Alexa Stirling

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

She and Bob did not play golf together for two years. How much those incidents motivated her is lost to history. But in 1915, at the tender age of 17, Alexa became the youngest winner of the Women’s Southern Amateur, one of the nation’s most prestigious titles. A year later, and a month shy of her 19th birthday, she defeated Mildred Caverly at Belmont Springs Country Club in Massachusetts to win the United States Amateur Championship, becoming, as the banner headlines in the Atlanta newspapers screamed, the “First Southerner Ever to Win a Major Championship.” She was also, at age 18, America’s youngest-ever major champion. Her father attempted to telegram her, but Western Union refused to deliver the message. Alexa’s nickname at home had started out as Lexie but had, over time, morphed in Sexie, or, sometimes simply, Sex. Telegrams were priced by the letter, so when Dr. Stirling sent a note that read, “Hurray for Sex!” the telegram company deemed it improper. That story was retold in Atlanta for years. She loved her father dearly. While he wasn’t much of a golfer, Alexa would later say, “When Father gave me my own set of clubs, he said, ‘Alexa, play to win. But even more important than winning is your conduct on the course. Do not lose your temper at a poor shot. Do not sulk in defeat. Be gracious in victory.’”

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She was all that and more. After 1915, the USGA suspended the U.S. Women’s Amateur as America joined Great Britain, France, and others in World War I. During the war years, Alexa, Jones, and Perry Adair toured the country as the Dixie Whiz Kids, playing exhibitions for the Red Cross. The trio raised more than $150,000, the equivalent of almost $4 million today. Alexa also enlisted and became an ambulance driver for the Army Medical Corps. She reached the rank of lieutenant before the end of the war.

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