PAT LESSER HARBOTTLE
SeattleU Hall of Fame Member
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. Theirs was a close father and daughter relationship when pat was advancing in her teens and 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. She 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 man player who had lost to Pat, who had 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 the same year.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
-USGA JUNIOR GIRLS AND WESTERN JUNIOR CHAMPION 1950
-TWO TIME LOW AMATEUR USGA WOMEN'S OPEN
-USGA WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPION 1955
-WINNER DOUGHERTY CUP, SOUTH ATLANTIC AND WESTERN AMATEUR 1955
-CURTIS CUP TEAM 1954, 1956
-NCAA CHAMPION 1953
-PACIFIC NORTHWEST CHAMPION 1952, 1953, 1965
-WASHINGTON STATE CHAMPION 1952, 1974
-SEATTLE CITY CHAMPION 1948, 1949
-SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER "MAN OF THE YEAR" 1955
-PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOLF HALL OF FAME 1985
-WASHINGTON STATE SPORTS HALL OF FAME 1999
-SEATTLE UNIVERSITY HALL OF FAME
