Cecil Leitch

This article in our series ‘History & Legends of Golf’ chronicles the life and career of Cecil Leitch who was one of the finest amateur golfers of her generation. If it had not been for her nemesis Joyce Wethered, against whom she had several epic encounters, most of which made the front page of national newspapers all around the world, then the history books would doubtless recognise her as the best amateur golfer of any generation.

(As a consequence of adhering to the UK Governments COVID-19 ‘Stay Safe, Stay Home’ guidelines I was unable to undertake as much research and cross-referencing of information sources as I would normally do for this type of article…hopefully you will still enjoy)

Early Life

Charlotte Cecilia Pitcairn Leitch was born on the 13th April 1891 in the port town of Silloth, Cumberland (now Cumbria), England. Her parents were John and Catherine Leitch (née Redford). Her Scottish father was a Physician and Surgeon who sadly died when Cecil, as she was known from a very early age, was only 5 years old.

In 1898, Jersey-born Thomas George Renouf was appointed as the professional at Silloth on Solway Golf Club, one of the best links courses in the United Kingdom. At Silloth, Cecil came under the tutelage of Renouf who helped ‘fine-tune’ her prodigious golfing talent to fashion an ‘unusual flat swing – palm grip combination’ which yielded shots of accuracy and distance, effectively overhauling the mould by which ladies had played golf up to that point.

(For completeness…Renouf was a founding member of the PGA when it was established in 1901 and in 1909 he finished 5th in The Open staged at the Cinque Ports, Deal finishing 8 shots behind JH Taylor)

Statement of Intent

The informal meaning of the phrase ‘Statement of Intent’, namely…

‘An indication of what a person or persons is likely to do in the near future’

…could well have been invented for Cecil Leitch!! In 1908 she announced herself on the international golfing stage by reaching the semi-finals on her debut in the British Ladies Amateur Championship played at St Andrews.

The following year this championship was staged at Royal Birkdale. Although Cecil only reached the 4th round of the match play she won the preceding stroke-play medal. This was the first time that this historic course had hosted a major golfing event…when the medal and trophy were presented to Cecil Leitch and Dorothy Campbell respectively by the Birkdale captain, he said (and I paraphrase):

“The exhibition of golf displayed by the ladies made the members miserable thinking about their own shortcomings!!”

In 1910, Cecil was awarded her first England international cap (and she proudly represented her country until 1928).

Challenge Match

Harold Horsfall Hilton is without question one of the all-time greats. He is one of only three amateurs to win The Open Championship, which he did in 1982 and 1897 (the other two being John Ball Jr and Bobby Jones). By the time of his challenge match with Cecil Leitch, he had also won the British Amateur Championship on two occasions, in 1900 and 1901.

In 1910, Hilton put forward an idea that the (strokes) difference between gentleman and lady golf champions, playing from the men’s tees, was about 9 strokes per round. He surmised that he would prevail in a match despite the concession of a stroke on alternate holes.

I have been unable to uncover background information on why (19-year-old) Cecil Leitch accepted the ‘challenge’ but accept she did. Thus a 72 hole challenge match was played on the 13th and 15th October 1910, with the first 36 holes at Walton Heath (Old Course) and then a further 36 holes at Sunningdale (Old Course). According to press reports, this much-anticipated contest attracted circa. 4,000 spectators.

The opening rounds at Walton Heath did not disappoint with Harold Hilton ending the day 1up…the match should have been A/S but Cecil Leith missed a short putt on the 36th. At Sunningdale, Hilton coped with the rain and strong winds much better than Leitch and stretched his lead to 5up with 15 holes remaining…but then…Cecil fought back (and some!!) and won seven of the next nine holes to eventually run out the winner by 2&1. At the end of the match, and to his eternal credit, Hilton said: “I was beaten fair and square”.

The following year (1911):

• Harold Hilton became the first golfer to win the US and British Amateur Championships in the same year!!
• Rudyard Kipling published the poem ‘The Female of the Species’ which has the refrain ‘The female of the species is more deadly than the male’…very doubtful indeed but did he find inspiration from the challenge match?

The Leitch Sisters

A couple of months ago, whilst researching for another article at the British Library, I stumbled upon a rather intriguing black and white photograph which was shot in 1912 at Turnberry, the venue that year for the British Ladies Amateur Championship, at which Cecil again reached the semi-finals.

My initial thinking was that they must have all been competitors in what was, and possibly still is, the most important event in the amateur golfing calendar for women. Not a bad guess…but I could not believe my good fortune when I discovered the photograph was of the quintet of (golfing) Leitch sisters!!

Cecil was not the only championship golfer in the family. Edith was an England International whose achievements included reaching the quarter-finals of the US Women’s Amateur Championship in 1921 and 1923…May was also an England International.

Despite losing in the semi-finals of the British Ladies Amateur, 1912 was her breakthrough year as Cecil finally secured a major international title by winning the French Women’s Amateur Championship.

1914 British Ladies Amateur

Cecil Leitch had been the favourite to win the British Ladies Amateur in 1913 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes but sometimes it is not meant to be and she suffered a surprise early exit. Roll the clock forward 12 months to May 1914 and finally, she secured her first British Ladies Championship, defeating Gladys Ravenscroft (the reigning US Women’s Amateur Champion) 2&1 in the final at Hunstanton Golf Club.

The following month she won her second French Women’s Amateur Championship, defeating Gladys Bastin 2&1.

Thus at the age of 23, Cecil Leitch had quickly become the dominant force in ladies amateur golf. The New York Times ran an article with the headline ‘Champion Golfer Coming’…referring to the possibility of Cecil travelling over to America to compete in the 1914 US Women’s Amateur Championship. It was not to be…as ten days after winning the French, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, triggering a series of events that eventually led to WW1.

1920 British Ladies Amateur

In the aftermath of WW1, the 1919 French Women’s Amateur Championship was cancelled whilst the 1919 British Ladies was moved from its normal May slot to later in the year…however, there was a railway strike in the United Kingdom which resulted in the championship not being played. Instead, Cecil Leitch played a series of challenge matches against professionals JH Taylor, James Braid, Harry Vardon and Abe Mitchell, receiving the same stroke allowance as in her match against Harold Hilton…she defeated Taylor, Braid and Vardon with her only loss coming against Mitchell!!

Thus in May 1920, the British Ladies Amateur returned after a gap of 6 years. The championship was staged at Royal County Down Golf Club in Northern Ireland, possibly the finest of all links courses.

The 36 hole match-play final was contested by Cecil Leith (the defending champion) and Molly Griffiths of Sunningdale Golf Club, who was appearing in her first championship and had never previously played in a competitive 36 hole match.

The experience of Leitch was just too much for the 19-year-old Griffiths, winning by a margin of 7&6 to secure her second British Ladies title.

The following month Cecil won the French Women’s Amateur Championship for the third time.

1921 British Ladies Amateur

The 1921 British Ladies Amateur was hosted by Turnberry Golf Club, Scotland. The championship attracted an incredible array of golfing talent, including:

• Cecil Leitch – The defending Champion
• Joyce Wethered – Only 19, but already the English Ladies Champion
• Alexa Stirling – The reigning US Women’s Amateur Champion

Remarkably, Leitch and Stirling were drawn against each other in the first round!! This heavyweight contest attracted a huge crowd, including amongst others golfing legends Francis Ouimet and Bobby Jones!! To quote the New York Times “BRITISH WOMAN STAR BEATS OUR CHAMPION IN TITLE GOLF MATCH“…for the record, Cecil won the match 3&2.

Cecil and Joyce battled their way to the final…the first of many titanic matches. On this occasion, experience won out against youth and Cecil clinched her third successive British Ladies Championship.

1921 Championne de France Féminine Amateur

A fortnight later, Leitch and Wethered reached the final of the 1921 French Women’s Amateur, which was played at Fontainebleau. Cecil shot a brilliant 74 in the morning round to be 7up and despite a strong performance from Joyce in the afternoon, Cecil eventually won 6&5. This was her third successive French title and fourth in all.

This was the last time she ever defeated Joyce Wethered.

1921 Canadian Women’s Amateur

Overlooking the restrictions currently imposed globally due to the coronavirus pandemic, today’s golfing superstars fly all around the world week-on-week to play in tournaments and major championships. Wind the clock back a century and a totally different story…to compete in the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, Cecil and her sister Edith (who had also entered the Championship) departed from the port of Liverpool, England at the end of August on the cruise liner SS Mégantic, operated by the White Star Line for the championship that started towards the end of September!!

The historic Rivermead Golf Club in Aylmer, Ottawa was the venue for the 1921 Candian Women’s Championship.

Having safely arrived and acclimatised, Cecil Leitch posted the best score of the 104 entrants in the 18 hole Strokeplay qualifier, from which the top 32 players progressed to the match play knockout stage. Cecil and her sister Edith were kept apart in the draw and both progressed to the semi-finals.

Cecil was once again up against Alexa Stirling and this time prevailed on the 17th. Unfortunately, the ‘Leitch Sister Final’ did not materialise as Edith lost her semi by 2&1 to Canadian Molly McBride.

I have been unable to corroborate the score of the 36 hole final, but the one report I did unearth stated that Cecil won emphatically by 17&15 (the biggest winning margin of any major amateur final)!!

(Since publishing the article…Margaret McLaren, the ‘self-appointed’ historian for the Rivermead Golf Club provided evidence to verify the score of the final. Cecil Leitch won the first 6 holes, the 7th was halved, she won the 8th and lost the 9th to be 6up. Cecil then won the 10th, halved the 11th and won the next 7 holes to be 14up. She then won the 19th, 20th & 21st to secure the championship by 17&15)

An early exit in the following month’s US Women’s Amateur Championship at Hollywood Golf Club, New Jersey does not diminish from what she achieved in 1921…most definitely her Annus mirabilis.

Head to Head

Throughout the generations, all sports have had classic head to head rivalries…Nadal v Federer (Tennis), Senna v Prost (Formula 1)…the list is endless. In ladies golf, one such rivalry was Cecil Leitch v Joyce Wethered, though by all accounts they were good friends and greatly respected one other.

The tide turned in 1922. They met once again in the final of the 1922 British Ladies Amateur at Royal St George’s. After the morning round, Wethered was 1up but in the afternoon she forged ahead to clinch her first British Ladies title by 9&7. Leitch made no excuses for her defeat, even though in late 1921 she had suffered a serious arm injury which she aggravated during the final…this resulted in her not playing again for many months.

In 1925, the British Ladies Amateur was hosted by Royal Troon and for the third and final time they met in the final…and what a classic encounter. Joyce Wethered was the defending champion having won in 1924 whilst Cecil Leitch had won the French for the fifth time in the same year.

The standard of golf in the 36 hole final was viewed by several commentators at the time as the best ever with a reported record crowd of 15,000. The match was A/S after the first 18 holes and it was not until the 28th hole that Wethered led for the first time in the match, a lead she doubled so that by the time they reached the 35th she was dormie two. Leitch’s fighting spirit never died and by playing the final two holes in one under scratch the match was halved and went to sudden death…which Wethered won at the 37th. Although she lost, Cecil Leitch always regarded this as her greatest match.

Later that year both players decided to retire from competitive golf, though neither provided a concise reason why…that did not prevent speculation in the newspapers that the ever-increasing size of crowds and the worsening behaviour (of the crowds) at their matches was an influencing factor…thankfully for the game of golf, both eventually returned.

Author and Writer

Cecil Leitch was also an author and a writer. She published three books…Golf for Girls, Golf and Golf Simplified, published in 1911, 1922 and 1924 respectively.

She also wrote numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. For copyright reasons, I am unable to reproduce one of her best articles which focused on what Cecil labelled ‘Molder of Character’ and that in her opinion golf was much more than a game in that it involves team play, partnership and single combat!!

1926 British Ladies Amateur

Founded in 1894, Royal St. David’s Golf Club in Harlech, Wales is one of the best traditional links courses in the world with a layout that combines undulating fairways and fast greens. In 1926 the club proudly hosted the British Ladies Amateur…Cecil Leitch was now 35 years of age and this championship was possibly her last opportunity to win another title.

The general strike of May 1926 in the United Kingdom resulted in the event being postponed and re-scheduled to late June. As a consequence, almost half of the original entrants withdrew…and Joyce Wethered had also decided not to defend the title!! However, in addition to Cecil other notable entrants included Glenna Collett (the reigning US Women’s Amateur Champion) and the rising star of ladies golf, 17-year-old Simone de la Chaume from France (who had recently defeated Cecil in the final of the French Amateur).

In the semi-finals, Cecil gained revenge on Simone with a decisive 4&3 victory. In the 36-hole final, she was up against fellow British player Marjorie Ross Garon…at lunch, Cecil was 9up and eventually claimed a record fourth British Ladies title by 8&7.

In 1929 Joyce Wethered won her fourth British Ladies title to share the record with Cecil which still stands to this day and is a record that will never be broken!!

Another interesting fact is that Cecil Leith’s victories in this event were achieved in each of the home nations…Hunstanton (England), Royal County Down (Northern Ireland), Turnberry (Scotland) and Royal St. David’s (Wales).

Cecil Leitch finally retired from competitive golf in 1928…4 British, 5 French, 1 Canadian and countless other titles and honours to her name.

Post Golf Retirement

Cecil Leith’s life and career were far from over when she decided to retire after two decades of competing at the pinnacle of elite amateur golf…in addition to selling antiques, she also became a director of Cinema House, the first organisation to import foreign movies into the United Kingdom.

But golf remained her first love. In 1938 there was a movement to establish a Museum to collect and exhibit artefacts aligned to women’s golf…thus the Women Golfer’s Museum opened the following year and Cecil was one of the original committee members. Over the years she was involved with compiling an incredible collection of golf books, equipment, photos and assorted golfing memorabilia for the Museum.

After WW2 she became the Chairperson for the Museum committee and in the early 1960s became a trustee for the Museum.

Cecil Leitch continued to be actively involved with amateur and professional golf and with the Museum until her death on the 16th September 1977, aged 86.

Acknowledgements

And finally, a massive thanks to…

• Gillian Kirkwood ~ For sharing the photographs of Cecil Leith from the Women Golfers’ Museum.
• Gordon Simpson ~ MD, SportMate (Sports PR & Media Consultants), for providing a photograph of Walton Heath golf course.
• Jean Leduc ~ Directeur, Golf et Opérations, Club de golf Rivermead for permitting me to extract a photograph of the Rivermead golf course from their website.
• Margaret McLaren ~ ‘Self-appointed’ historian for Club de golf Rivermead for providing evidence to corroborate the result of the 1921 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship Final.
• Gareth Lewis ~ Club Manager & Head PGA Professional at Royal St. David’s Golf Club, for permitting me to extract a photograph of the 1926 British Ladies Amateur Championship from their website.
• Royal County Down Golf Club.