SCGA Hall of Fame welcomes Eisenhower alum Brandie Burton

The SCGA Hall of Fame inducted its 13th class last month at Brookside GC in Pasadena in front of more than 200 guests. Brandie Burton, five-time Solheim Cup member and two-time LPGA Major Champion, and Joe Novak, an integral name within Bel-Air CC’s history, were honored and inducted into the prestigious hall of fame.

From the beginning of her career in the SoCal junior golf circuit to her success on the LPGA Tour, Burton set the bar high with no shortage of accolades. 

Before graduating from Eisenhower HS in Rialto, she was already the 1988 PGA National Champion, the 1989 U.S. Girl’s Junior Champion and a two-time winner of the San Diego Junior World Championships. With that resume, Burton proved to be Sun Devil material, joining the Arizona State University women’s golf team in the Fall of 1989.

As a freshman, Burton quickly rose to the top. She won six of her first seven tournaments, capped off by a Pac-10 title, an NCAA Team Championship and a No. 1 U.S. collegiate ranking. That season alone, Burton proved she could compete with the best in the world.

After participating on the U.S. Curtis Cup team and winning the North and South Women’s Amateur Championship in the summer of 1990, she would forgo her amateur status. With an aggressive mindset and distance off the tee, Burton was named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1991 after eight top-10 finishes.

In 1993, the San Bernardino native cemented her legacy. Up against Hall of Famer Betsy King in a sudden-death playoff at the du Maurier Classic, Burton birdied the first playoff hole to defeat the six-time major winner for her first major victory. Burton would be named 1993 Golf World Female Player of the Year. At the same event in 1998, Burton defeated 10-time major winner Annika Sörenstam by one stroke to claim her second major title.

In all, she competed in five Solheim Cups, recorded 88 top-10 finishes and was inducted into the Rialto Hall of Fame in 2007 followed by the ASU Hall of Fame in 2008. Burton, who resides in La Verne, CA, was the youngest female golfer to surpass $1 million in career earnings.