Legendary golfer dies aged 100 after helping Britain & Ireland beat the US for first time since 1932
LEGENDARY golfer Jeanne Bisgood who helped beat the US for the first time ever in an iconic competition has died aged 100.
Bisgood was a leading player during the 1950s and won titles representing her country.
She won the English Women’s Amateur Championship three times and played for Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup.
Bisgood was part of a 1952 team which was the first to beat the US since the Curtis Cup had begun in 1932.
The Curtis Cup is a biennial team trophy for women amateur golfers in a match play format between the US and the UK and Ireland.
Bisgood won the English titles in 1951, 1953 and 1957.
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She is one of only three women to win the English Amateur title more than twice and is the last to do so.
Before her extraordinary golf career she had studied history at Oxford and worked on breaking codes during World War 2.
Following the war she trained as a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1948.
Representing Britain overseas meant that she was able to sidestep the tough currency controls while overseas during the post-war period.
She said: “You were only allowed to take a pitiful sum of money out of the country at the time," the Telegraph reported.
“But if, on the other hand, you were playing in an international event, you were allowed to take an extra £10 a day, which made it all possible.”
