Alison Nicholas (born 6 March 1962) is an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

, who won the 1997 U.S. Women's Open.

Amateur career

Nicholas was born in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. She was educated at the School of St Mary and St Anne (now Abbots Bromley School for Girls). She enjoyed a very successful amateur career in England. She started playing golf at the age of 17 and won the 1982 and 1983 Northern Girls Amateur Open. Nicholas was the 1983 British Amateur Stroke Play champion. In 1983, Nicholas won the Yorkshire Ladies County Championship.

Professional career

Nicholas turned professional in 1984 and joined the Ladies European Tour in the same year. She joined the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

in 1989. Nicholas won the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tou ...

in 1987, when it was recognised as a major championship by the Ladies European Tour only, and the 1997 U.S. Women's Open. She became the seventh player to have won both the British and U.S. Open titles, joining Laura Davies, Jane Geddes, Betsy King, Patty Sheehan,

Liselotte Neumann Liselotte Maria "Lotta" Neumann (born 20 May 1966) is a Swedish professional golfer. When she recorded her first LPGA Tour win, by claiming the 1988 U.S. Women's Open title, Neumann also became the first Swedish golfer, male or female, to win a ...

and

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 96 international p ...

. At her retirement at the end of the 2004 season, Nicholas had won 12 events on the Ladies European Tour. She topped the European Tour Order of Merit in 1997 and finished in the top-10 15 times in 16 seasons between 1985 and 2000. She also won four times on the

, between 1995 and 1999, including winning the U.S. Women's Open in 1997. In 1992, she won both the Western Australian Open and the Malaysian Open. She won the 1991 Vivien Saunders Trophy for lowest stroke average (71.71). In 1997, she became the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year, was awarded The Association of Golf Writers Trophy and was voted LET Players' Player of the Year, 1997 Evening Mail Sports Personality of the Year and 1997 Midlands Sports Personality of the Year. In the

1998 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppleme ...

, she was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for services to women's golf, and in 2002 became a Life Member of the Ladies European Tour. Nicholas was a member of the European

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving forc ...

team in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, forming a formidable partnership with Laura Davies. She was non-playing assistant captain in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. In 2007, Nicholas was selected captain for the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

European Solheim Cup teams. In 2011, she led the European team to a 15–13 victory at Killeen Castle outside

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Professional wins (18)

LPGA Tour wins (4)

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Ladies European Tour wins (12)

Ladies European Tour Tour playoff record (0–1) ''Note: Nicholas won the

once before it was co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour in 1994, and recognized as a major championship on the LPGA Tour in 2001.'' Source:

Other wins (2)

*1992 Western Australian Open, Malaysia Ladies Open

Major championships

Wins (1)

Team appearances

Professional *

(representing Europe):

(winners),

(non-playing captain),

(non-playing captain) (winners) * Handa Cup (representing World team): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 (tie), 2013 (winners), 2014

Solheim Cup record

Notes and references

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Alison English female golfers Gibraltarian female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Solheim Cup competitors for Europe Members of the Order of the British Empire The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year winners 1962 births Living people 20th-century English sportswomen