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Pat Lesser-Harbottle Invitational presented by Seattle University Athletics

PLH-SEATTLE UNIVERSITY REDHAWK INVITATIONAL Pat Lesse Harbottle is one of the greatest female golfers to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest. As the daughter in an Army family, Pat attended six elementary schools in five states and was in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked. When Pat was advancing in her teens, her father Colonel Lesser often took her to ball games and many sporting events. Finally she tagged along with him to the golf course and liked the sport. It was not until she won the Seattle City title at age 14 that she took much interest in practicing. Lesser Harbottle is a graduate of Seattle University and was the first female to play on a collegiate men’s golf team. In four years she won 32 matches, lost 8 and tied 7 as the number 6 player. There is one story that might indicate how her fellow competitors she met in college matches felt. The teammates of a male player who had lost to Pat, who shot 71, was being razzed for losing to a girl. His reply to the hecklers was: “I didn’t lose to a girl. I lost to a 71.” She is the only player ever to win the US Juniors, National Collegiate and US Amateur championships and first to hold The National Amateur, Western Amateur, Doherty Cup and South Atlantic titles in the same year.