The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of the professional era in 1976, it was the most important golf tournament for women in Great Britain, and attracted players from continental Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. Along with the U.S. Women's Amateur, it is considered the highest honour in women's amateur golf.
The first tournament was played at the Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, England and was won by Lady Margaret Scott, who also won the following two years; her feat of three straight titles remains the record, matched by Cecil Leitch and Enid Wilson. In 1927, Simone de la Chaume of France, who had won the 1924 British Girls Amateur Golf Championship, became the first golfer from outside the British Isles to win the Ladies Championship. The first competitor from the United States to win the title was Babe Zaharias in 1947.
Format The championship is contested in two phases. It begins with a 36-hole stroke play competition, played over two days. The leading 64 competitors progress to the knock-out match play competition, ties for 64th place being decided by countback. From 1966 up to 2020, all matches in the knock-out phase were played over 18 holes, but from 2021 the final has been played over 36 holes.
Prizes The "Pam Barton Memorial Salver" is awarded to the winner to be held for one year, as the actual Championship Cup is held by the Ladies' Golf Union. The runner-up receives The Diana Fishwick Cup. The leading qualifier receives the Doris Chambers Trophy. If two or more players are tied, the result is decided on countback, the player with the lowest second round score being the winner.
History Pre-World War I In late 1892 several members of Wimbledon Ladies Golf Club contacted other ladies' clubs, in hopes of forming a ladies' golf union and holding a ladies' championship. The men's Amateur Championship had been held since 1885. Independently the Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, who had not been sent the circular, also decided to organise a ladies' championship.
The two clubs combined their efforts in the Ladies' Golf Union, holding their first championship from Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 June 1893 on the ladies' links of the Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, a 9-hole course, then at Mayfield Road. There were 38 entries, requiring 6 knock-out rounds. Two rounds were played per day with the semi-finals and final played on the Thursday. All matches were over 18 holes, with extra holes played to ensure a result. The winner received a championship cup valued at 50 guineas, and a gold medal. The runner-up received a silver medal, and the other semi-finalists received bronze medals. Lady Margaret Scott beat Issette Pearson in the final by a score of 7&5.
The 1894 championship was held in May at Littlestone-on-Sea in Kent. May became the regular month for the championship to be held, although sometimes it was held in early June. The event was extended to the Friday, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals played on the Thursday. The finalists were the same as in 1893, with Lady Margaret Scott winning again, but by a closer margin of 3&2.
In 1895 the event was played at Royal Portrush. The semi-finals and final were played on the Friday, a format that was retained until the introduction of a 36-hole final in 1913. Lady Margaret Scott won for the third time, beating Emma Lythgoe 5&4 in the final. The 1896 event at Hoylake produced a new winner, Amy Pascoe. In 1897 the championship was held in Scotland for the first time, at Gullane. It produced the first Scottish winner, with the final between two sisters, Edith Orr beating Theodora 4&3. The 1898 event at Great Yarmouth & Caister was won by Lena Thomson, the losing finalist in 1896. She beat Elinor Nevile 6&5 in the final.
From 1899 to 1907 the championship was dominated by Irish women. May Hezlet won in 1899, 1902 and 1907 with Rhona Adair winning in 1900 and 1903. Four other Irish golfers were losing finalists, Jessie Magill in 1899, Florence Walker-Leigh in 1903, Maud Stuart in 1905 and Florence Hezlet, May's sister, in 1907. The 1899 event was held at County Down. May Hezlet met Magill in the final. Magill had previously defeated Hezlet during the 1898 final of the Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship, but on this occasion May Hezlet had won the close championship the previous week and she repeated her success, winning 2&1. She was less than two weeks past her 17th birthday.
Rhona Adair won the following year at Westward Ho!, beating Isabel Nevile 6&5 in the final. The 1901 championship was held in Aberdovey in Wales, and was won by Molly Graham who beat Adair in the final. May Hezlet won for the second time in 1902, beating Elinor Nevile at the 20th hole. Nevile was the sister of the 1900 runner-up Isabel Nevile. Grace Park, the wife of Mungo Park Jr. was one of the semi-finalists. There were three Irish semi-finalists for the 1903 championship at County Down. Adair won for the second time.
May Hezlet reached the final again in 1904 at Troon and met Lottie Dod. Dod was better known as a tennis player, having won the Wimbledon ladies' singles championship five times between 1887 and 1893. She had reached the semi-finals in 1898 and 1899 but this was her first final. In a close match Dod won by one hole.
In 1905, at Royal Cromer, another Irish golfer, Maud Stuart, reached the final but lost 3&2 to Bertha Thompson. 1906 was the first final since 1898 without an Irish lady. Thompson reached the final again but lost 4&3 to Alice Kennion, the first married woman to win the championship. The 1907 championship was played at County Down and three Irish women reached the semi-finals. May Hezlet won for the third time, beating her sister Florence Hezlet 2&1 in the final.
The 1908 championship was played on the Old Course at St Andrews. Maud Titterton met Dorothy Campbell in the final. It was the first final for both players, although both players had previously reached the semi-finals, Titterton in 1897 and Campbell in 1904, 1905 and 1906. Titterton won a close match at the 19th hole. The start of the final was delayed because Campbell had not won her semi-final until the 22nd hole.
Campbell won her first championship in 1909, beating Florence Hezlet 4&3 in the final at Birkdale. None of the four semi-finalists at Westward Ho! in 1910 had reached that stage before. Elsie Grant Suttie won the title. Campbell reached the final again in 1911 at Royal Portrush, meeting Violet Hezlet, the third of the Hezlet sisters to reach the final. Campbell won the match 3&2, winning her second championship. The 1912 championship at Turnberry was won by Gladys Ravenscroft who beat Stella Temple 3&2 in the final.
In 1913 the final at Lytham & St Annes was extended to 36-holes. It was played on a Friday, with the quarter and semi-finals played on the previous day. Canadian Violet Pooley was one of the semi-finalists. Muriel Dodd beat Evelyn Chubb in the final. Dodd won five holes in a row from the 4th to the 8th holes of the morning round and eventually won 8&6. Dodd was beaten in the semi-finals of the 1914 championship at Hunstanton. The final was between Cecil Leitch and Gladys Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft had beaten Leitch in the semi-finals in 1912, but on this occasion Leitch won a close match 2&1, the morning round having finished all-square.
Inter-war period A championship was planned for October 1919 at Burnham & Berrow but was cancelled because of a railway strike. The first post World War I championship was played at Royal County Down in May 1920. Cecil Leitch, the defending champion from 1914, met Molly Griffiths in the final. Leitch was 6 holes up after the morning round and won 7&6.
Joyce Wethered made her first appearance at Turnberry in 1921. She and Leitch would dominate the event in the 1920s, meeting in the final in 1921, 1922 and 1925. They had also met in the final of the 1920 English Women's Amateur Championship, with Wethered winning. In the 1921 Women's Amateur Championship, the result was reversed. Leitch was 8 up with 9 holes to play and, although Wethered then won four holes in a row, Leitch won the match 4&3.
When the pair met again in 1922 at Prince's, the morning round was close, with Wethered a hole ahead. However she dominated in the afternoon, eventually winning 9&7. In 1923 Leitch was injured and Wethered was beaten in the semi-finals, leaving a final between Doris Chambers and Muriel Macbeth. In the final, Macbeth was 3 up after the morning round but Chambers won the match at the 36th hole.
In 1924, at Royal Portrush, Wethered and Leitch met in quarter-finals. Wethered won 6&4 and went on to win her second title. At Troon in 1925, Wethered and Leitch met in the final for the third time. The match was level after 18 holes and still level after 27. Wethered then took a two-hole lead before Leitch won the last holes to level the match. The match ended at the 37th hole with Wethered winning her third championship.
The 1926 championship was due to be played in Harlech in May, but was postponed because of the general strike. The event was rearranged to June, although the Women's Home Internationals, which generally preceded the championship, were cancelled. Joyce Wethered did not enter and Cecil Leitch won, the first woman to win the event four times. A large number of the original entrants scratched, and the final was played a day earlier than usual, on a Thursday.
Simone de la Chaume won the championship in 1927, the first French woman to do so. She had been a semi-finalist in 1926 and was also the first French winner of the Girls Amateur Championship, in 1924. There was another French winner in 1928 when Manette le Blan won the title.
The 1929 championship was played on the Old Course at St Andrews. Wethered came out of retirement to play and met the American, Glenna Collett, in the final. Collett had already won the U.S. Women's Amateur three times. The final created great public interest. After 9 holes Collett led by 5 but her lead was reduced to 2 after the morning round. Wethered then won 7 of the first 9 holes in the afternoon to be 4 up and eventually won 3&1, her fourth win in the championship.
Collett reached the final again at Formby in 1930 and met Diana Fishwick in the final. Fishwick was competing in the event for the first time, although she had won the Girls Amateur Championship in 1927 and 1928. Fishwick led by 5 after the first round and eventually won 4&3.
The format was changed at Portmarnock in 1931, with the introduction of stroke-play qualifying. Two rounds were played, on Saturday and Monday, with the leading 64 advancing to the match-play stage, which took place from Tuesday to Friday. Enid Wilson led the qualifying by 8 strokes, after rounds of 75 and 83, with Wanda Morgan in second place. The two met in the final with Wilson winning 7&6. Wilson had been a semi-finalist three times previously and had won the English title in 1928 and 1930.
In 1932 at Saunton the qualifying days were changed to Friday and Saturday with the match-play played from Monday to Thursday. An American Maureen Orcutt led the qualifying with Wilson three strokes behind. Orcutt was beaten in the first round: Wilson defeated another American Leona Cheney in the semi-finals and retained the championship, winning by a score of 7&6. In 1933 at Gleneagles, Wilson won the title for the third year in succession, having beaten Doris Park, in the semi-finals.
The 1934 championship at Royal Porthcawl produced two new finalists with Helen Holm beating Pam Barton in the final. Enid Wilson had been excluded from the event as she was deemed to have lost her amateur status.