Helen Holm
Helen Holm (née Gray) (14 March 1907 – 15 December 1971) was a Scottish amateur golfer. She was Scottish champion five times and she won the British Ladies Amateur twice. The Helen Holm Trophy is named in her memory.
| Helen Holm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Helen Gray Holm |
| Born | 14 March 1907 Partick, Scottland |
| Died | 15 December 1971 (aged 64) |
| Nationality |  |
| Spouse | Andrew Holm |
| Children | one son |
| Career | |
| Status | Amateur |
Life
Holm was born in Partick which is part of Glasgow. Her mother was Violet Irene Emma Warren and her father Thomas was a Professor of Chemistry at the Technical College. Violet and Thomas had two daughters.[1]
She won her first golf championship at the age of 21 when she won the 1928 Lanarkshire Open Golf championship. It was the only one she won as Helen Gray as the following year, 1929, she was married and used the name Helen Holm. She won the Scottish Ladies' Amateur Championship in 1930.[2]
In 1934 she won the British Ladies Amateur at the Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and in 1938 she won it again at the Burnham & Berrow Golf Club. She was chosen for the biennial women's golf match between Britain and Ireland versus the USA known as the Curtis Cup in 1936 and 1938. The 1936 match was played at Gleneagles Hotel (King's Course) in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland and the 1938 match was played at the Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.[3] After the war, she played on the 1948 team,[4] and was chosen again in 1950 but refused the honour as she did not want to be parted from her son.[2]
Holm went on win the Sottish championship four more times.[5]
In 1951 she became the captain of the British team and contested matches in Belgium and France and she played in Scottish home internationals in 1955 and 1957.[2]
Holm died in 1971.[1]
Private life
She married a farmer named Andrew Holm by 1929.[1]
Legacy
The Helen Holm Trophy was named in her honour in 1973 and is now known as the "Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship" and it is always contested at Royal Troon. The first winner was Belle Robertson.[5][2]
Helen Holm Trophy winners
- 1973 Belle Robertson 238[5]
- 1974 Sandra Needham 236
- 1975 Muriel Thomson 235
- 1976 Muriel Thomson 233
- 1977 Beverley Huke (England) 239
- 1978 Wilma Aitken 230
- 1978 Belle Robertson 234
- 1980 Wilma Aitken 225
- 1981 Gillian Stewart 231
- 1982 Wilma Aitken 231
- 1983 Jane Connachan 228
- 1984 Gillian Stewart 217
- 1985 Pamela Wright 244
- 1986 Belle Robertson 227
- 1987 Elaine Farquharson 227
- 1988 Alison Gemmill 233
- 1989 Sara Robinson (England) 225
- 1990 Catriona Lambert 225
- 1991 Julie Hall (England) 224
- 1992 Mhairi McKay 227
- 1993 Julie Hall (England) 224
- 1994 Katie Tebbett (England) 223
- 1995 Maria Hjorth (Sweden) 219
- 1996 Joanne Hockley (England) 219
- 1997 Kim Rostron (England) 219
- 1998 Karen-Margrethe Juul (Denmark) 225
- 1999 Lesley Nicholson 222
- 2000 Rebecca Hudson (England) 213
- 2001 Fiona Brown (England) 215
- 2002 Heather Stirling 215
- 2003 Nathalie David (France) 227
- 2004 Emma Duggleby (England) 211
- 2005 Martina Gillen (Ireland) 215
- 2006 Melissa Reid (England) 212
- 2007 Melissa Reid (England) 211
- 2008 Barbara Genuini (France) 214
- 2009 Leona Maguire (Ireland) 218
- 2010 Danielle McVeigh (Ireland) 215[5]
- 2011-2018 to do
- 2019 Babnik Pia (Slovenia) 201[6]
References
- Pottle, Mark. "Holm [née Gray], Helen Warren (1907–1971), golfer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51540. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- "Helen Holm". Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- "British Golfers Lead In Curtis Cup". The Glasgow Herald. 8 September 1938. p. 2. Retrieved 2 June 2020 – via Google News Archive Search.
- "U.S. Curtis Cup Squad Defeats British Handily". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. Associated Press. 23 May 1948. p. 1 (section 4).
- Farquharson, Colin (21 April 2011). "Only Two Scottish Winners Of 'Helen Holm' Since 1992". KirkwoodGolf. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- "European Golf Rankings: Scottish Women's Open Championship (Helen Holm) 2019". www.europeangolfrankings.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.