Holing a 40-foot putt on the 18th, Jane Crafter won her first individual professional event in 1990, sensationally beating the legendary, Nancy Lopez, who to that point had won 40 LPGA titles.
Jane Crafter’s Dad, Brian, had a lot to do with his daughter Jane and son Neil picking up golf clubs as kids.
The Crafter family, including Uncle Murray Crafter – a reputed player, coach and course architect, was a renowned golfing family in SA and beyond.
Brian Crafter was a dominant SA golfer in the 50s and 60s and later also became a highly regarded professional coach and commentator.
Both siblings had notable success on the golf course, especially Jane who joined the professional tour following a standout period of tournament wins as an amateur.
She had won the NZ Amateur title, the Belgian Amateur Championships, the SA Amateur Championship and was runner-up in the 1977 Australian and 1980 Canadian championships.
Turning pro had plenty of risks, but Crafter knew her game was at the required level. She was a LPGA rookie in the 1981-82 season and took out her first title in 1987 – a mixed team event.
Holing a 40-foot putt on the 18th, she finally won her first individual professional event in 1990, sensationally beating the legendary, Nancy Lopez, who to that point had had 40 LPGA victories.
This huge victory can never be overlooked.
At home in Australia, she twice won the 1996 Australian Ladies Masters and the 1997 Women’s Australian Open.
But it wasn’t always golf. Crafter was a qualified pharmacist before investing herself fulltime into golf. After retiring, she followed her father’s footsteps into commentating and administrating.
She was also inducted in the SA Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and the SA Golf Industry Hall of Fame.
Based in the US, in her videoed acceptance speech, Jane Crafter thanked the SA Ladies Golf Union and the Australian Ladies Golf Union, a nod to the women who had gone before her and helped provide enormous opportunities for herself and others.
