Alexa Stirling Overview

AL EXA S T I R L I N G A Candidate Overview Presented By : Atlanta Athletic Club and East Lake Golf Club

1

E X E C U T I V E S UMMA RY

F OR YOU R C ON S I DE R AT I ON . . .

Alexa Stirling is the greatest champion that women’s golf has ever forgotten. She has been called the “Glorious Golfing Girl” and “the finest iron player the feminine world of golf ever saw;” she was even compared to Mary Queen of Scots, the “Mother of Golf ”— unfortunately, like Mary Queen of Scots, Alexa Stirling’s history in golf seems to have been forgotten. Alexa Stirling began to play golf in 1908 but her march to greatness really began in 1915 when, at age 17 she became the youngest winner of the Women’s Southern Amateur. The next year, at just 18 years old — the youngest champion to that date — she won her first U.S. Women’s Amateur title. In eight short years, she had gone from a beginner to national champion. Alexa Stirling made a mark on women’s golf long before the LPGA was founded. In 1920, she won her third consecutive U.S. women’s Amateur title; an achievement made by only seven women players ever. The New York Times wrote about her, “No male amateur and no professional ever won an American golf title thrice in succession and only one woman ever accomplished this before now. But Miss Stirling’s feat is considerably more than that of her illustrious predecessor, Miss Beatrix Hoyt, since she won her three championships over a period of five years, from 1916 to 1920.” When speaking about this amazing feat, Bobby Jones’ grandson said, “if it hadn’t been for World War I, we would be talking about her in the same breath as my grandfather in terms of the dominant player of their day.” One month later, after winning the Canadian Women’s Amateur, Alexa Stirling solidified herself as the greatest female golfer in the world. It has now been over 100 years since Alexa Stirling’s

final U.S. Women’s Amateur victory and yet very few have ever heard her story; perhaps it’s because she didn’t have the luxury of a publicist like O.B. Keeler who traveled over 150,000 miles watching Bobby Jones and writing about it to be sure he got the accolades he deserved. So many outstanding female golfers have accomplished incredible feats and have played at the highest level, but the forerunner to all of this was Stirling. It would be fitting to finally induct Alexa Stirling into the World Golf Hall of Fame (WGHoF) as 2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the Atlanta Athletic Club where she and Bobby Jones began their friendship and played golf together; her instructor, a noted Scottish professional named Stewart Maiden, was credited with being the model for Jones’ swing. She was an extremely humble and modest woman and always avoided the limelight, her daughter once said, “she hid her light under a bushel.” In fact, her children never really appreciated the scope of their mother’s contributions to golf until she was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

2

E X E C U T I V E S UMMA RY

Though Alexa Stirling’s years in the game of golf long precede the current criteria for induction into the WGHoF, no one more personifies a champion and a decent, sportsmanlike human. As Patty Berg, a founding member of the LPGA, WGHoF member, and winningest major champion of all time said of her, “I only hope when I leave competitive golf, I can be like Alexa. I have never met a golfer or a woman that I thought so much of. Alexa is the finest competitor and the finest lady the game has ever known.” As successful as Alexa Stirling was on the golf course, a great game was only one of many talents she had; she was truly a multifaceted renaissance woman with an amazing breadth of accomplishments. As accomplished as she was both on and off the course, she was equally gracious and kind. Perhaps the most perfect example of this was in 1950, at the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Women’s Amateur played at

Atlanta Athletic Club. On the 18th hole of the first round, she could have tied her opponent by sinking a seven-foot putt, but opted to pick up her ball and hold out her hand, so conceding the match. She later told Patty Berg that this was because “I had my time, this is their time.” A dear friend of Bobby Jones, a multiple time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and an advocate for the game, Alexa Stirling was most certainly a trailblazer. She was indeed one of the finest competitors and one of the finest women ever to swing a club; she is one of the most deserving and underappreciated women in the history of the sport and meets the criteria for consideration as both a competitor and as a contributor. The World Golf Hall of Fame has brought attention to many notable female golfers over the years including Patty Berg and Glenna Collett Vare both of whom were vocal about her contributions to the game along with many others against whom she played; the absence of Alexa Stirling is notable, and she deserves to have the light shine brightly on her legacy at WGHoF.

3

A L E X A S T I R L I NG

B I O G R A P H Y

Alexa Stirling was born in Atlanta, Georgia on September 5, 1897, two years after her family moved from Edinburgh, Scotland. Growing up she played piano and violin, trained to be an operatic soprano, became an expert markswoman, built furniture, rode horses, and fly- fished, even tying her own flies. And because the Stirling family lived next door to the Atlanta Athletic Club at East Lake, “in her spare time,” wrote noted golf journalist Steve Eubanks, “she grew up to become the greatest female golfer in the world.” At East Lake, young Alexa was tutored by noted Scottish golf professional Stewart Maiden. She also became friendly with a young boy four years her junior named Bobby Jones. As children, Alexa and Jones played many rounds together. During one, Alexa’s father, Dr. Alexander Stirling, overheard Jones unleash a string of curses after a bad shot; he immediately forbade his daughter from playing with Jones again until he learned “some proper manners.” They didn’t play together for two years.

Alexa’s march to golf greatness began in 1915, when, at age 17, she became the youngest winner of the Women’s Southern Amateur. The next year, she won her first U.S. Women’s Amateur, making her both America’s youngest-ever major champion and the first Southerner to win a major. During World War I, with major golf events cancelled, Alexa toured the country with Jones and another East Lake alum, Perry Adair, playing exhibition matches in support of the Red Cross. As the “Dixie Whiz Kids,” they raised more than $150,000—the equivalent of almost $4 million today. After the war, her golf dominance picked up where it had left off. In 1919, she won her second straight U.S. Women’s Amateur, and in 1920 her third. One month later, she won the Canadian Women’s Amateur. (She would win it again in 1934, and finish runner up in ’21 and ’25.) Her Amateur streak ended in 1921, when she lost in the finals to Marion Hollins. Two years later, she lost in the finals again, this time to Edith Cummings. In between, she won the Met Women’s Amateur in both 1922 and ’23. She finished second in the U.S. Women’s Amateur—again—in 1925, to Glenna Collett.

4

A L E X A S T I R L I NG

KEY CHAMPIONSHIP Victories Women’s Southern Amateur

Playing in the 1923 Canadian Women’s Open, she met Dr. Wilbert Grieve Fraser, who she married two years later. Living in Ottawa, they had three children between 1928 and ’39. She also continued to play golf, winning the ladies’ club championship at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club 9 times (along with various shooting and archery club championships). Stirling returned to Atlanta twice. In 1950, at the request of her old friend Bob Jones, she attended the golden anniversary of the Women’s Amateur, held at Atlanta Athletic Club on its East Lake course. In 1976, she visited the Atlanta Athletic Club, by then in its John’s Creek location, for the 1976 U.S. Open. Alexa Stirling died on April 15, 1977. When she was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame the next year, her children couldn’t understand why. As her daughter said, “We knew she played golf, but we had no idea.” No idea, indeed. As modest as she was dominant, Alexa Stirling deserves to join the World Golf Hall of Fame.

1915

1916

U.S. Women’s Amateur Women’s Southern Amateur

1919

U.S. Women’s Amateur Women’s Southern Amateur

1920

U.S. Women’s Amateur Canadian Women’s Amateur

1922

Met Women’s Amateur

1923

Met Women’s Amateur

1934

Canadian Women’s Amateur

5

A L E X A S T I R L I NG

Q U O T A T I O N S A N D A N N O T A T I O N S

“I only hope when I leave competitive golf, I can be like Alexa. I’ve never met a golfer or a woman that I’ve thought so much of. Alexa is the finest competitor and the finest lady the game has ever known” Patty Berg*, Founding member of the LPGA, and World Golf Hall of Fame member *Said after watching Alexa (age 53) play her last competitive round (Patty had already won 8 of her record 15 majors)

“No woman golfer has ever been more admired and beloved by those she played against than Alexa Stirling” James A. Barclay * *Wrote Golf in Canada, was curator of the golf museum of the Royal Canadian Golf Association and was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame for leadership and for his careful research and writing. He was the author of the only biography of Alexa, The Golfer and the Carpenter, but died in 2011 before it was published.

“The most stylish and dangerous woman golfer ever to breach British shores”

Bernard Darwin*, British golf writer and World Golf Hall of Fame member *First writer ever to cover golf on a daily basis, and competed in The Amateur Championship on 26 occasions and the first Walker Cup

“It is no exaggeration to say that Ms. Stirling’s going will leave a gap…(she) has made a host of friends on this side” Eleanor Helme*, British Golf Illustrated *British golf journalist, author and 1923 English Ladies Amateur Champion

“(Alexa’s) form has been the model for countless women golfers whom she inspired to better games. I succumbed to her influence the first time I saw her play” “When she gave her full attention to golf ... she was almost invincible ... and when her powers were at their crest she went undefeated at match play for more than a few years.” Glenna Collett Vare*, World Golf Hall of Fame member *Won Six US Amateur Championships, two Canadian Ladies Opens, and the French Ladies Open. The Vare trophy is given annually to the LPGA player with the lowest scoring average of the season

6

A L E X A S T I R L I NG

“…there is none who can deny Miss Alexa W. Stirling’s position at the pinnacle of the fair sex. Only superlatives can describe the little auburn haired Southern girl and her remarkable ability on the links. She stands today so high above the thousands of other women who are fast acquiring proficiency in the game that it is fairly incredible.” “In ranking the women golfers on the basis of their ability during 1919 Miss Stirling goes into her top place automatically.” “There is positively no American woman golfer close enough to the champion (Alexa) to be called a dangerous rival. She plays as near a perfect game on the links as any woman golfer who ever addressed the ball.” New York Times, Sunday, December 14, 1919 “(Alexa) was the finest iron player the feminine world of golf ever saw…To me nothing compares with Alexa, the feminine Bobby Jones of style, a golfer with a great heart…” “Alexa Stirling hasn’t a peer among the feminine golfers of these United States…There is not another woman who plays as sound and finished a game as the little red-headed girl from Atlanta” O.B. Keeler * *Nationally recognized authority on golf who chronicled every tournament stroke ever played by Bobby Jones and considered by Jones as “the greatest golf writer that has ever lived”

“I heaved numerous clubs and once threw the ball away. I read the pity in Alexa’s soft brown eyes and finally settled down…That experience had its proper effect. I resolved then that this sort of thing had to stop” Bobby Jones* *For whom the USGA’s highest award is given to the ‘individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones.’

“Miss Alexa Stirling of Atlanta, GA has not lost a golf match since the national Championship of 1915…but the women are all agreed there is no woman in this country who can beat the auburn-haired champion. The women players have called her the Glorious Golfing Girl, and her record bears this out.” “No male amateur and no professional ever won an American golf title thrice in succession and only one woman ever accomplished this before now. But Miss Stirling’s feat is considerably more than that of her illustrious predecessor, Miss Beatrix Hoyt, since she won her three championships over a period of five years, from 1916 to 1920 (There was no contest in 1917 and 1918 because of the war) From Glorious Golfing Girl, New York Times (October 1920)

“The race track has Man O’ War, baseball has its Babe Ruth, and billiards has its Willie Hoppe. In the same way women’s golf in America has its Alexa Stirling, who is just as predominant in her field as any male champion happens to be in his…”

Grantland Rice,* New York Herald Tribune *The most widely read sportswriter of his era

7

A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S EXTENSIVE REFERENCE GUIDE

Explore the l i fe and accompl ishments of Alexa St irl ing through the writ ings and recommendat ions of some of the most notable f igures in gol f histor y at the l ink below. https://user-hkorcje.cld.bz/Alexa-Stirling

VIDEO Golf Channel: https://www.golfchannel.com/video/legend-east-lake- training-grounds-alexa-stirling British Pathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iZLD6jzdu4 East Lake’s First Grea Champion: https://youtu.be/Kg5Yvnllch4 AUDIO The Bag Drop Podcast: Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/episode/4i840y- IcUCxZSjuWev777R Apple | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/pod- cast/the-life-and-times-of-alexa-stirling/ id1430328006?i=1000540355683

HALLS OF FAME Georgia State Golf Association: https://www.gsga.org/hall-of-fame/members/alexa_ stirling_fraser Canadian Golf Hall of Fame: https://heritage.golfcanada.ca/hall-of-fame-members/ alexa-fraser/ Georgia Sports Hall of Fame: https://www.georgiasportshalloffame.com/class- of-1978 Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame https://ottawasporthalloffame.ca/inductees/alexa-fras- er-stirling/ Ontario Golf Hall of Fame https://gao.ca/about-us/ontario-golf-hall-of-fame/ ontario-golf-hall-of-fame-member-bios/alexa-stir- ling-fraser-2013-class/

ARTICLES LPGA:

https://www.lpga.com/news/2021/the-wom- ens-game-greatest-forgotten-champion-stirling Women’s Pro Golf: https://www.womensprogolf.com/page-16.html Sports Heritage: https://sportsheritage.org/public-news/usga-cele- brates-pioneers-womens-golf-new-exhibit/

8