When 93-year-old Kathy Cornelius went into a memory care facility nine months ago, she picked up the habit of playing "My Country Tis of Thee" on a dining room piano. Three times a day, she'd sit down to practice. Her two kids, Kay and Karen, were amazed because while they had a piano in their home growing up, not once did they ever see her play.
"I think it was a memory from 85 years prior," said her youngest daughter Kay, "from watching her mom play the piano."
Kathy's drive and focus to play that patriotic song – even when her mind otherwise betrayed her – were the same inner-workings that led her to be a national champion.
At the care facility, they'd roll out a putting mat every now and then and Kathy would light up. The staff marveled at a skill
Kathy picked up age 13 and never stopped perfecting.
Kathy Cornelius, the 1956 U.S. Women's Open champion, died on Sept. 28 at age 93.
One of only three players to win the championship after becoming a mom, the great-grandmother was a seven-time winner on the LPGA. She joined the tour in 1956 and won twice that rookie season, including the U.S. Women’s Open in an 18-hole playoff at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minnesota. Cornelius defeated Barbara McIntire on eldest daughter Karen’s second birthday.
"She was humble, steadfast, just lived life the same way that she played," said daughter Kay. "You didn’t know if she was over par or under par when you looked at her. We can aspire to live life like that. Deep down inside, she was content."
Kathy and Kay hold a unique piece of golf history as the only mother-daughter duo to win USGA championships. In 1981, 25 years after mom won the Women’s Open, Kay became the youngest to ever win the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1981 at age 14.
“We didn’t have daycare,” said Kay of life on tour. “We walked 18 holes every day and lived and breathed every stroke.”
Kathy McKinnon grew up in Lake Worth, Florida, and, three years after she picked up golf, drove 180 miles north to Lakeland, Florida, at age 16 to study journalism and play golf on the men’s team at Florida Southern College, where she subbed in when they were shorthanded. While there she fell in love with Bill Cornelius, who worked as an assistant at the city-owned Cleveland Heights Golf Course. Kathy got married and turned professional in 1953, leaving school early to pursue her passion.
“I just couldn’t resist the urge to play golf,” she told Golfweek in a 2022 interview.
Karen’s best friend on tour was Bonnie Bell, daughter of Peggy Kirk Bell. Kay, 12 years younger, was pals with Judy Rankin’s son Tuey. The kids were welcome in the locker room most of the day, Kathy recalled, and on occasion, they even went inside the ropes during a practice round to hit a shot. Patty Berg’s weekly clinic was a must-see event. Karen and Bonnie watched it so many times they could recite every word.
They traveled strictly by car in those early years because the money they played for didn’t warrant traveling by plane. And besides, Kathy said, there were toys to contend with.
It’s been six years since a mom has won on the LPGA and 17 years since a mom won a major. Cornelius’s feat as a rookie – winning a U.S. Women’s Open title after giving birth – has only been matched by two other players: Susie Maxwell Berning (1972, 1973) and Juli Inkster (1999, 2002).
“Every time you go back a decade, it’s that much harder,” said 81-year-old Rankin of playing the tour as a mom. “There’s no substantial help. You’re figuring it out while you’re traveling and in places you don’t know. … It was hard for me in the late 60s. I can’t imagine a decade sooner how hard it was.”
Kathy won seven times on the LPGA in a career that spanned nearly 30 years. Bill traveled with the family most of the time, working a part-time job for Golf Pride grips while on the tour.
“I look back at my parents,” said Kay, “and for my dad, in that generation, to let mom be the centerpiece of the family and supporting what she did … that was unheard of.”
Among Kathy's victories were the 1962 Babe Zaharias Open and 1956 Hot Springs 4-Ball Invitational with Beverly Hanson, a World Golf Hall of Fame member. Her LPGA titles came against legends like Betsy Rawls, Patty Berg, Kathy Whitworth and JoAnne Carner. Her last title, the Sealy-Faberge Classic in 1973, came at the age of 40 in a playoff against Rankin. She won $25,000.
“Kathy was the most mild-mannered person you will ever know,” said Rankin. “If she had strong opinions, she pretty much kept it to herself.
“To get whole lot out of her good, bad or indifferent, was difficult. She just took care of her own business. She was the rare person who wasn’t in anybody’s else’s life.”
As for her golf game, Kathy didn’t have great speed or length, but she was consistent. Bill helped keep her technically sound game sharp.
“I don’t ever remember Kathy ever hitting the ball poorly,” said Rankin.
The Cornelius’s opened up a driving range in Litchfield Park, Arizona, when Kay was 4 years old, giving her unlimited access to range balls. Kay followed in her mother’s footsteps but learned the game from her father.
The couple owned a small golf components company, Magique Golf (French for magic) until the early 2000s.
Kathy is preceded in death by husband Bill, who died in 2019. Kathy resided in Chandler, Arizona, close to family, and lived by herself up until last December.
For the past few years, Karen and Kay threw cleaning parties at mom's house, trying on old clothes and looking at pictures together. They've come across so many treasures, like personalized photos from Babe Zaharias and autographed books of Ben Hogan, who Bill idolized.
While she quit playing the game many years ago, Kathy often carried an old pitching wedge on her walks in the neighborhood and would hit pitch shots from tree to tree.
She never did stop putting.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Former U.S. Women's Open winner who made USGA history dies at 93
