Hill, Opal S. (1892–1981)
Hill, Opal S. (1892–1981)
American golfer. Born on June 2, 1892, in Newport, Nebraska; died in June 1981 in Kansas City, Missouri; grew up in Kansas City, Missouri; married (husband died in 1942).
In 1914, 22-year-old Opal Hill was diagnosed with a kidney infection and anemia; the doctors gave her three years to live. To offset the illness, mild exercise was prescribed, and Hill eventually took up golf. From 1929 to 1936, she was a consistently formidable golfer, who won the North and South (1928), was selected for the Curtis Cup team (1932, 1934, 1936), and reached the semifinals of the USGA three times and the quarterfinals twice. But the field in those years was unusually strong, with such opponents as Glenna Collett Vare, Virginia Van Wie, Maureen Orcutt , and Charlotte Glutting . In other tournaments, Hill was far more successful, winning the Western Women's tourney five times, the Trans-Mississippi four times, the Western Open twice, the Missouri Valley twice, and the Missouri State three times. In 1937, she set a world record in women's golf with a blazing 66, then turned pro on October 18, 1938, only the second to do so. Opal Hill was a pioneer in the development of women's professional golf.