NORTON, Mass – As one of the proudest of sporting states, Massachusetts is no slough when it comes to honoring its greatest professional athletes, but when it comes down to golf legends the category is narrow, and when it comes down to professional women golfers the profiles are real thin.
Pat Bradley is the one name that rises to the top of not only born-and-bred-and still living in Massachusetts, but also one the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s most decorated professional golfers, and she wants golf history to forever remember her that way.
In a few months, the Bay State will have a new historic sports attraction thanks to Pat Bradley and the efforts of Mass Golf, a golf association consisting of about 110,000 golfers and 360 member clubs. “The Pat Bradley Room” will soon be open to the public in the William F. Connell Golf House in Norton, adjacent to TPC Boston, site of 17 PGA Tour events that started in 2003 as The Deutsche Bank Championship.
According to a report published by PGA Women’s Clinics Executive Director Melanie Bedrosian https://www.pgawomensclinics.com/ this is a magnificent tribute to the winningest female golf professional to hail from Massachusetts, since Bradley is handing over the hardware from her entire career for a perpetual exhibit.
Baby Boomers have vivid, cherished memories of Pat Bradley, who excelled at golf, tennis and alpine skiing as a young athlete growing up in Westford, Mass. She joined the LPGA Tour in 1974, won 31 Tour events, including six major championships and she was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.
“Massachusetts is a team sport state,” Bradley said in her interview with Bedrosian. “They don’t really know me. They know some of the youngsters in golf coming up now, but I came up early. I grew up about 40 minutes from Norton. I’m hoping when the people come through and see my room, they see what I’ve done and they say, ‘geez, this young lady really had a career.’”
Earlier this year, Bradley reached out to Jesse Menachem, the Executive Director and CEO of Mass Golf, and offered her entire collection of trophies and memorabilia for a perpetual exhibit. “He was thrilled, and he said they would be honored,” recalls Bradley. “I have been smiling ever since.”
Twice named LPGA Tour Player of the Year (1986, 1991), Bradley was also inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame and the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame. Her collection includes numerous trophies, tapes, photographs, and pieces of golf memorabilia and equipment from Bradley’s 25-year career on the LPGA Tour that featured 31 trips to the winner’s circle and six major championship titles.
“The crown jewel is my U.S. Open trophy,” notes Bradley, one of only six women in the history of women’s professional golf to complete the career grand slam (1986), meaning she won all four of the major championships held in her era. “I had a replica made by a silversmith in England, and that will be on display,” said Bradley. “There are only two of us from Massachusetts who have won a U.S. Open – me and Mr. Francis Ouimet (1913). My room will be across the hall from his.”
Bradley, who is a member at Hyannisport Club, has donated over 100 of her personal artifacts to be featured in the newly constructed exhibit. Two of the foremost experts in the field of collection and estate appraisal – renowned sports estate and memorabilia appraisal expert Leila Dunbar and author, historian, and museum curator/consultant Rand Jerris – have been retained by Mass Golf to assist in itemizing, categorizing and valuating Bradley’s unique collection.
“I’m thrilled knowing that my things will be together for eternity,” says Bradley, who remains active on the Legends of the LPGA at age 73, most recently winning the 2022 BJ’s Charity Championship with teammate Jamie Fischer. Last month. she teed it up at The Woodford Legends Invitational in Versailles, Kentucky. “I wanted to do this before I’m six feet under,” added Bradley matter-of-factly. “We only have so much time, and sometimes that’s hard to talk about, but it’s nice to look ahead and have people come through and see all of your accomplishments whether you’re still here or not.”
Long before she was an LPGA Tour and Solheim Cup stalwart, Bradley won the New Hampshire Amateur in 1967 and 1969 and the New England Amateur in 1972 and 1973. In 1970, she earned All-American honors at Florida International University before joining the Tour in 1974.
“I mean, I lost more than I won. That’s golf,” she said, whose nephew is PGA Tour player Keegan Bradley. “But I won more than most, and I just want people to know that I really worked hard and grinded, and I was rewarded. Knowing I will be in a beautiful spot is wonderful, and hopefully people will appreciate what I did.”
A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for September 2025 once the design and construction of “The Pat Bradley Room” is complete. Certainly a most deserving tribute to a Bay State sports legend with an unparalleled career in professional golf!
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