Whaley named PGA Master Professional
Instructor just ninth woman to earn designation.
Not all professional golfers have been measured by the number of victories at majors or career money earnings.
Suzy Whaley’s contribution to the game is deeper than that.
From hitting Whiffle Balls over her neighbor’s fence as a 9-yearold, she would become an LPGA tour professional.
Whaley — already recognized as one of the top instructors in the United States — in May became the ninth woman to earn the PGA Master Professional designation, the PGA of America’s highest educational achievement.
That’s a significant honor considering there are 565 women that have played or are currently play- ing on the LPGA tour.
“Certainly, this is exciting for me, but this is a team effort and to represent tour members of more than 29,000 across the country in making sure they have the resources to promote the game of golf,” said Whaley, 51, whose family splits time in their homes in Connecticut and PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. “We want everyone to have the opportunity to play.”
Whaley
Whaley’s latest distinction joins a long list of off-course accomplishments.
She became the first women selected to serve as a PGA officer when she became the association’s vice president in late 2016.
Whaley enjoyed a fiveyear tenure at Jim Flick Golf Schools, before becoming the head golf professional at Blue Fox Run in Avon, Connecticut, in 2002. From 200406, she worked as an LPGA golf commentator for ESPN.
The PGA Master Professional Program (MPP) was established in 1969 to recognize PGA members who have made a substantial effort to improve as golf professionals and maintain the highest degree of excellence for themselves and their operations.
Whaley, who qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open while in high school, loves to play every day. She said the plan was to attend college and then law school after high school, but she earned a sponsor to go to tour school. She gave it a shot in Sweetwater, Texas, and would become a golf professional.
“I played the tour and learned from the top instructors in the game and I have since thrived as an instructor,” said Whaley, who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1989. “My career has gone so many directions. Golf has given me the opportunity that I have received because the game has been tremendous.
“Sports are fun and being outside drew me to the game with my mom. For me, it was never like when I was 9 that I would be a professional golfer.”
She began playing golf competitively as a teenager and has appreciated the opportunities the game has provided ever since.
One of those opportunities was the chance to compete in a PGA Tour event.
Whaley is one of six women golfers to compete in a PGA Tour event, joining Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Shirley Spork, Michelle Wie, Annika Sorenstam and Brittany Lincicome. Whaley qualified and participated in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open, becoming the first women since Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event.
Lincicome was the latest, competing in the Barbasol Championship last weekend.
“It was something I wanted to accomplish,” Whaley said. “As for Brittany, she should be so proud of playing in a PGA Tour event. She has so much fun playing the game.”
Whaley most recently played in the inaugural USGA-sponsored U.S. Women’s Senior Open at the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Ill.
Despite missing the cut, she said the experience to play along some of the LPGA’s greatest was memorable.
“Playing golf has allowed me the opportunity to promote the game,” Whaley said. “And I am thrilled to be around LPGA professionals and honor the best of everything it represents.”