First American to Compete IN British Women's Amateur CHampionship Never Planned on Entering
Mabel Higgins the First American to Compete in the British Women's Amateur CHampionship
_________________________________________________________________________________
|
Arriving in Scotland in the spring of 1904 Mabel Higgins had no intention of competing in the British Women’s Amateur Championship. Rather she had crossed the Atlantic to work on her game with famed Scottish golf pro Ben Sayres and only decided to take part in the prestigious competition on a whim.
A member of the Midlothian Golf Club of Chicago, Higgins – who spent her winters golfing in the warm sunshine of Pasadena – had won the Southern California Championship the year before and was known nationally as a golfer of some skill. “Miss Higgins has a fine long game but her approaching and putting are weak,” Harper’s Weekly reported on her style of play. May Hezlet – a two time Open Ladies Champion in Britain and Irish Ladies Champion – characterized Higgins as “a coming player – one of grit and determination.” Honing her craft with renowned golf pro Ben Sayres would only make her game better. Besides having helped teach King Edward of Britain, Ayres – who by 1914 would boast 33 British championship appearances – had helped U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Francis Griscom improve her iron play - previously the weakest part of her game - a year before she won the championship. Higgins was hoping that Sayres could similarly help her improve her own play. So the young Chicagoan departed for Britain with her parents as her soon to be fiancé – the son of New Jersey Congressman Charles Fowler, Sr. – waived them off from the pier. A graduate of Yale University, Fowler – a friend of Higgins' brother in-law – met Mabel during an outing in Vermont. The two were said to have subsequently fallen in love on the golf course. The British looked at the young American upstart taking part in their amateur championship as a curiosity. Not even the Americans held out much hope that she would win. “It cannot be said that there is a ghost of a chance for Miss Higgins against a player of Miss Rhona Adair’s quality,” Brooklyn Life wrote that April. Adair had won the British Amateur Championship the year before. Higgins performance in the qualifying round did nothing to dispel many people’s doubts regarding her chances. On May 9 – the day before the tournament – a stroke competition was held. For the last five years every winner of the stroke competition had subsequently won the championship. According to the British press Higgins did so poorly in the competition she didn’t even bother turning in her score. |
On May 10 at 1 p.m. in the afternoon the first round of the championship began at Troon. The first ball was hit by Higgins who had the misfortune of drawing the returning champion as her first opponent.
“In spite of the cold wind and occasional downpours of rain there was a large attendance of spectators on the Troon links,” the Times wrote the next day. On the third hole Higgins missed a putt less than a yard distant from the cup. On the seventh she drove into the sand and bunkered on the tenth. She did manage to win the 11th and 12th but it was too little too late. On the 16th hole Adair won the match – three holes up with just two holes left. America’s first match in the British Championship had also become its first defeat. It wouldn’t be until 1947 – when Babe Zaharias won – that an American would capture the British Women’s Amateur Championship. 
Mabel Higgins at Troon 1904 ___________________
Following the competition Higgins returned to America and continued to compete – once again winning the Southern California Championship in 1905.
While Higgins would continue to be involved in the game of golf in New Jersey, following her marriage to Fowler she never regained the same prominence as she briefly had as the first American to compete in the Women’s Amateur Championship in Britain. When Higgins died in 1930 few remembered that she had been the first American woman to compete at the storied event. -By Shawn R. Dagle Women's Pro Golf Weekly Editor/Reporter Published May 1, 2021 |
SOURCES
The Los Angeles Times March 21, 1905 “She Wins Over Los Angeles”
The Courier News May 10, 1905 “Charlie Fowler Yale ’02 Wins a Champion’s Heart”
The Los Angeles Times March 21, 1905 “She Wins Over Los Angeles”
Brooklyn Life April 12, 1904 “Sports of the Amateur”
Ladies Golf May Hezlet 1907 Hutchinson and Co. London 1907
Harper’s Weekly Editor George Harvey Harper & Brothers NY, July 2, 1904
The Courier News May 10, 1905 “Charlie Fowler Yale ’02 Wins a Champion’s Heart”
The Saint Paul Globe May 16, 1904 “American Defeated”
The Times of London “Golf” May 10, 1904
The Times May 11, 1904 “Golf”
Chattanooga Daily Times May 28, 1905 “For Golf”
Chicago Tribune May 10, 1904 “Women Golfers Begin Play”
The Los Angeles Times March 21, 1905 “She Wins Over Los Angeles”
The Courier News May 10, 1905 “Charlie Fowler Yale ’02 Wins a Champion’s Heart”
The Los Angeles Times March 21, 1905 “She Wins Over Los Angeles”
Brooklyn Life April 12, 1904 “Sports of the Amateur”
Ladies Golf May Hezlet 1907 Hutchinson and Co. London 1907
Harper’s Weekly Editor George Harvey Harper & Brothers NY, July 2, 1904
The Courier News May 10, 1905 “Charlie Fowler Yale ’02 Wins a Champion’s Heart”
The Saint Paul Globe May 16, 1904 “American Defeated”
The Times of London “Golf” May 10, 1904
The Times May 11, 1904 “Golf”
Chattanooga Daily Times May 28, 1905 “For Golf”
Chicago Tribune May 10, 1904 “Women Golfers Begin Play”