Famous Golfer - Joyce Wethered

Joyce Wethered was born in 1901 and played her first competition when she was eighteen, reaching the last four in the Surrey Ladies' Championship. The following year she entered the English Ladies' Championship and beat Cecil Leitch in the final by 2 & 1. She had been six down with 16 holes to play. This was the match, played at Sheringham, when she was asked whether she had not been put off by the train which rattled past as she was preparing to take an important putt; "What train?" was her reply. This win in the English Ladies' was the first of five consecutive successes. After her win in 1924 she never competed in that event again. Her record in the British Ladies' Championship is incomparable. Beaten by Cecil Leitch in the final of 1921 she took her revenge in 1922 by the record margin of 9 & 7 and then won again in 1924 and 1925. After that victory she retired. Shy and nervous, the strain of playing at the top level was too much. She was just twenty-four.

In the years between 1925 and 1929 the centre of ladies' golfing excellence passed to USA where Glenna Collett became the undisputed champion. She had won the US Women's title four rimes since 1922 and in 1929 after a second successive victory, made a bid for the British Ladies' Championship which had never been won by a foreigner before. The championship was to be played at St Andrews and Joyce Wethered was persuaded to come out of retirement to compete. Rarely in life are expectations fulfilled so precisely. Drawn in opposite halves of the field, the champion of America and the former champion of Britain won their way into the final, which attracted a crowd of more than five thousand people. After nine holes Collett, playing superb golf, was five holes up. Joyce ''Wethered refused to give in and won by 3 & 1 on the  penultimate green. Her return to the Clubhouse accompanied by policemen through wildly cheering crowds left her emotionally drained and exhausted. Feeling she had nothing left to prove, she retired again. There was, however, one final comeback. In 1932 she played in the first Curtis Cup match and beat Glenna Collett 6 & 4 in the top singles.

In 1934 Wethered went to work in the golfing department of Fortnum & Mason in London and as a result the Ladies' Golf Union revoked her amateur status. After this, she went to the USA and played a series of exhibition matches around the country against Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen and her old rival, Glenna Collett. Later she returned to England and in 1937 she married Sir John Heathcoat-Amory. Her amateur status -as restored in 1947.