Vicki Thomas ( Rawlings, born 27 October 1954) is a Welsh amateur golfer. She played in six successive

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 " ...

matches from 1982 to 1992. She won the Welsh Ladies' Amateur Championship eight times and the Welsh Women's Open Stroke Play Championship five times.

Golf career

Thomas won the Welsh Girls' Championship in 1973, beating Tegwen Perkins at the 19th hole. She competed for Wales in the

Girls Home Internationals The Girls Home Internationals was an amateur team golf championship for girls between the four Home Nations. Ireland was represented by the whole island of Ireland.The event was organised by The R&A. The inaugural event was held in 1969 and the ...

from the inaugural event in 1969, when she was 14, to 1973. She made her debut for Wales 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 ...

in 1971 and the

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pl ...

from 1973. However she made little impact outside Wales until 1979, although she was runner-up in 1977 Newmark International at Woodhall Spa, nine strokes behind the winner, Dinah Henson. In 1979 Thomas won the Welsh Ladies' Amateur Championship and was runner-up in the

Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship was founded in 1969 by the Ladies' Golf Union (now merged into The R&A) of Great Britain. A stroke play Stroke play is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke pl ...

, two strokes behind

Mary McKenna Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

. She also played in the

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 o ...

and then 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 2007 it ...

in Australia. Despite her good performance in 1979 she was not selected for the 1980

team, being second reserve. Competing as Vicki Thomas, she was runner-up in the 1980 Welsh Women's Open Stroke Play Championship, a stroke behind Tegwen Thomas. The following year, 1981, she won the event, six strokes ahead of Tegwen Thomas. In 1982 Thomas retained the Welsh stroke play title, won the Welsh Ladies' Amateur Championship for the second time and was runner-up in the

Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship The Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship (Copa S.M. la Reina) is an annual amateur golf tournament in Spain for women. It is an "A" rated tournament in the World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was intr ...

. She also made her first appearance in the

. Thomas was runner-up in the 1984

Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship The Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship is the national women's amateur stroke play golf championship in Scotland (although entry is open to overseas golfers). It has been played annually at Royal Troon since 1973 an ...

, seven strokes behind

Gillian Stewart Gillian Stewart (born 21 October 1958) is a Scottish professional golfer who played on the Ladies European Tour (LET) from 1985 to 2000. She recorded three LET wins and was runner-up in eight tournaments. As an amateur, she won the Girls Amateur ...

, and in 1985 she reached the semi-finals of 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 ...

. In 1986 she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Women's Amateur, while in 1987 she won the Mellsop Cup, the New Zealand amateur stroke-play championship. In 1990 she won the

, a stroke ahead of

Claire Hourihane Clair or Claire may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claire (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Clair or Claire * Clair (surname), a list of people with the surname Clair or Claire Pl ...

. and she was a runner-up in the 1993 Irish Women's Amateur Open Championship. She won the Welsh Ladies' Amateur Championship eight times between 1979 and 1994, reaching her 11th final in 1996. She also won the Welsh Women's Open Stroke Play Championship for a third time in 1989. In 2009 she won the Women's Senior Amateur. Thomas played in six successive

matches and also played in the

six times, the

four times and the

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

in 1990. She represented Wales in the

for 28 consecutive years from 1971 to 1998 and also represented Wales regularly in the

Personal life

Thomas has two younger sisters, Kerri (born 1957) and Mandy (born 1964) who were also Welsh international golfers. She was inducted into the

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame (WSHOF) is a charitable organisation created to commemorate the sporting achievements and preserve the artefacts of Welsh athletes. It was established in 1980 from the memorabilia collection of Welsh radio commentato ...

in 1998.

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1982, 1984, 1986 (winners), 1988 (winners), 1990, 1992 (winners) *

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1979 (tied), 1983 (winners), 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (winners), 1991 (winners) *

(representing Great Britain): 1979, 1983, 1987, 1991 (winners) *

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

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 ...

(representing Wales):

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

(representing Wales): 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 *

(representing Wales): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Vicki Welsh female golfers Amateur golfers 1954 births Living people