Dorothy Kirby

Who was Dorothy Kirby?

Mary Dorothy Kirby was an American golf champion and sportscaster.

Born in West Point, Georgia, her family moved to Atlanta when she was ten. At the age of thirteen Dorothy Kirby's victory at the 1933 Georgia Women's Amateur Championship made her the youngest female golfer to ever win a state championship. It marked the first of her six Georgia championships, her last coming 20 years later in 1953. As well, she defeated amateurs and professionals in winning back-to-back National Titleholders Championships in 1941-42. In 1943 she won the North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championship at Pinehurst.

Dorothy Kirby played in her first United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship in 1934 at age fourteen. She was the runner-up to Betty Jameson in 1939 and to Louise Suggs in 1947 then won the most prestigious women's event in 1951. Attempting to defend her title, in 1952 she had the lowest round of the tournament but was still knocked out early. Dorothy Kirby was a member of four U.S. Curtis Cup teams, and despite her success as an amateur, she chose not to join the professional LPGA Tour.