Colleen Walker obit

Colleen Walker, Nine-Time Winner on L.P.G.A. Tour, Dies at 56

She was not on the list.

Colleen Walker, a nine-time winner on the L.P.G.A. Tour who captured the 1997 du Maurier Classic 10 months after giving birth, died Tuesday in Valrico, Fla. She was 56.

The L.P.G.A. said that Walker, who was treated for breast cancer in 2003, died of a cancer recurrence that was diagnosed last year.

Walker had been playing on the tour for 15 years when she earned her only victory in a major, rallying from four shots down entering the final round of the du Maurier at the Glen Abbey course in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. She shot an eight-under-par 65, capped by a 20-foot birdie putt, to win by two shots.

It was Walker’s first victory since 1992, when she captured three tournaments.

“It’s been five years and a baby,” she said.

She had appeared in only seven tournaments in 1996 before leaving the tour to give birth to her son, Tyler, in October.

“I’ve had a lot of time in the last year to think about golf and how much I want to play,” she said at the time. “I was itching to get back on the tour. Still, after having Tyler, I have a new perspective on life. Four-footers aren’t as important anymore.”

ImageColleen Walker shot an eight-under-par 65, capped by a 20-foot birdie putt, to win the du Maurier Classic in 1997 by two shots.

Colleen Walker shot an eight-under-par 65, capped by a 20-foot birdie putt, to win the du Maurier Classic in 1997 by two shots.Credit...Kevin Frayer/Associated Press

A few weeks after that victory, she won the Star Bank L.P.G.A. Classic.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she told The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the following January in looking back on her 1997 exploits. Her husband, Ron Bakich, who was also her coach, suggested that having a child made a difference.

“She found inspiration,” Bakich said. “It’s a renewal of life.”

But Walker was never in contention in the following two years on the tour, then tore cartilage in her left wrist when she hit a tree root on a swing in a 2000 tournament. The injury required surgery and caused continuing problems that restricted her to a few tournaments before she was found to have breast cancer in January 2003.

She had chemotherapy and radiation treatment, then returned to competition in September of that year. She finished in a tie for 10th at a senior event, essentially an attempt to see if she could still play. But she retired from the L.P.G.A. Tour in 2004.

Walker was born on Aug. 16, 1956, in Jacksonville, Fla., and grew up in Palm Beach, where she began playing golf at 14. She was an outstanding golfer at Florida State University; she received a degree in marketing, then joined the L.P.G.A. Tour in 1982.

She excelled at her short game, but her first tour victory didn’t come until the 1987 Mayflower Classic. In 1988, she captured the Vare Trophy for the tour’s lowest scoring average and finished a career-high fifth on the money list.

In addition to her husband and their son, Tyler Walker Bakich, an outstanding junior golfer, Walker is survived by her parents, Lamar and Mary Ellen Walker; a brother, Robin; and her stepsons, Warga and Huntley Bakich, The Tampa Bay Times said.

Walker was upbeat after her breast cancer treatment, although in the months to come she was unable to stage the comeback she had envisioned.

“What I want to do is go out and play good golf,” she told The Boston Globe in May 2004. “Will I be an inspiration? I hope so. If I can help awareness, I’m more than happy to help.”