Frances Stephens (golfer)

Frances "Bunty"[1] Stephens (married name Frances Stephens Smith or Frances Smith Stephens; 26 July 1924[2] – 23 July 1978[3][4]) was an English amateur golfer.[1]

Not to be confused with Bunt Stephens.

Personal life

Stephens was born in Lancashire where her father Fred was club professional at Bootle Golf Club.[1] She faced discrimination from golf administrators because of his working class occupation.[5] In 1955 she married Roy Smith, a Scottish Airlines pilot killed in a 1957 crash in Libya.[1][4][6] They had one daughter.[1] Stephens curtailed her playing career to raise her daughter, but subsequently was active in golf administration and developing junior golf.[4] She was made OBE for "services to Ladies Golf" in the 1977 New Year Honours,[7] a year before her death from cancer.[4]

Golf career

Stephens' home club was Royal Birkdale.[8] 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.[9] 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.[1] In the United States she was "hardly known",[1] 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.[4]

Herbert Warren Wind called her a "slight, quiet, entirely undramatic girl" and an outstanding clutch player.[1] Enid Wilson said she had "a very frail physique but ... the temperament of a tigress".[10] Her swing had a pronounced hiatus at the top,[1][11] which Wind called "most unimpressive", although Henry Cotton said she had "one of the prettiest swings in the game".[12]

Team appearances
  • Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1950, 1952 (winners), 1954, 1956 (winners), 1958 (winners), 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)
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References
  1. Wind, Herbert Warren (8 September 1958). "Les girls: life under pressure". Sports Illustrated.
  2. "Stephens [married name Smith], Frances [Bunty]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31696. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. "Probate 1978". gov.uk. p. 7549. Retrieved 12 February 2018. Smith, Frances of 49A Lulworth Road Birkdale Southport died 23 July 1978 Probate Liverpool 3 November £65485
  4. "Frances "Bunty" Smith" (PDF). Lancashire Ladies County Golf Association. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  5. De Albuquerque E Castro Amaro Dos Santos Reis De Figueiredo, Helena Maria (2013). Gender Asymmetries In Golf Participation: Tradition Or Discrimination? (PDF) (PhD). University of Algarve. p. 94. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. "ASN Aircraft accident Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer 1 G-AOEO Fezzan". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  7. "Order of the British Empire (Civil Division); OBE". The London Gazette (Supplement to 47102): 9–12 : 12. 31 December 1976.
  8. Corlett, W. H. (April 1954). "Birkdale Rated Stiffest Course for British Open" (PDF). Golfdom: 60–61. Retrieved 12 February 2018. 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
  9. "Previous Matches". Official Website Of The 2008 Curtis Cup Match. United States Golf Association. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  10. Glenn, Rhonda (1991). The Illustrated History of Women's Golf. Taylor Publishing Company. p. 91. ISBN 9780878337439.
  11. "Young boy who definitely has right name to go far". HeraldScotland. 14 July 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2018. Macdonald Smith, Cary Middlecoff, Bunty Stephens and England's Gordon Brand, to name but four, all had a pronounced hiatus.
  12. Cotton, Henry (1948). This Game of Golf. Country Life. p. 85.
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