Maryland Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2024: Andrea Kraus

Andrea Kraus was born in Baltimore County, was a graduate of Pikesville High School, and earned a BA in American Studies from Yale before receiving her law degree from Columbia.  She was the only female on Pikesville's golf team and played on the men's team her first two years at Yale.  In her junior year, the Bulldogs initiated women's golf.  She was their first team captain and earned AIAA All-Regional honors.  Andrea was also selected to the All-Ivy Silver Anniversary Team.  She was a member of Chestnut Ridge Club, Woodholme Country Club, and Hayfields Country Club.  Her lowest score was a 64 at Woodholme.  

Andrea has won 17 Maryland State Golf Association women’s titles: a Girls’ Junior, a Women’s Open, three Women’s Amateurs, three Women’s Mid-Amateurs, three Women’s Senior Amateurs, and six Two-Lady Championships. In 2012, she won the MSGA: Women’s Amateur, Women’s Mid-Amateur, and Women’s Senior Amateur. Andrea’s 17 titles are more than any other female golfer in MSGA history. In addition to the MSGA titles, she won the Baltimore Metropolitan Championship 13 times and was the overall champion of the Women’s Golf Association multiple times.  She was nationally ranked by Golfweek in 1997 and 2004.  In 2006, Andrea earned Class A status as a PGA Professional, and in 2007, she won the Middle Atlantic PGA Women's Championship. For eight years, she served as a board member of the Maryland State Golf Association’s Women's Division.

On the national scene, Andrea qualified for and competed in 39 United States Golf Association (USGA) Championships. Among those are eight USGA Women’s Amateur Championships, with the most exciting match coming against Se RI Pak at The Country Club in Brookline, MA, in 1997. Andrea made four straight birdies to even the match but ultimately fell short, losing one down. In addition to the U.S. Amateur, she played in fifteen USGA Mid-Amateurs, seven USGA Senior Amateurs, and nine USGA State Team Championships.  Andrea is a three-time champion of the Ione Jones Doherty Championship (2012, 2014, 2015), thought by many to be the most prestigious senior amateur championship in the U.S., behind the USGA Women’s Senior Amateur.

In 1998, Andrea was honored by Yale University on the 25th anniversary of women in Ivy League sports for being one of two women who had the most impact on women’s golf at Yale during those 25 years. In 2009, Andrea represented the USA in the Maccabi Games in Israel, securing the Team Silver Medal and the Individual Bronze Medal. In 2013, she was labeled by Golf Magazine as a Local Legend in the magazine's annual amateur edition.  In 2014, she became the Assistant Golf Coach at Towson University. Andrea had her first hole-in-one on the same day her first son was born. Global Golf Post selected her to the First Team All Senior Women in 2014 & 2016.