Frances Stephens (golfer)
Frances "Bunty"[1] Stephens (married name Frances Stephens Smith or Frances Smith Stephens; 26 July 1924[2] – 23 July 1978[3] [non-primary source needed ][4] ) was an English amateur golfer.[1]
Personal life
[edit ]Stephens was born in Lancashire where her father Fred was club professional at Bootle Golf Club.[1] She faced discrimination from golf administrators because of his working class occupation.[5] In 1955 she married Roy Smith, a Scottish Airlines pilot killed in a 1957 crash in Libya.[1] [4] [6] They had one daughter.[1] Stephens curtailed her playing career to raise her daughter, but subsequently was active in golf administration and developing junior golf.[4] She was made OBE for "services to Ladies Golf" in the 1977 New Year Honours,[7] a year before her death from cancer.[4]
Golf career
[edit ]Stephens' home club was Royal Birkdale.[8] She won the British Ladies Amateur in 1949 and 1954, and was runner-up in 1951 and 1952. She played in all six Curtis Cups from 1950 to 1960, and was non-playing captain of the Great Britain and Ireland team in 1962 and 1972.[9] Her final-hole victories over Polly Riley in the 1956 and 1958 tournaments secured a win and a draw respectively for the British team, the first time it retained the cup.[1] In the United States she was "hardly known",[1] though she finished tied for 6th in the 1949 U.S. Women's Open. She was also a non-playing captain of the British team in the Vagliano Trophy.[4]
Herbert Warren Wind called her a "slight, quiet, entirely undramatic girl" and an outstanding clutch player.[1] Enid Wilson said she had "a very frail physique but ... the temperament of a tigress".[10] Her swing had a pronounced hiatus at the top,[1] [11] which Wind called "most unimpressive", although Henry Cotton said she had "one of the prettiest swings in the game".[12]
Team appearances
[edit ]- Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1950, 1952 (winners), 1954, 1956 (winners), 1958 (tied), 1960, 1962 (non-playing captain), 1972 (non-playing captain)
- Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1947 (winners), 1948 (winners), 1949 (winners), 1953 (winners), 1955 (winners), 1959 (winners), 1971 (non-playing captain, winners)
- Commonwealth Trophy (representing Great Britain): 1959 (winners), 1963 (winners)
References
[edit ]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wind, Herbert Warren (8 September 1958). "Les girls: life under pressure". Sports Illustrated .
- ^ "Stephens [married name Smith], Frances [Bunty]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31696. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Probate 1978". gov.uk. p. 7549. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
Smith, Frances of 49A Lulworth Road Birkdale Southport died 23 July 1978 Probate Liverpool 3 November 65485ドル
- ^ a b c d e "Frances "Bunty" Smith" (PDF). Lancashire Ladies County Golf Association. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ De Albuquerque E Castro Amaro Dos Santos Reis De Figueiredo, Helena Maria (2013). Gender Asymmetries In Golf Participation: Tradition Or Discrimination? (PDF) (PhD). University of Algarve. p. 94. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer 1 G-AOEO Fezzan". Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Order of the British Empire (Civil Division); OBE". The London Gazette (Supplement to 47102): 9–12 : 12. 31 December 1976.
- ^ Corlett, W. H. (April 1954). "Birkdale Rated Stiffest Course for British Open" (PDF). Golfdom: 60–61. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
Not only is the Course a Championship Course but the Club is a Club of Champions — for among its members are Ronnie White ... and Frances (Bunty) Stephens who is acknowledged to be Britain's leading lady
- ^ "Previous Matches". Official Website Of The 2008 Curtis Cup Match. United States Golf Association. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ Glenn, Rhonda (1991). The Illustrated History of Women's Golf. Taylor Publishing Company. p. 91. ISBN 9780878337439.
- ^ "Young boy who definitely has right name to go far". HeraldScotland . 14 July 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
Macdonald Smith, Cary Middlecoff, Bunty Stephens and England's Gordon Brand, to name but four, all had a pronounced hiatus.
- ^ Cotton, Henry (1948). This Game of Golf. Country Life. p. 85.