Rhona Kathleen Adair (2 September 1881 – 27 March 1961) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

amateur

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 won the

British Ladies Amateur The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of th ...

twice and the

Irish Ladies' Close Championship The Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship is the women's national amateur match play golf championship of Ireland. It was first played in 1894 and is currently organised by Golf Ireland. The Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship is contest ...

s four times at the start of the twentieth century.

Life

Adair was born in

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Maghe ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. She was the daughter of keen golfers Hugh Adair and (Mary) Augusta Lee Adair (née Graves). Her father manufactured linen but he and her mother captained golf teams. Along with

May Hezlet Mary Elizabeth Linzee "May" Hezlet (29 April 1882 – 27 December 1978) was a British amateur golfer and sports writer. She has been called "probably Ireland's greatest woman golfer". Early life Hezlet was born in Gibraltar, the daughter of Lie ...

, Adair is the most famous Irish golfer from the turn of the 20th century. She was 17 years of age when she played in her first

in 1895. In 1899 she nearly beat the 77 year old "

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died t ...

" who had designed the

St Andrews Links St Andrews Links in the town of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, is regarded as the "Home of Golf.” It has one of the oldest courses in the world, where the game has been played since the 15th century. Today there are seven public golf courses; the ...

where they were playing. Morris was quoted as having said "I'll no' be licked by a lassie", but only won on the final green. Adair went on to win the British Ladies Amateur in 1900 and again in 1903. She also won four straight

s from 1900 to 1903. She played several golfing exhibition matches on a 1903 tour of the United States. While there she befriended Genevieve Hecker, the two-time U.S. Women's Amateur champion. Hecker asked her to contribute a chapter on British golf for her book published in 1904 titled ''Golf for Women'', the first book written for female golfers. Adair defeated leading American golfer

Margaret Curtis Margaret Curtis (October 8, 1883 – December 24, 1965) was an American golf and tennis champion and lifelong social worker. From the Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts area, she was the youngest of ten children. Her father was a colonel i ...

during a tournament at Merion, Philadelphia and this led the ''Illustrated Sporting News'' to say that she was "the foremost lady golfer in the world". In October 1906, Adair married Algernon Cuthell, an army Captain from

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

and gave up her career in competitive golf to raise two children in Aldershot. Cuthell was killed in action in the Dardanelles during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After he died she returned to Ireland where she remained supportive of women's golf and rose to be president of the

Irish Ladies Golf Union Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

; she was president in 1961 when she died at

Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart. The main part of the old town, including the Portrush railway station, railway station as well as most hote ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

.''Golf for Women'' (1904) Baker & Taylor, Inc., New York republished in 2001 as part of the Legacy Golf series ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Rhona Irish female golfers Amateur golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships Ulster Scots people 1878 births 1961 deaths