Clifford Ann Creed, LPGA Tour Winner
Date of birth: September 23, 1938
Place of birth: Alexandria, Louisiana
Creed's LPGA Tour Wins
Creed is credited with 11 wins in official LPGA tournaments:- 1964 Lady Carling Open
- 1964 Cosmopolitan Women's Open
- 1964 Riverside Ladies Open
- 1965 Omaha Jaycee Open
- 1965 Visalia Open
- 1965 Las Cruces Open
- 1966 Dallas Civitan Invitational
- 1966 Lady Carling Open
- 1966 The Success Open
- 1967 Pacific Golf Classic
- 1967 Corpus Christi Civitan Open
In the Majors
Creed never won an LPGA major, but had multiple Top 10 finishes over her career. Those included fourth place in the 1963 U.S. Women's Open, a tie for fourth in the 1964 Women's Western Open, a tie for fifth in the 1965 Titleholders Championship, and fourth place in the 1966 U.S. Women's Open.Her closest call, however, was finishing runner-up in the 1965 LPGA Championship. Creed shot 66 in the third round, the low round of the tournament, to take a share of the lead with Sandra Haynie. In the final round, Haynie edged Creed 72 to 73, winning by one stroke. Haynie and Creed were the only golfers who finished under par.
Clifford Ann Creed Biography
Clifford Ann Creed was named after her father, Clifford Creed. The family lived, during Clifford Ann's childhood, in a house adjoining the Rapides Golf and Country Club near Alexandria, La., where Clifford Creed was the golf pro.Clifford Ann began golfing in earnest at age 11, and that same year she qualified to play in the first flight at the Louisiana Women's Amateur Championship. A year later, at age 12, she won her city's golf championship plus won the first flight in the state amateur.
At age 16, Creed was medalist in the 1955 Southern Women's Amateur with a 72, a score that broke a 30-year women's course record. And that year she claimed the first of her titles in the Louisiana Women's State Am. It's a title she won six times total, in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1961.
The year 1956, when she was 17, was Creed's breakout year. In addition to the Louisiana Am, she won the Western Junior Championship, plus reached the finals of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship before losing to JoAnne Gunderson (Carner).
Later in 1956, Creed entered Lamar Tech (now called Lamar University) in Beaumont, Texas. She graduated with a degree in physical education 1960, but didn't play golf for the school: Lamar didn't have a women's golf program at that time.
Her final year as an amateur was 1962, and she made it a big one: Creed won the North and South Women's Amateur, the South Atlantic Amateur, and won both her matches as a member of the United States team in the 1962 Curtis Cup. And she was low amateur in two LPGA majors of the era, the Titleholders and Women's Western Open.
Then she turned pro.
By this point, Creed had earned a reputation as a very tough competitor whose small size (5-foot-4 and just over 100 pounds) gave a false initial impression of her toughness. A Sports Illustrated writer in 1962 called her "Little Ben," comparing her to Ben Hogan, and he wasn't the only one to do so:
"Clifford Ann is a female Ben Hogan. She is so determined that she puts you on edge." — Anne Quast Decker
Creed played in one LPGA Tour event in 1962 and finished third. In 1963, her first full year on tour, she improved her best finish to second place. She was named LPGA Rookie of the Year.
And in 1964, Creed broke out with her first victory, and then two more. She won three tournaments again in 1965, and another three in 1966.
In 1967, Creed added two more wins, giving her a career total of 11 in just her first four full years on tour. Then she never won again — not in an official LPGA event, anyway.
She did win the (unofficial money) Yankee Ladies Team Championship in 1967 and LPGA Four-Ball Championship in 1968, and she had some close calls over the rest of her career. Creed lost in a playoff at the 1973 Birmingham Classic, and fell to Donna Caponi in another playoff at the 1976 Portland Classic.
By the time the 1980s dawned, Creed was cutting back her LPGA schedule and had taken a job as director of golf at Bayou Oaks Golf & Country Club in Sulphur, La., a job she held for about 20 years. She still occasionally played tournaments in the LPGA T&CP Division (for club and teaching pros) into the mid-1990s.
Creed had multiple high finishes on the LPGA money list during her career, including fifth in 1963, eighth in 1964, fourth in 1965, fifth in 1966, sixth in 1967 and sixth in 1968. She ranked as high as second in those years in stroke average.
As of the end of the 1973 season, Creed was 17th in LPGA career earnings; following the 1981 LPGA season, she was 30th.
Creed is a member of the Lamar University Hall of Honor as well as the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
