Jessie Valentine

Valentine was born Jessie Anderson in Perth, Scotland on 18 March 1915.[2] Her father, Joe Anderson, was for some time the professional at Craigie Hill Golf Club in Perth.[2][5] She started playing golf aged five and was trained by her father, who entered her in the British Girls Championships at Stoke Poges in 1932.[7] She went on to win the Girls Amateur Championship in 1933.[2]

In the 1930s, women had little chance of playing outwith the amateur system, as there were no professional tournaments and jobs as club professionals were extremely rare.[8] In 1935, Valentine (as Miss Anderson) became the New Zealand Ladies Champion, and the following year the French Ladies Champion.[1] She was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup team in 1936, famously holing a 60-foot putt on the 18th hole at Gleneagles to secure a win and help the team tie with the United States.[2][1] She represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup seven times between 1936 and 1958.[1]

Valentine won her first British Ladies title at Turnberry in 1937, beating Doris Park (daughter of the famous Willie Park, Jnr from Musselburgh, Scotland) 6&4 in the final.[9] In 1938 she won the first of her six victories in the Scottish Ladies' Amateur Championship and retained the title in 1939.[9] She did not compete between 1939 and 1945 due to the Second World War.[2] During the war, she drove a truck for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).[6]

Valentine won the Scottish Ladies' Amateur Championship in 1951, 1953, 1955 and 1956.[1] In 1955, she won her second British Amateur title at Royal Portrush having been runner up in 1950.[1] She became the first holder of both the British and Scottish women's championships in the same year.[10] In 1957 she won the Spalding Women's Open Stroke Play at Moor Park.[11] Valentine won the British Amateur title for the third and final time at Hunstanton Golf Club, Norfolk in 1958, her third final in four years.[9] She went into the tournament with a remarkable record and was rated as one of the favorites. In contrast to her two previous successes the 1958 win was a much tighter affair, with Valentine overcoming Elizabeth Park by a single hole in a closely contested match.[12] In 1960, at the age of 45, Valentine turned professional.[2]

Partnered with John Behrend, Valentine won the Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes three years in succession from 1963 to 1965.[13] She reached the final again in 1968, playing with Richard Brown.[14] In 1969 she was runner-up in the Astor Prince's Trophy.[15]

• Girls Amateur Championship – 1933
• British Ladies Amateur – 1937, 1955, 1958
• Scottish Ladies' Amateur Championship – 1938, 1939, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956
• New Zealand Ladies – 1935
• French Ladies – 1936

Source:[1]

Amateur

• Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1936 (tie), 1938, 1950, 1952 (winners), 1954, 1956 (winners), 1958 (winners)
• Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1947 (winners), 1949 (winners), 1951 (winners), 1955 (winners)

• Appointed a Member of The Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1959 New Year Honours for services to women's golf.[16][1]
• Awarded the Frank Moran Trophy in 1967 for the 'Scot who has done most for the game of golf'.[1]
• Received the DK Thomson Award, awarded annually to residents of Perth and Kinross for outstanding achievement, in 1992.[5]
• Inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.[1]
• Inducted into Scottish Women in Sport Hall of Fame in 2020.

Valentine was married for 41 years to George Valentine, a Perth and Kinross councillor, who ran the company Valentine's Motors. They had one son, Iain, born in 1948.[5]

After her retirement, Valentine wrote a book Better Golf - Definitely in 1967. She was invited to 'hansel' the new golf course at Gleneagles with golf legend Jack Nicklaus and partnered tennis player Virginia Wade at the age of 78.[6] In 1999, she donated mementos of her career to Perth and Kinross Council's archives.[5]

Valentine died at Moncreiffe Nursing Home, Bridge of Earn, on 6 April 2006, aged 91 years. Her death was announced by Peter Alliss during live coverage of The Masters on the BBC.[6] Flags flew at half mast at Craigie Hill and Blairgowrie Golf Clubs, where she held honorary membership.

Valentine's career was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at Perth Museum and Art Gallery in 2019. She was also the subject of a biographical book, Wee Jessie: Jessie Valentine: Whose Golf Swing Lasted a Lifetime, written by Dr Eve Souslby and launched at the exhibition in 2019.[17]

• Jessie Valentine at the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame