Suzy Whaley voted first female PGA of America officer

Suzy Whaley, a former LPGA player who qualified and played in a 2003 men`s PGA event, was elected Saturday as the first woman officer in the PGA of America`s history.

The balloting all-but assures that Whaley, who was voted into a two-year term as secretary, will become the first president in the organization`s history in 2018 as officers typically rotate into higher PGA roles.

Derek Sprague was elected president and Paul Levy was elected as vice pesident. Each will serve in his post for the next two years, when Levy would typically rotate into the presidency and Whaley would move into the vice president`s role.

Each step requires another vote but typically the rotation approval is routine.

The PGA of America also announced that the role of honorary president, which outgoing president`s serve for two years, will be retained by Allen Wronowski for two more years rather than passed along to Ted Bishop, who was outsed as the PGA of America president last month for a remark made in a Twitter posting.

Whaley, a golf teacher, became the first woman to quailfy and play in a PGA event in 58 years when she took part in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open. The only other woman to qualify and play in a tournament on the US men`s tour was Babe Zaharias.