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

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

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 t ...

twice and the Irish Ladies' Close Championships four times at the start of the twentieth century.

Life

Adair was born in

Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

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 ...

. 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" 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 Irish Ladies' Close Championships 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 ...

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 counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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; 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 in County Londonderry. The main part of the old town, including the Portrush railway station, railway stati ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Rhona Female golfers from Northern Ireland Amateur golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships Ulster Scots people Sportspeople from Coleraine, County Londonderry 1881 births 1961 deaths 19th-century British sportswomen 20th-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland