Alexa Stirling

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to Ottawa. She played golf often with Bobby Jones, but was nearly barred by her father from playing alongside him because of Jones’ proclivity to swear. Once she said, “Oh, Bob, why can’t we just play golf ?” Jones cleaned up his act and eventually — aided by a little encouragement from Stirling — became the paragon of civility on the course. Keeler quoted Stirling as saying, “Golf, beyond any other game, teaches the player how to lose —and smile. And that’s a very good lesson, I take it, for any woman or any man, and one useful in many a bout in the game of life, which are not all winning bouts.” Her sportsmanship was legendary. One morning Mildred Caverly, a prospective opponent at the U.S. Amateur, complained about having problems with her mashie. Stirling helped her fix the hitch and nearly saw it come back to bite her. Caverly’s mashie produced remarkable shots in the final and Stirling required a six- foot putt to win the title. In addition to her three U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, she was runner-up three other times. Stirling won the Southern Amateur three times, the Canadian Amateur three times and was runner-up twice. Stirling married a Canadian doctor in 1925 and moved to Ottawa, where she joined the Royal Ottawa Golf Club and won the club championship nine times.

Stirling returned to Atlanta in 1976 and helped the Atlanta Athletic Club host the U.S. Open Championship. There’s a giclee print of Stirling by noted artist Dick Burlingame at the Atlanta Athletic Club. He completed one of Jones earlier and thought it fitting that there also be one of Stirling. Stirling is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Sources: https://www.gsga.org/membership/golf-georgia-magazine

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