Sheila Mary Vaughan (later Irving and Maher, 9 March 1942 – 23 April 2022) was an English amateur golfer. She had a successful junior career and won the

Girls Amateur Championship The Girls Amateur Championship is a golf tournament held annually in the United Kingdom. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship. Until World War II the championship was organised by a series of magazines and always ...

in 1959. She had some success at the senior level in early 1960s, twice reaching the semi-finals of the

English Women's Amateur Championship The English Women's Amateur Championship is the women's national amateur match play golf championship of England. It was first played in 1912 and is currently organised by England Golf. The English Women's Amateur Championship is contested thro ...

. She played in the

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and " ...

twice, in 1962 and 1964.

Golf career

In 1955, Vaughan, aged 13, reached the semi-finals of the

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

, losing to Alison Gardner. She reached the semi-finals again in 1957 at

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...

, losing to

Brigitte Varangot Brigitte Varangot (1 May 1940 – 12 October 2007) was a French amateur golfer. Early life Varangot was born in Biarritz in the French Basque Country and was a self-taught golfer, who did not take many lessons and did not practice a lot. Lally ...

, and reached the quarter-finals in 1956 and 1958. In 1959 at Woolaton Park, she won the championship, beating Julia Greenhalgh in the final by one hole. She represented England in the annual England–Scotland girls match each year from 1956 to 1959. In 1960 Vaughan made her debut for England in the

Women's Home Internationals The Women's Home Internationals were an amateur team golf championship for women contested between the four Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, where Ireland was represented by the whole island of Ireland on an All-Ireland basi ...

and for Great Britain & Ireland in the 1961

Vagliano Trophy The Vagliano Trophy is a biennial women's amateur golf tournament. It is co-organised by The R&A and the European Golf Association and is contested by teams representing "Great Britain and Ireland" and the "Continent of Europe". It is played in od ...

. She reached the semi-finals of the

in 1962 and 1963, losing to

Angela Bonallack Angela, Lady Bonallack ( Ward; 7 April 1937 – 1 July 2022) was an English amateur golfer. She was twice a finalist in the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship and won the English Women's Amateur Championship in 1958 and 1963. She playe ...

both times, by the same score 2&1. Vaughan was selected for the 1962

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. The British lost heavily winning just one of the nine 36-hole matches. Vaughan lost both her matches. In 1963, she played In the

Commonwealth Trophy The Astor Trophy is a women's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It has been played every four years since 1959. From its foundation until 20 ...

in Australia, which the British team won. During the trip she won the New Zealand Junior Ladies’ Stroke Play Championship. Vaughan was selected for the 1964 Curtis Cup at

Royal Porthcawl Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is a golf club in Wales in the United Kingdom, located north of Porthcawl and bordering the Bristol Channel. The club has hosted many prestigious tournaments including The Amateur Championship on six occasions, the Wal ...

, the first to have 18-hole matches. She was only chosen for the foursomes matches. playing with

Ruth Porter Ruth Porter (later Slark, 6 May 1939 – 15 September 2014) was an English amateur golfer. She had a successful junior career which included winning the 1956 Girls Amateur Championship and the 1958 British Girls' Stroke-play Championship. She w ...

. They won their match on the first day and halved on the final day. The contest was much closer that in 1962 with the teams level at the start of the final round of singles matches.

Personal life

Vaughan married Dr. Anthony Irving in September 1964 and Joe Maher in March 1971. She was a

radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialise in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radio ...

by profession.

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1961 (winners), 1965 *

(representing Great Britain): 1963 (winners) *

(representing England): 1960 (winners), 1961, 1962, 1963 (winners), 1964 (winners) * England–Scotland girls match (representing England): 1956 (winners), 1957 (winners), 1958 (winners), 1959 (winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Sheila English female golfers Amateur golfers Sportspeople from Lancashire 1942 births 2022 deaths