Dottie Pepper

Pepper was born in Saratoga Springs, New York. Her father, Don, was a major league baseball player, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a "rookie to watch", along with Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, in 1968. Her career began with big amateur victories in her home state of New York. She won the 1981 state amateur and the 1981 and 1983 New York Junior Amateur titles. She was a member of the 1981 Junior World Cup team and low amateur at the 1984 U.S. Women's Open. She attended Furman University, where she earned five collegiate victories and was named All-American three times.

Pepper joined the LPGA Tour in 1988 and won 17 official events on the Tour, including two major championships: the 1992 and 1999 Nabisco Dinah Shore. Her 19-under-par finish in the 1999 victory still stands as the lowest score in relation to par in a major championship. She topped the money list in 1992 and finished in the top ten in ten of eleven seasons between 1991 and 2001. Pepper also played for the United States in the Solheim Cup six times.

Due to injury problems, Pepper played only one tournament in 2002. In July 2004 she announced that she would retire at the end of the season. In 2005, she began work as a golf commentator for NBC and The Golf Channel, reporting on both men's and women's events.

During the 2007 Solheim Cup, Pepper caused some stir while working as commentator for the Golf Channel. She called the American team "choking freaking dogs". She thought the network had cut to commercial when the comment was uttered, but it was actually still broadcasting live. Some players and fans were upset by this and Pepper quickly apologized for her "poor choice of words".^[1]

In July 2012 Pepper was named by captain Meg Mallon as one of two assistant captains for the U.S. Team at the 2013 Solheim Cup.^[2]

Pepper retired from commentating in December 2012, tired of the traveling and wanting to spend more time promoting junior golf as a PGA of America board member.^[3] In May 2013, she signed a contract with ESPN to return to commentating on a limited basis, working mainly major tournaments on the PGA, LPGA and Champions Tours.^[4] In October 2015, Pepper was signed to a contract with CBS, replacing David Feherty who had left the network to work for NBC and to continue his Feherty series on the Golf Channel. She took up Feherty's role as on-course reporter as well as doing occasional tower announcing.^[5]

Pepper served as a member of the PGA of America Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015, and the NENY PGA Board of Directors from 2009 to 2015. She was the recipient of the 2016 William D. Richardson Award, presented by the Golf Writers Association of America for her consistently outstanding contributions to golf. She is also a 2018 inductee to the New York State Golf Association Hall of Fame.^[6] The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America awarded Pepper with its highest honor, the Old Tom Morris Award, in 2024, for her continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf, and helping mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.^[7]

Pepper resides in Saratoga Springs, New York with her third husband, golf writer and historian David Normoyle. They were married in May 2010.^[8]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jan 29, 1989	Oldsmobile LPGA Classic	−9 (69-74-67-69=279)	Playoff	Beth Daniel
2	May 13, 1990	Crestar Classic	−16 (67-65-68=200)	9 strokes	Chris Johnson
3	Mar 29, 1992	Nabisco Dinah Shore	−9 (69-71-70-69=279)	Playoff	Juli Inkster
4	Apr 19, 1992	Sega Women's Championship	−11 (70-69-68-70=277)	1 stroke	Danielle Ammaccapane
5	Aug 2, 1992	Welch's Classic	−10 (72-67-69-70=278)	3 strokes	Stephanie Farwig
6	Aug 30, 1992	Sun-Times Challenge	Even (71-72-73=216)	Playoff	Beth Daniel   Judy Dickinson
7	Oct 19, 1993	World Championship of Women's Golf	−4 (72-71-69-72=284)	1 stroke	Donna Andrews   Meg Mallon   Michelle McGann   Sherri Steinhauer
8	Mar 5, 1994	Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions	−1 (72-75-71-69=287)	2 strokes	Nancy Lopez   Lauri Merten
9	Mar 12, 1995	PING/Welch's Championship (Tucson)	−10 (70-68-72-68=278)	3 strokes	Cindy Rarick   Annika Sörenstam
10	Aug 6, 1995	McCall's LPGA Classic	−12 (69-67-68=204)	3 strokes	Kelly Robbins
11	Jun 23, 1996	Rochester International	−10 (69-66-71=206)	2 strokes	Annika Sörenstam
12	Jun 30, 1996	ShopRite LPGA Classic	−11 (67-66-69=202)	4 strokes	Amy Benz
13	Jul 21, 1996	Friendly's Classic	−9 (68-69-73-69=279)	1 stroke	Brandie Burton
14	Sep 8, 1996	Safeway LPGA Golf Championship	−14 (65-70-67=202)	2 strokes	Chris Johnson
15	Mar 28, 1999	Nabisco Dinah Shore	−19 (70-66-67-66=269)	6 strokes	Meg Mallon
16	Aug 29, 1999	Oldsmobile Classic	−18 (67-63-70-70=270)	2 strokes	Kelli Kuehne
17	Nov 19, 2000	Arch Wireless Championship	−9 (68-71-69-71=279)	3 strokes	Rachel Hetherington

LPGA Tour playoff record (3–5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1989	Oldsmobile LPGA Classic	Beth Daniel	Won with par on fifth extra hole
2	1992	Nabisco Dinah Shore	Juli Inkster	Won with par on first extra hole
3	1992	Sun-Times Challenge	Beth Daniel   Judy Dickinson	Pepper won with par on sixth extra hole Daniel eliminated by par on fourth hole
4	1993	PING/Welch's Championship (Massachusetts)	Missie Berteotti	Lost to birdie on fifth extra hole
5	1993	State Farm Rail Classic	Helen Dobson	Lost to birdie on fifth extra hole
6	1995	Pinewild Women's Championship	Rosie Jones	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
7	1998	Star Bank LPGA Classic	Meg Mallon	Lost to par on first extra hole
8	2000	AFLAC Champions	Karrie Webb	Lost to par on first extra hole

LPGA majors are shown in bold.

• 1985 Albany-Colonie Chamber Open (as an amateur)

• 1989 Karuizawa 72 Tokyu Ladies Open

• 1992 JCPenney Classic (with Dan Forsman)
• 1995 JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game
• 1996 Diners Club Matches (with Juli Inkster)
• 1997 Diners Club Matches (with Juli Inkster)
• 1999 Diners Club Matches (with Juli Inkster)
• 2000 Hyundai Team Matches (with Juli Inkster)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1992	Nabisco Dinah Shore	−9 (69-71-70-69=279)	Playoff 1	Juli Inkster
1999	Nabisco Dinah Shore	−19 (70-66-67-66=269)	6 strokes	Meg Mallon

¹ Defeated Inkster with par on first extra hole.

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

• Starts – 65
• Wins – 2
• 2nd-place finishes – 3
• 3rd-place finishes – 3
• Top 3 finishes – 8
• Top 5 finishes – 12
• Top 10 finishes – 17
• Top 25 finishes – 42
• Missed cuts – 6
• Most consecutive cuts made – 38
• Longest streak of top-10s – 5

Amateur

• Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 1986

Professional

• Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 1990 (winners), 1992, 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998 (winners), 2000

• List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins

• Official website
• Dottie Pepper at the LPGA Tour official site
• Dottie Pepper at golf.about.com at the Wayback Machine (archived November 24, 2007)