Barbara McIntire is no stranger to sports honors from organizations based in Colorado. The two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, in just the organization’s second class.
Twenty years ago, McIntire (left in a USGA photo) went into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2015, she was named the Colorado Female Player of the Century as part of the Century of Golf Gala festivities.
And now, the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame has come calling. On Tuesday (Oct. 23) at The Broadmoor World Arena, McIntire will be one of six people/teams that will go into the Hall. It’s fitting, given that McIntire has been a fixture in the Springs and was a longtime business partner of World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Bell at The Broadmoor.
For many years, McIntire was one of the most prominent figures in women’s amateur golf.
In 1956, she came within a stroke of becoming the first amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Instead, she tied for first with Cathy Cornelius, then lost to her in an 18-hole playoff. In addition to her two U.S. Women’s Amateur victories (1959 and ’64), McIntire prevailed in the 1960 British Ladies Amateur. As a teenager, McIntire was twice runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior, in 1951 and ’52. She lost in the ’52 final 1 up to Mickey Wright. In Colorado, she won the CGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship in 1962.
Six times, McIntire played on U.S. teams at the Curtis Cup, and later she captained two winning American Curtis Cup squads.
In 2000, McIntire received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the USGA, recognizing a person who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones, who won the Grand Slam in 1930 and nine USGA championships in all.
McIntire also served as the chairperson of USGA Women’s Committee for two years in the mid-1990s.
