22 Dec 1909 – LADIES BRITISH OPEN MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

The first important tournament that Birkdale hosted was in 1909, The Ladies British Open Match-Play Championship. This was won by Miss Dorothy Iona Campbell and the stroke play medal was won by 16-year-old Cecil Leitch. Cecil went on to become one of Britain’s Greatest Golfers. The Club Captain at the time presented the medal and trophy and remarked that the ladies’ exhibition of golf “had made the members miserable at the thought of their own shortcomings” As for himself, he was “prepared to sell his clubs and play marbles”