Famous Golfer - Margaret Scott

In the early years of women's golf the leading player in Britain was Lady Margaret Scott, who won the British Ladies' Championship or the first three years and then retired from competitive events. In the USA, it was Beatrix Hoyt, who won the US Women's championship for three consecutive years from 1896 to 1898 and then also retired. Two other women who had a great influence on golf in the USA and whose surname still features in the world golfing calendar were the sisters Margaret and Harriot Curtis. Harriot Curtis won the US Women's Amateur championship (the US Women's Open for professionals did not start until 1946) in 1906 and Margaret won it three times in 1907 (when she beat her sister 7 & 6 in the final), 1911 and 1912. They arrived in Britain for the British Women's Championship in 1905, when the first unofficial match between the ladies of Great Britain and the ladies of the USA took place. Another unofficial match rook place 25 years later in 1930 and this caused such widespread interest that the Curtis sisters donated a trophy to be played for every two years. The first match was held at Wentworth, England in 1932, and so began the Curtis Cup.

Famous Golfer - Cecilia Leith, Alexa Stirling

There were two great women golfers on either side of the Atlantic in the early years of the twentieth century, Cecilia (Cecil) Leitch and Alexa Stirling. Cecil Leitch won the British Ladies' title first in 1914 and, after a gap for world War I, again in 1920 and 1921. She added a fourth title in 1926. She had made her name by playing a 72-hole challenge match in 1910 against Harold Hilton, the Open and US Open Champion, at Walton Heath and Sunningdale. Playing off level tees but receiving nine shots a round, she had won by 2 & 1. In the USA, Alexa Stirling, a life­long friend of Bobby Jones, won the US Women's Amateur Championship three times running in 1916, 1919 and 1920, and she was also runner-up in 1921, 1923 and 1925. However, they were both eclipsed by Joyce Wethered who has many supporters for the title "the greatest golfer that ever lived".