Alexa Stirling

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

a Scotsman has once again proved that it is hopeless for her many rivals to try to pry loose the trophy … 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], whereas Miss Hoyt won them in the successive years of 1896, 1897 and 1898 (“Golf ” 1920). More from “Glorious Golfing Girl” in 1920:

Miss Alexa Stirling of Atlanta, Ga. has not lost a golf match since the national Championship of 1915 …There may be some question as to whether Francis Ouimet or Chick Evans is the best American amateur, and there is a considerable difference of opinion as to whether Jim Barnes, Walter Hagan or Jock Hutchinson is the best American professional player, 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. From the Atlanta Journal in 1919: I play all shots the same. I use the same stance for woods, irons, and even in putting. I understand Chick Evans does the same thing … I crouch over the ball more than I formerly did. My right knee is bent and my left leg is kept straight. When I hit the ball, the left knee is bent and the right leg is straight. I find that I can pivot better this way and get my shots away much more smoothly and truly … Jimmy Maiden … is largely responsible for the new stance. And from Grantland Rice of the New York Herald Tribune, the most widely read sportswriter in America: 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 … also, Miss Stirling would rather talk opera than golf, Scotia’s ancient game running second to music in her scheme of things. Music first and golf second — but where is there finer music than the clear, clean ring of a truly hit iron? After her peak in 1920, her golfing career was far from over. James Barclay described the reaction she evoked in the press when she visited England in 1921: There was a heroic cast about Alexa. Her casual manner in championships showed no hint of nervousness, and that in itself unnerved those she played against. She was the absolute amateur. For her, life was more than striking a golf ball. That does not mean she had no will to win. She had an ability to probe deep down within herself and salvage victory from what often looked like certain defeat … She crossed the Atlantic in 1921 to take British golf by storm, stealing golfers’ hearts with her savoir vivre, and her grace and power on the course. She made the usually cautious British golf writer Bernard Darwin throw caution to the winds and write that she was the most stylish and dangerous woman golfer ever to breach British shores … ‘elegance, all elegance’ (Barclay 2001, Darwin 1944).

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