Madam President!

Come 2018, that’s how they may formally address Suzy Whaley at meetings of the PGA of America.
 

But back in the day, Syracusans called her Suzy McGuire, aspiring skier – Jamesville-Dewitt, Class of 1984.
 

And while it used to be complimentary to say, ‘You’ve come a long way, baby,’ that wouldn’t be politically correct nowadays.  So we’ll simply say that it’s been 13 years since Suzy made national headlines — initially — on the golf course.

More recently, the much-traveled (now) Connecticut resident established another golfing first, this time off the course.  And she will continue making history in the near future.
 

This Golf Digest Top 50 instructor was taught the game by local pro/Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Famer Joe Tesori.  She played on the LPGA Tour in 1990 and ’93, but became a newsmaker shooting 75-78 in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open, the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event.
 

Suzy qualified by becoming the first woman pro to win the Connecticut PGA Sectional crown (albeit from short tees, prompting the ‘Whaley Rule’ requiring that all qualifiers play from the same tees).
 

A University of North Carolina graduate, who majored in Economics, Whaley is a three-time winner of the Connecticut Women’s Open and a former Connecticut Club Pro champion.  She worked as an LPGA commentator for ESPN from 2004 to 2008.  An LPGA Top 50 instructor from 2008-13, she was the 2012 recipient of the prestigious LPGA National Nancy Lopez Achievement Award.
 

The first woman elected as a national officer of the PGA of America, Suzy serves as its Secretary.  She will become Vice-President.  And in 2018, Suzy will be President of the PGA of America.
 

If that’s not coming a long way, what is?
 

Married to a PGA member, Suzy McGuire Whaley — wife, mother, PGA officer and teaching pro — remains the same unassuming lady she has always been.  So we proudly welcome her into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2016.