Kitty
Smye was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in 1922 and was to become
the first 'Irish' winner of the British Ladies' Amateur Championship,
at Broadstone in 1951, since May Hezlet in 1907 bridging a gap
of forty-four years.
Mrs
MacCann secured two national titles in 1949 and 1961 and was selected
for the 1952 Curtis Cup team but didn't play by reason of illness.
Kitty played for her country in the home international matches
sixteen times between 1947 and 1965 and won the Midland Senior
Championship on four occasions and the Leinster Championship twice,
in 1948 and 1958 and the Munster Championship once, in 1958.
Kitty
was born into a golfing family, her father was a scratch player,
who played in the South of Ireland championship on occasion, while
two of her brothers Gerry and Willie played off 3. Her greatest
disappointment was probably her non-participation in the 1952
Curtis Cup matches.
Catherine
Smye first signalled her ability to compete at the top level in
1947 when she was narrowly defeated by Philomena Garvey in the
Leinster Scratch Cup. The match put Miss Smye on the map and made
her a shoo-in for the home internationals.
The
Irish Ladies' Championship in 1947 at Royal Portrush was to be
her first of three finals against Miss Garvey all of which she
eventually lost. Now twenty-four years of age and a five handicapper,
her length from tee to green was impressive and in some cases
she could reach the green in two where other competitors could
not hope to match such a feat. If she had a flaw it was that her
short game was erratic.
Miss
Smye hadn't long to wait for the victory march, as the national
championship moved to Baltray in 1949. The County Louth Golf Club
was the lair of the two greatest women golfers in Ireland at that
time and while the punters expected Miss Smye to put up a serious
challenge they couldn't seriously have expected her to take the
Cup. Miss Smye had the upper hand and played some beautiful golf
with her "fluent swing" and her short game was not its
usual unpredictable self. This was Miss Smye's first national
championship and as the years moved on she proved to be one of
only two people to loosen Philomena
Garvey's stranglehold on the championship.
Miss
Smye was now Mrs P G MacCann having married Mr. Pat MacCann on
the 16 February 1950, the bridesmaid was one Clarrie
Reddan.
Between
1953-1956 Kitty didn't play in the national championship, either
by not entering or giving her first round opponent a walkover.
When she did return, it was in style, albeit faltering at the
last hurdle in a repeat of the final from ten years previous.
The 1957 national championship was played at Royal Portrush and
Kitty proved her game was back to its best taking joint second
in the Leitrim Cup where many of the players hadn't returned their
cards due to torrential downpours in the afternoon. The final
proved to be a humdinger for the quality of the golf and the tension
it produced. Both players went around Portrush in seventy-seven
strokes in the morning match and went in all square. The quality
of the match continued throughout the afternoon as Miss Garvey
played the sixteen holes in level fours. After taking the lead
at the twenty-second hole Miss Garvey was never to relinquish
it, proceeding to take the next two holes with threes but Kitty
birdied the twenty-seventh and eighth as she reeled Philomena
Garvey back in, the next two were halved and the following two
exchanged holes when Kitty was wayward on the eleventh and her
opponent unable to find the green at the next. Philomena pulled
ahead again with a birdie at the thirty-third hole and a piece
of magic on the thirty-fourth where she nearly held out with her
spoon for an albatross to take her to three up and to secure the
championship.
Philomena
recalled the Portrush final against Kitty and felt she played
better than she had ever done in any other final in beating Kitty
by 3 & 2. She had to:"because Kitty was playing really
too well, and every hole I won from her was well and truly earned.
I holed a few more putts than she did, and that was the difference
between us." she went on: "I was three up with six to
play in that match and lost the 13th and 14th - the 14th being,
of course, Calamity Corner. When Kitty hit a superb second at
the fifteenth to within five feet of the pin memories of the 1946
final began to haunt me. I hit a good one too but it was six feet
or so away. However, I sank mine and Kitty missed her's and I
must say I never felt more relieved in my life"
In 1960
the Championship moved to Little Island, the Cork golf club, at
which stage there were considered to be four challengers for the
title, the "Big" four as one paper referred to them.
As usual there was Garvey and MacCann but now added to this group
was Mrs Pat O'Sullivan and Mrs Zelie Fallon who had earned their
spurs in previous championships.
The
match itself was played in scorching heat and the final score
to some extent masked the supreme golf exhibition witnessed over
the thirty-six hole final. Phil was one up after the first eighteen
but moved up a gear covering the next nine holes in two under
par leaving her with a five up lead by the twenty-seventh hole
and continuing to thwart a late surge by going two under bogey
for the next five holes. This was matchplay golf at its very best
with Kitty covering the thirty-two holes in 139 strokes compared
to Philomena's 133 strokes. During the morning round the lead
had changed hands three times but in the afternoon Phil lost only
one hole, the twenty-eighth, when the Tullamore player birdie
the par 5. Phil hit right back and responded in kind with a birdie
of her own after sinking a two foot putt.
The
1961 Championship was played over the Royal County Down golf course
and it immediately gave Mrs MacCann a scare, in her first round
match against an eighteen year old Miss Elisabeth Barnett playing
on her home course. Despite a sore leg Mrs MacCann appeared to
be in control turning three up after covering the stretch in one
under fours (35). Mrs MacCann's golf began to deteriorate and
although halving the tenth and eleventh with a four and five respectively,
she lost the next four leaving her one down. Needing a birdie
at the next to square the match again she provided it, helped
by a superb drive off the tee. At the last two Miss Barnett's
in-experience began to tell as she spent much of these two holes
playing out of rough or sand, eventually giving the two holes
to a relieved Kitty MacCann. Despite this set-back Miss Barnett
in two years time would be in the final of the Championship. The
Newcastle track had a bogey score of seventy-seven and measured
over six thousand three hundred yards. In the second and third
rounds Kitty moved comfortably into the quarter-finals defeating
a local player Mrs J Kirkwood and Miss Ann O'Leary by the fifteenth
and her challenge for the title was helped immeasurably by Mrs
Fallon's shock defeat to Miss Joan Beckett a relative unknown
at this level of championship golf. Kitty was set to face Heather
Colhoun, a 1959 finalist, Leitrim Cup winner and international,
in the quarter-finals. The match was uneventful as Kitty coasted
through to a semi-final match with Mrs Pat O'Sullivan who was
not at her best and although unlikely to have ever beaten Kitty,
in this instance, there was no consistency in her game. Kitty
won the first three holes but her opponent had it back to all
square by the seventh but another poor patch by Mrs Pat O'Sullivan
saw her two down at the turn. Two very short putts missed on the
eleventh and thirteenth saw Kitty go four up and the match was
by then all but over, however the quality left something to be
desired and even Kitty recognised her poor play and made to the
practice ground before the next day's final.
The
final match was between Kitty and a relative newcomer in Miss
Ann Sweeney from Cushenhall and while this must have been a glorious
moment for Kitty it must have been tainted slightly by the fact
that neither finalist really played well. Even though a strong
wind blew on the day there could have been no reasonable explanation
for the number of bad shots played especially by Miss Sweeney
who was obviously unnerved by the occasion. Miss Sweeney's short
game, although by no means perfect, kept her in the match during
the early stages as from tee to green she found herself continuously
plagued by every defence the golf course had to offer, heather,
bunkers and dunes, this together with Ms MacCann's short game
being absence without leave from the day's events as nobody could
remember her making a putt of any consequence during the day resulted
in an below average spectacle. Miss Sweeney was obviously distraught
with her golf so much so that when given any kind of opportunity
to end the torture she took it with both hands. Upon reaching
the thirty-third hole in four shots both players were equidistant
from the pin and Kitty was four up, Ann needed to sink her putt
and her opponent to miss to take the match to the next hole. Miss
Sweeney decided not to pursue the matter further and conceded
the hole and the match giving Kitty her second championship victory.
In fairness to Kitty MacCann sometimes the play of your opponent
dictates ones own play or at the very least reflect it.
The
golf was of such poor quality that it left one commentator to
say "the tournament started badly and deteriorated so much
(so) that the final was considered the poorest quality final in
years…"
While
Kitty MacCann was entered in the 1962 and 1963 Championships,
the former returning to the scene of her first victory unfortunately
she had to withdraw from the event before competing at all.
Mrs
MacCann only started entering the Ladies' Amateur Championship
in 1950 presumably because the venue that year was reasonably
close to home. Kitty went out in the third round to the legendary,
Mrs G. (Jesse) Valentine, a previous winner of the title from
Craigie Hill, by one hole. Both competitors seemed to be affected
by nerves as there was many small putts missed, this may have
been due in no small part to the delays they were experiencing
between every shot which seemed to have a unnerving effect on
Jesse who uncharacteristically hit an unusual number of bunkers.
In the earlier rounds Kitty brushed aside Mrs McCullah of the
USA by 7 and 6 and this set up a match against Moira Patterson
a potential player in that years Curtis Cup team and an eventual
winner of the event in 1952 at Troon. The Irish Independent stated:
"This was opposition of top class and Mrs MacCann met the
challenge with grand coolness and considerable skill." The
match was neck and neck to the ninth but while a drive and an
iron got Mrs MacCann home Miss Patterson fell short with two woods
and this differential between length seemed to un-edge her, as
she seemed to force the ball when playing the remaining holes,
doing so at the expense of accuracy. Eventually Mrs MacCann took
three of the last seven holes and recorded a significant 4 and
2 victory. All of this must have given Mrs MacCann the confidence
to compete the following year and her husband probably paid no
small part in egging her to compete for the ultimate prize in
womens' golf. John Kelly the professional also convinced her to
play in the Championship and tutored her in her drives and long
irons while Harry Bradshaw provided her with guidance on her short
game. All this preparation and encouragement led Kitty to the
1951 Championship at Broadstone in Dorset.
In the
third and fourth rounds Mrs MacCann beat Mrs J Beck, now playing
out of Berkshire by 2 and 1 and then went on to beat Miss Allen
of Bramshaw by 1 up. Kitty was now the sole Irish survivor as
Miss Garvey who had beaten the previous year's champion in the
morning match failed to repeat the task in the next match against
a lesser opponent. Mrs MacCann had an early scare against Mrs
Allen losing three holes early in the match but once she found
her putting rhythm she hauled her opponent back onto level terms
by the ninth. The match had still a few more acts before the closing
curtain as she won the eleventh only to pick up at twelve and
found herself stymied at the thirteenth. Mrs MacCann showed her
metal by birdieing the sixteenth with a three and the eighteenth
to close out the match in what must have been an exciting match
to watch.
It was
into the quarter and semi-finals and two hard fought matches against
a wiser more imperturbable Moira Paterson and Jeanne Bisgood,
the eventual results would bear out the difficulty of these matches
as both went into extra time. The following days headlines said
it all as Mrs MacCann held her nerve to come out ahead in two
gruelling matches against tough opposition.
On Thursday,
7 June, 1951 Kitty MacCann, "a quiet unassuming 28 year old"
entered the annals of golfing history as she took the most coveted
prize in the Ladies' amateur golf. Sometimes the achievement has
not quite received the recognition it deserves in the Irish psyche
and becoming the first Irish player since the great May Hezlet
in 1907 when Hezlet and Adair represented the golden age of Irish
ladies' golf was a huge achievement.
If there
was ever proof needed that Kitty enjoyed her golf it was plain
to be seen during this final, whatever the shot her temperament
remained upbeat and always smiling. Kitty was on top of her game
in all departments and it was clear from early in the final that
she was more than a match for her opponent on the day and this
to some extent detracted from the excitement for the impartial
observer. Bearing in mind the previous day she had played forty-one
holes before making it to the final, her casual attitude to playing
golf and her understanding that at the end of the day it was just
a game, held her in good stead. The attitude in no way diminished
her will to win as was clear from the previous day but the world
wouldn't stop turning if she lost. At her side for the final round
was her husband, a continuous source of encouragement, who was
probably as, if not more excited by the outcome than Kitty, as
the match was conceded he rushed across the thirty-third green
to "plant a kiss on his wife's cheek". Also there, was
her father an avid golfer and her brother-in-law Raymond, all
having flown over earlier in the day. Their flight needed special
permission to land at a military airfield close to where the Championship
was being played.
Kitty
recalled the match in later interviews when her abiding memory
was the pervasive heat during the Home Internationals and the
Championship proper and the endurance required in playing two
rounds daily over six days. This was magnified given a particularly
gruelling penultimate day when she had to play forty-one holes
before securing her place in the final against "bunty"
Stephens. In an interview with Colm Smith she stated, "I
lost half a stone or more during the week. It was really hot but
I like the heat even though my arms were sore. But when you are
young and fit you don't mind."
During
the match Miss Stephens didn't seem to get to grips with the wind
as her approach shots were invariably left short. Kitty got off
to a faster start, taking 2,4 and 5 only to lose the next hole
but continued to capitalise on Miss Stephen's loose play by taking
7 and 8 but lost the ninth to reach the turn 3 up. The match remained
three up as they went in for lunch. Kitty continued to tighten
her grip on the Championship winning the twentieth with a birdie
four and despite losing the 22nd and 26th, quickly recovered by
winning the next with her prodigious length to secure a birdie,
and went into the final nine holes three up. The next five holes
were halved as Miss Stephens failed to convert some putts. On
the final hole Kitty was just off the green in two while her opponent
had found sand and when she failed to get out of the trap at a
first attempt her fate was all but sealed and eventually conceded
the hole and the match.
L
to R: Miss Jean Donald (North Berwrick), Kitty MacCann (Tullamore),
Frances Stephens (Birkdale) and Jeanne Bisgood (Parkstone).
Kitty
MacCann of Tullamore, Offaly died peacefully on 29 April 2010
at 88 years of age.
