b'by Tom Cade, Editor-in-ChiefRemembering A legend and a pioneer in the PacificNorthwests golf community, Pat (Lesser) Harbottle passed away on July PNGA Hall of Famer 30, 2025. She was 91.Pat was the wunderkind of American Pat Lesser Harbottle womens golf in the mid-20th century. Winner of the 1950 U.S. Girls Junior and 1955 U.S. Womens Amateur. Low amateur in three U.S. Womens Opens. Member of the 1954 and 1956 U.S. Curtis Cup teams. She more than held her own against some of the greatest names in womens golf historyZaharias, Wright, Berg, Suggs. She also won multiple PNGA titles, and was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 1985. She was a pioneer in womens sports. Decades before Title IXwhen there were no womens college golf programsshe played four years on the mens golf team at Seattle University, often as its No. 1 player. Pat was a great supporter of the PNGA, WA Golf, and the golf community, said Troy Andrew, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association. Many of us were fortunate to know her and experience her grace, warmth, and inspiration. She paved the Pat Lesser, standing next to the Robert Cox Trophy for winning the 1955 U.S. Womens Amateur,way for generations of women in golf, was honored as the 1955 Seattle Sportsman of the Year. (Courtesy Harbottle family) and her legacy will live on through all those she impacted.Patricia Ann Lesser was born in Queens, New York, in August 1933 to Louis and Marguerite Lesser. Hungarian, French Canadian and Irish, she would often say of the gene pool that bequeathed lovely dark features from which she stood out among her contemporaries. My parents and relatives call me Patsy.Her father was a career officer in the Army, her mother an Army nurse. At age 7, Pat was introduced to the game by her father while he was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, Hawaii. Upon his Pat Lesser (third from left) was a member of Seattle Universitys mens golf team in 1952.medical discharge in 1944, Colonel Lesser Her future husband, John Harbottle II, is next to her (fourth from left).settled the family in Seattle, Washington, and shepherded his daughters development as a golfer.SEPT 2025|PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOLFER19'