Golfer Kathy Whitworth, who clocked most professional tour victories of all time, dies aged 83
Golfer Kathy Whitworth, who clocked up more wins than any other player on a single professional tour, male or female, has died aged 83.
No one has matched her outstanding 88 victories, not the legendary Sam Snead or Tiger Woods, nor Mickey Wright and Annika Sorenstam, who are considered two of the greatest female golfers in history.
Whitworth, who became the first woman to earn $1m (£829m) on the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association), passed away on Christmas Eve, her long-time partner said.
Bettye Odle did not divulge the cause of her partner’s death, but said that Whitworth died suddenly on Saturday night while celebrating with family and friends.
“Kathy left this world the way she lived her life – loving, laugh and creating memories,” Odle said in a statement released by the LPGA Tour.
Baseball star Frank Robinson and Whitworth hold their AP athlete of the year trophies in 1967. Pic: AP
‘Winning never got old’
Whitworth won the first of her 88 titles in the Kelly Girls Opens in July 1962.
During her career, which spanned nearly a quarter of a century, she won six majors and smashed Mickey Wright’s record of 82 career wins when she captured the Lady Michelob in the summer of 1982.
Her final victory came in 1985 at the United Virginia Bank Classic.
“Winning never got old,” Whitworth once said.
Whitworth in 1965. Pic: AP
Whitworth’s record among men and women alike
Snead achieved a record 82 wins on the PGA Tour, a total Woods has since matched.
Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour, while Sorenstam had 72 when she retired after the 2006 season, aged 36.
None of them have yet touched her 88 victories.
“I don’t think about the legacy of 88 tournaments,” she once said.
“I did it because I wanted to win, not to set a record or a goal that no one else could surpass.
“I’m not some great oddity. I was just fortunate to be so successful.
“What I did in being a better player does not make me a better person.”
Whitworth during the Tournament of Champions in New York in 2006. Pic: AP
The one missing title…
Former golfer Betsy Rawls once told Golf Digest that “Kathy was the best player of the game that I have ever seen”.
The only title missing from her glittering career was the US Women’s Open, the biggest of the women’s majors.
Upon becoming the first woman to bring in $1m in career earnings in 1981, she said: “I would have swapped being the first to make a million for winning the Open.
“But it was a consolation which took some of the sting out of not winning.”
Whitworth waits to tee off at the Raleigh LPGA golf tournament, 1972. Pic: AP
‘Golf just grabbed me by the throat’
Whitworth was born in Monahans, a small west Texas town, and started playing at age 15 in Jal, New Mexico, on the nine-hole course built for the El Paso Natural Gas employees.
She turned professional when she was 19 and joined the LPGA Tour in December 1958.
“Golf just grabbed me by the throat,” Whitworth once told Golf Digest.
“I can’t tell you how much I loved it.
“I used to think everyone knew what they wanted to do when they were 15 years old.”
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
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A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
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One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
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