legends of the golfing circuit.

Mary Kathryn Wright was born in San Diego, California in 1935; she adopted the nickname ‘Mickey' after her father had already decided she was going to be born a boy and had called her Michael. After taking up golf at the tender age of nine years old, she excelled in numerous tournaments throughout her teens before attending Stanford University, only to leave after a year to concentrate on golf. From there, she turned professional and joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1955. She amassed a reasonable amount of tournament wins during the next few years, usually winning two or three competitions a year. However it was 1961 that really set her apart from her competitors; an incredible 10 victories saw her become the highest earner of the year, with $22,236 won on the course.

After the St Petersburg Open came the Miami Open in March. Her immense power on the course was demonstrated during this competition, with Wright sinking a 30-foot putt for a birdie on the first hole and later driving a tee shot an impressive 295 yards. After being tied with fellow top golfer Jo Ann Prentice for a large part of the tournament, Mickey came out on top and recorded her second tournament victory of the year.

Slight intimidation

Mickey's enormous drives soon gained many plaudits; the late Ben Hogan once called her golf swing technique "the best I ever saw". The sheer might of Wright's drives were admired by male and female competitors throughout the golfing world. Mickey took great pride in her exceptionally powerful swing; she once stated that she could "out-hit many men – much to their embarrassment". But do not mistake this confidence for arrogance; the fact is that what she said was simply true.

Ken Brown, a British ex-professional golfer who now works as a broadcaster, believes that Mickey brought a lot to the table in terms of trying to bridge the gap between women's golf and men's. "There was that slight intimidation because the men didn't want to get beaten by the ladies, but Wright was determined to see if she could mix it with them. [The 1960s] were pioneering times – Mickey believed that women should have a status within the game."

While this is true, Mickey never went out of her way to target the male golfers at the time. Female ex-pro Mickey Walker, who played on the USA Tour in 1974, explains: "I don't think the way to win men over is by confrontation…A lot of women were achievers but because of them being outspoken a lot of men wouldn't have acknowledged that. Mickey being the person that she was just went about her golf very quietly and successfully, but she wasn't somebody to confront the men or demand anything. She had the respect of the men simply because of how good she was and how she played."

Shunned the limelight

And she played very, very well. Her fantastic year continued with her winning the Titleholders Championship in Augusta, Georgia, and the Columbus Open. This was swiftly followed by triumph in the U.S Women's Open, the first of the two majors she would win in '61 (she would win another two the following year, becoming the only LPGA player to hold all four at the same time in the process). The New York Times described her performance in this tournament as "calm and relaxed"; a testament to her approach to these competitions. Her reluctance to indulge in the fame that came with her success demonstrated her immense passion for golf.

"She was a shy person and somebody who would shun the limelight," Walker continues. "She did what she had to do as far as press conferences and interviews, but normally she was a very shy person."

Vivien Saunders OBE, who played with Wright during her professional career, also recalls her bashful nature. "I remember that some of the discussion amongst players was that Mickey was so dominant they needed to almost allow other players to bring some more glamour to the LPGA Tour. This was more because she was rather quiet and a very private person and some of the players felt they needed players who were more akin to entertainers."

It was this ‘keep your head down and get on with it' attitude that drew admiration from all of her fellow golfers. In an interview with Time Magazine in 1963, she was quoted as saying "it's a case of if I win, well, I was supposed to."

Her wonderful year was rounded off in style with wins in the Spokane Women's Open, the Sacramento Valley Open, the Mickey Wright Invitational and her second major win in the LPGA Championship. By the end of 1961, Mickey was not only recognised as the major force in women's golf, she was also ranked above many male competitors as one of the most talented players of the era.

Wright made people think ‘we've got to aspire to that'

Brown agrees with this. "If you go through the years – be it men or ladies – golfers have inspired people to improve themselves," he explains. "But Mickey Wright in particular with her exceptional power made people think ‘we've got to aspire to that'.

"The ladies tour wasn't as big and glamorous as it evolved to be so I think Mickey definitely brought a lot to the table."

Somewhat unfortunately, Mickey Wright's career struggled to hit the heights of her early ‘60s form as the decade progressed.

"The dominance in 1961 was incredible, with people in women's golf always talking of this in the same way as they talked of Byron Nelson or Ben Hogan [two golfers who reigned supreme during their careers]," explains Saunders. "But I feel she decided that she had achieved everything she wanted and may have backed off the game slightly from then on." Chronic foot and wrist injuries forced her to effectively retire from the game in 1969, yet she never lost her passion for golf; she would continue to play in tournaments on occasion, winning the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle – now know as the Kraft Nabisco Championship – in 1973.

Although she was only 34 when she retired, she arguably left more of an impression on golf than any other female; she was inducted into her hometown of San Diego's Breitbard Hall of Fame in 1961. Brown believes Mickey's achievements in this year broke new ground for bridging the gap between male and female competitors, much the same as Billie Jean King's efforts in tennis: "She was a pioneer of that. People like Mickey Wright were exceptional people to be able to be spoken about on the same terms as men's golf – at that time it was even harder for those two to be matched up," he says. "There aren't many times – even in modern times – where ladies mix with the men."

1961 was a defining year in Wright's career. The women protesting all over the country didn't notice a blonde, blue-eyed woman setting a stellar example of how to conduct yourself and gain respect in a world dominated by men. Luckily, the sporting world did, and she has been held in the highest regard by men and women alike ever since.