Susie Maxwell Berning, an alumnus from Oklahoma City University, was inducted into the golf hall of fame on March 9, 2022, after a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berning was born in 1941. She began playing golf when she was fifteen years old. Berning was inducted into the OCU Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.
During her time at Oklahoma City University, Maxwell was the first woman to receive a golf scholarship on the team. At the time, she played on the men’s team, since the women’s golf team had not yet been developed. She also won three Oklahoma City Women’s Amateur Championships between 1959 and 1961.
Berning became a professional golfer in 1963. Since then, she has been named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1964, won the Muskogee Civitan and the Western Open in 1965, won the Louise Suggs Invitational and the Milwaukee open in 1967, won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, won the Lady Carling and the Pabst Classic in 1969, won the U.S. Women’s Open for a second time in 1972 and again in 1973, won the Lady Keystone Open in 1976, won the Marilynn Smith Founders Classic in 1989, and won the Sprint Senior Challenge in 1997, among a few other victories.
Berning is among a few golfers to win the U.S open three times. The first time she won the U.S. open was only seven weeks after she had married to her long-term husband, Dale Berning.
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