Edith Betty Kernot (26 July 1910 – 19 October 1984) was an Australian

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er. She was twice the Australian national women's amateur golf champion, in 1937 and 1938.

Life

Kernot was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. She was the last of three children born to Edith Latham (born Hobday) and Walter Charles Kernot. They were both active in the local community and her mother had also played golf. She began to play the game when she was thirteen and in 1925 she won the under-15 category nationally. After that she competed at state and national competitions. In 1937 she first won the Australian Women's Amateur championship and she was also chosen to represent Australia in the four person team to contest the Tasman Cup with New Zealand. In August 1938 she retained the title of National Women's golf champion. The title dates from 1894 and only Evelyn MacKenzie,

Nancy Parbury Nancy Lilian Parbury (16 December 1885 – 14 August 1959) was an Australian amateur golfer. She won the Australian Women's Amateur in 1910 and 1911 and won the New South Wales Women's Amateur Championship in 1910, 1911 and 1914. Golf career ...

Leonora Wray Leonora Wray MBE (2 July 1886 – 4 April 1979) was an Australian golfer, often referred to as the "mother" of Australian golf. Wray won the Australian Women's Amateur in 1907, 1908 and 1929 and the New South Wales Women's Amateur Championship in ...

Mona MacLeod Ada Mona MacLeod (7 June 1895 – 27 January 1953) was an Australian amateur golfer. She won the Australian Women's Amateur in 1921, 1926, 1927 and 1932 and won the Victorian Women's Amateur Championship five times between 1925 and 1933. Golf ...

, and

Susie Morpeth Susie is a female name that can be a diminutive form of Susan, Susanne, Suzanne, Susannah, Susanna or Susana. Susie may refer to: Songs * "Susie Q" (song), a 1957 song by Dale Hawkins, covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968) *"Wake Up ...

had achieved that feat before of winning the title twice. Leonora Wray witnessed the event as she was there as an umpire. She played an exhibition match with the leading American golf celebrity player Babe Didrikson (later Zaharias) in 1938. Golf matches were cancelled due to the second world war. When matches restarted Kernot showed that she still had form. She reached the final of the 1947 Australian Women's Amateur, losing narrowly to the defending champion Joan Fisher, Lewis. She had been the representative of Victoria at the Australian Ladies’ Golf Union in 1939 and she continued after the war in 1948. The Tasman Cup resumed, after the war, at

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

in 1949 with Kernot as manager. Australia won after taking both the foursomes matches. She was the captain of the Tasman cup team for the 1950 match in Brisbane. It was played between the quarter and semi-finals of the Australian Women's Amateur. The match was a tie with each team winning a foursomes and two singles. The result was decided on holes ahead in the three matches, Australia winning by 11 holes to 9. At Auckland in 1951 she was again the captain. New Zealand led after the foursomes but her team won enough singles, to retain the cup. She was still captain in 1952 when the match in Melbourne resulted in a tie. Australia retaining the cup because they were the defending champions. In 1955 she broke the course record at Geelong by three strokes. She was then President of the club and still a double national champion. In 1971 she suggested a new golf event. The South West Golf Association still (in 2024) hold the annual Women's Betty Kernot Knockout event. Kernot continued to play golf until she died in

in 1984.

References

External links

Biography at ADB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kernot, Edith Betty 1910 births 1984 deaths People from Geelong Australian female golfers