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      Patty Berg, the golf pioneer who won an LPGA Tour-record 15
major titles and was one of the 13 founding members of the tour in
1950, died Sunday. She was 88.

      She died at Hope Hospice in Fort Myers, Fla., of complications
from Alzheimer's disease, the LPGA Tour said.

      Berg was the LPGA Tour's first president, serving from 1950-52,
and was the money leader in 1954, '55 and '57. The Minnesota native
ended her career with 60 victories and is a member of the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame.

      "I was very sorry to hear that," Annika Sorenstam said at the
LPGA Tour event in Broken Arrow, Okla. "Patty has done a lot for
golf and especially for women's golf, to be one of the founders. I
think we'll miss her dearly.

      "I remember the last few years, I've seen her do clinics. She
was quite hysterical, with a great sense of humor, and a pioneer. I
think we're all going to miss her, but most of all, I just want to
say thanks for everything she has done."

      Berg, The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1938,
'43 and '55, won the 1938 U.S. Women's Amateur and swept the
1937-39 Titleholders as an amateur for her first three major
victories. She served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps during
World War II and went on to win the 1946 U.S. Women's Open. She won
the Titleholders four more times and was a seven-time winner of the
Women's Western Open.

      "She was really an original. There will be only one Patty,"
former LPGA Tour star Sandra Post said Sunday at the Canadian Open.
"She was famous for her clinics and started doing that during the
war years. And she didn't she just hit shots. She was an
entertainer and really funny. Patty was the whole package.

      "Think about what she saw, from the war, through the years with
the Babe (Zaharias) and all the way into the time when the tour was
on TV. She was still playing up until the '80s. She was very active
and vibrant until the last couple of years."

      Berg was a top all-around athlete before turning to golf in her
teens. She even quarterbacked a sandlot football squad called the
"50th Street Tigers" that featured former Oklahoma coach Bud
Wilkinson, a neighbor and longtime friend.

      "If it weren't for her I wouldn't have been interested in the
game," said Cristie Kerr, the tournament winner Sunday. "I
thought about that on the first tee this morning, and I was sad to
hear that she has passed. She led a very blessed, a great, long
life, and her contribution to the game will be forever
commendable."

      "Those founders of the LPGA, all of the players, we do not
begin to thank them enough every day for what they've done for us
and the game of golf."

      The LPGA created the Patty Berg Award in 1978 for outstanding
contributions to women's golf, an award she won in 1990. Berg and
the other LPGA founders also were honored in 2000 with the
Commissioner's Award.

      "Patty was a wonderfully talented woman who was dedicated to
golf, to growing the game and to making the sport fun for golfers
of all ages," LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said. "She
was a pioneer, an athlete, a mentor, a friend and an entertainer.
She had a sense of humor that sparked a smile in all who met her."

      Berg, also a member of the All-American Collegiate Hall of Fame
and the University of Minnesota Women's Athletic Department Hall of
Fame, was the honorary chair for the 2002 Solheim Cup at her home
course, Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.

      "I think she's going to be remembered as just one of the
greatest ambassadors for the game of golf, for women's golf, and
just a tremendous talent," Interlachen head pro Jock Olson said.
"We may not be where we are today if it wasn't for Patty Berg."


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She died at Hope Hospice in Fort Myers, Fla., of complications
from Alzheimer's disease, the LPGA Tour said.

Patty Berg, LPGA Tour founder and star, dies at 88

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