Mann, Carol A. (Mrs. Hardy)
Golf
b. Feb. 3, 1941, Buffalo, NY
Mann played twenty-one seasons on the LPGA tour, beginning in 1960, and she won two or more tournaments in eight of them. She was the U. S. Women's Open champion in 1965 and in 1968 she won ten titles and the Vare Trophy for fewest average strokes per round. Her average of 72.04 was a record until 1978, when Nancy Lopez broke it. Mann's twenty-three rounds under 70 was also a record, broken by Amy Alcott in 1980.
The tour's leading money winner in 1969, Mann had thirty-eight career victories and she won more than $500,000. She began doing golf commentary on television in 1979 and her tournament activity gradually diminished. After playing in fourteen events in 1981, she left the tour entirely. She has been active in drug abuse programs for male and female athletes and has served as a trustee of the Women's Sports Foundation since 1979.
The 6-foot-3 Mann was a very fashion-conscious golfer, one of the few to wear culottes on the tour. She once said, "We should all try to look more ladylike on the course. Being thought of as anything but a woman definitely frosts me."
Mann currently serves as president of Carol Mann, Inc., which develops corporate golf programs, and of Carol Mann Golf Services, a firm that designs and manages golf courses.