By John Egnot
Manager of Media Relations

Although she wasn’t a part of Britain’s royal family, Joyce Wethered, born Nov. 17, 1901 in Devon, England, was considered by many to be the queen of British amateur golf. If this wasn’t enough, Bobby Jones believed that she was the greatest golfer he had ever seen.

Joyce Wethered

Jones saw the skill of Wethered first-hand in 1930 when he teed it up with her from the back tees before the British Amateur. Even with the match over and a slight letdown in focus, Wethered fired a 75, which Jones called one of the best rounds of golf he had ever seen.

“I have not played golf with anyone, man or woman, amateur or professional, who made me feel so utterly outclassed,” Jones said after the round.

Henry Cotton, who won the British Open Championship three times, was a three-time Ryder Cup team member and captain twice over, played a round with Wethered just after she married Sir John Heathcoat-Armory in 1937. She hit the ball some 240 yards off the tee and was able to play low, piercing shots with incredible touch.

Some said that she could have played on the British Walker Cup team, and Cotton couldn’t have agreed more.

“In my time, no golfer has stood out so far ahead of his or her contemporaries as Lady Heathcoat-Armory,” he said. Cotton would go on to say that no one could hit a golf ball as straight as Wethered with the possible exception of the legendary six-time British Open and 1900 U.S. Open champion Harry Vardon.

Wethered became a well-known name in the United States after defeating six-time U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Glenna Collett Vare twice in the British Ladies’ Amateur. The first of these two wins came in 1925, just after Vare had won her second U.S. Women’s Amateur and the French Open Championship.

Wethered made four birdies while defeating Vare 4 and 3 en-route to her third British Women’s Amateur title.

Four years later after returning from a three-year retirement, Wethered met Vare again at St. Andrews. In the 36-hole final, Vare went 5-up after nine holes. Wethered came back strong on the back nine, cutting into the deficit and finishing the opening 18 holes just 2-down.

Wethered would go on to complete the comeback, defeating Vare 3 and 1 to win her fourth and final British Women’s Amateur.