Glenna collett vare biography

Glenna Collett Vare is considered the greatest American female golfer of the pre-World War II era, an era when professional tournaments for women were nonexistent. In the biggest event she could play, the U.S. Women's Amateur, Collett Vare set tournament records that still stand today, including most victories (six).

Date of birth: June 20, 1903

Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut

Date and place of death: February 3, 1989 in Gulf Stream, Florida

Also known as: Prior to marriage, she played as Glenna Collett. After marriage, she was often referred to in print as Mrs. Edwin H. Vare. Among her nicknames were "Queen of American Golf" and "the female Bobby Jones."

Collett Vare In the U.S. Women's Amateur

Only two golfers have won the U.S. Women's Amateur more than three times. JoAnne Carner won it five times. And Glenna Collett Vare won it a record six times. Collett Vare's wins and the score in each championship match:

• 1922: def. Margaret Gavin, 5 and 4
• 1925: def. Alexa Stirling, 9 and 8
• 1928: def. Virginia Van Wie, 13 and 12
• 1929: def. Leona Pressler, 4 and 3
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  Edwin C. “Ned” Vare
  1956 team captain

  Like so many other sons, Ned Vare (Class of 1956) learned to play golf from his father at the Philadelphia Golf Club. But no one else could have had a mother like Glenna Collett Vare.

  Glenna Collett was born in New Haven and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. There she learned to play golf from her father at the Metacomet Country Club. She became the finest female golfer of the first half of the twentieth century. In the pre-professional era from 1919 to 1959 she won fifty championships. She advanced to the finals of the US Women’s Amateur Championship eight times and was the champion six times, both records that still stand. As Glenna Collett Vare and mother of two, she won her sixth US Amateur in 1935. In 1924 she didn’t win the US Amateur, but she did win the Canadian championship for the second time. In 1930 she added the French championship. From 1928 to 1931 she entered and won sixteen consecutive tournaments. She was involved either as player or captain of every Curtis Cup competition from 1932 to 1950. Although Vare was never a

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  Induction Category:
  Sports

  America’s “First Lady of Golf,” Glenna Collett Vare, dominated the field of women’s golf in the 1920s, winning six U.S. Amateur Championships, two Canadian Ladies Opens, and the French Ladies Open. She continued to play well into her 80s and was inducted into both the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975 and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.
  
  Glenna Collett was born in New Haven, Conn., and raised in Providence, R.I. The Colletts were a family of sports lovers and Glenna had ample opportunity to show her athletic talents early in life. Whether in the pool as a swimmer and diver, on the tennis court, or on the baseball field with her brother and neighbors, she could certainly hold her own. In 1917, when she was just 14 years old, she asked her father if she could try her hand at golf. Her parents had been hoping their daughter would take to a sport more feminine than baseball, and when she drove the ball more than 100 yards on her first attempt, it became clear that she belonged on the green.
  
  Just two short years after she picked u