Frances Stephens (golfer)
{{short description|English golfer}}
{{distinguish|Bunt Stephens}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Frances "Bunty" Stephens (married name Frances Stephens Smith or Frances Smith Stephens; 26 July 1924{{Cite ODNB|id=31696 |title=Stephens [married name Smith], Frances [Bunty] }} – 23 July 1978{{cite web |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=smith&yearOfDeath=1978&page=44#calendar |title=Probate 1978 |page=7549 |quote=Smith, Frances of 49A Lulworth Road Birkdale Southport died 23 July 1978 Probate Liverpool 3 November £65485 |publisher=gov.uk |access-date=12 February 2018}}{{Primary source inline|date=February 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.old.llcga.org/Core/Lancashire-Ladies-County-Golf-Association/UserFiles/Files/Frances%20Smith%20web.pdf|title=Frances "Bunty" Smith|publisher=Lancashire Ladies County Golf Association|access-date=12 February 2018}}) was an English amateur golfer.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1958/09/08/568769/les-girls-life-under-pressure |date=8 September 1958 |title=Les girls: life under pressure |first=Herbert Warren |last=Wind |authorlink=Herbert Warren Wind |magazine=Sports Illustrated}}
Personal life
Stephens was born in Lancashire where her father Fred was club professional at Bootle Golf Club. She faced discrimination from golf administrators because of his working class occupation.{{cite thesis |url=https://sapientia.ualg.pt/bitstream/10400.1/3460/1/TESE_HELENA_%20REIS_.pdf#page=120 |format=PDF |title=Gender Asymmetries In Golf Participation: Tradition Or Discrimination? |last=De Albuquerque E Castro Amaro Dos Santos Reis De Figueiredo |first=Helena Maria |year=2013 |publisher=University of Algarve |type=PhD |page=94 |access-date=12 February 2018}} In 1955 she married Roy Smith, a Scottish Airlines pilot killed in a 1957 crash in Libya.{{cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19571207-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer 1 G-AOEO Fezzan|work=Aviation Safety Network|access-date=12 February 2018}} They had one daughter. Stephens curtailed her playing career to raise her daughter, but subsequently was active in golf administration and developing junior golf. She was made OBE for "services to Ladies Golf" in the 1977 New Year Honours,{{cite journal|date=31 December 1976|title=Order of the British Empire (Civil Division); OBE|journal=The London Gazette|issue=Supplement to 47102|pages=9–12 : 12|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/47102/supplement/12}} a year before her death from cancer.
Golf career
Stephens' home club was Royal Birkdale.{{cite journal |url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/golfd/article/1954apr60.pdf |title=Birkdale Rated Stiffest Course for British Open|last=Corlett|first=W. H.|date=April 1954 |quote=Not only is the Course a Championship Course but the Club is a Club of Champions — for among its members are Ronnie White ... and Frances (Bunty) Stephens who is acknowledged to be Britain's leading lady |journal=Golfdom|pages=60–61|access-date=12 February 2018}} She won the British Ladies Amateur in 1949 and 1954, and was runner-up in 1951 and 1952. She played in all six Curtis Cups from 1950 to 1960, and was non-playing captain of the Great Britain and Ireland team in 1962 and 1972.{{cite web|url=http://www.curtiscup.org/history/previous_matches.html|title=Previous Matches|work=Official Website Of The 2008 Curtis Cup Match|publisher=United States Golf Association|access-date=12 February 2018}} Her final-hole victories over Polly Riley in the 1956 and 1958 tournaments secured a win and a draw respectively for the British team, the first time it retained the cup. In the United States she was "hardly known", though she finished tied for 6th in the 1949 U.S. Women's Open. She was also a non-playing captain of the British team in the Vagliano Trophy.
Herbert Warren Wind called her a "slight, quiet, entirely undramatic girl" and an outstanding clutch player. Enid Wilson said she had "a very frail physique but ... the temperament of a tigress".{{cite book|last=Glenn|first=Rhonda|title=The Illustrated History of Women's Golf|year=1991|publisher=Taylor Publishing Company|isbn=9780878337439|page=91}} Her swing had a pronounced hiatus at the top,{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12361437.Young_boy_who_definitely_has_right_name_to_go_far_Big_hands_and_a_good_grip_could_be_the_key_to_success_for_Zane_Scotland_in_the_Open/ |title=Young boy who definitely has right name to go far |date=14 July 1999 |quote=Macdonald Smith, Cary Middlecoff, Bunty Stephens and England's Gordon Brand, to name but four, all had a pronounced hiatus.|work=HeraldScotland |access-date=12 February 2018}} which Wind called "most unimpressive", although Henry Cotton said she had "one of the prettiest swings in the game".{{cite book|last=Cotton|first=Henry|title=This Game of Golf|year=1948|publisher=Country Life|page=85}}
Team appearances
- Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1950, 1952 (winners), 1954, 1956 (winners), 1958 (tied), 1960, 1962 (non-playing captain), 1972 (non-playing captain)
- Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1947 (winners), 1948 (winners), 1949 (winners), 1953 (winners), 1955 (winners), 1959 (winners), 1971 (non-playing captain, winners)
- Commonwealth Trophy (representing Great Britain): 1959 (winners), 1963 (winners)
References
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Category:English female golfers
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom