'Proud day' for family as trailblazing golfer honoured

Long before Rory McIlroy became a teen golfing sensation in Northern Ireland, there was "trailblazer" May Hezlet.

County Londonderry woman has been recognised with an Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque at the Royal Portrush Ladies' Clubhouse on Monday.

May, from Aghadowey, won the (British) Ladies Championship three times and the Irish Ladies' Championship five times between 1899 and 1908.

She first won the Irish Championship in 1899 at the age of 17 and just a week later won the British Championship on the same links at Newcastle, County Down.

Susan Hezlet, May's great niece, said growing up, she was told "many stories of all the golfing Hezlet women".

She met the pioneering golfer numerous times throughout her life.

"It wasn't until later that I really began to realise how important she was because to me she was very nice, very gentle aunt," she said.

"It's a very proud day for us as a family ."

Kath Stewart-Moore, a former president of the Ladies' Branch of the Royal Portrush Golf Club, said May's name was well-known.

"She is really famous amongst golfers, especially at Portrush," she said, adding that she "really deserves" a Blue Plaque.

"She was a legend, and she was a trailblazer. In many ways she led Irish golf, men's and women's," she said.

"From a time when she was 13, in 1895, she came across the English golfers and saw how good they were and started practicing and bringing all the other girls along with her.

This period of time was "close to the beginning of ladies' golf in Ireland".

"Royal Portrush was the third club to join the Ladies Golf Union, two English, and then Portrush. There were golf clubs springing up all over the place," she continued.

"It was the beginning of golf in Ireland to some extent and certainly ladies golf."

There have been many successful golfers to come from Northern Ireland through the years, both men and women.

One of those is Leona Maguire, who in 2024 became the first Irish golfer to win on the Ladies European Tour [LET] with a one-shot victory at the Aramco Team Series in Hemel Hempstead.

Last week, Rory McIlroy completed the Grand Slam in golf, winning the Masters in dramatic fashion in a play-off at Augusta.

"May was a trailblazer, she was a pioneer," Ms Stewart-Moore said.

"She was responsible, in many ways, for all the success of all Irish golfers up to the present day.

"We're all part of her legacy, in my opinion."

It was an overcast day in Portrush on Monday, but the spirits were high on the grounds of the Royal Portrush golf club where dozens of people gathered to honour May Hezlet.

A few members of May's family were among those attending the unveiling of the plaque.

Rupert Cramsie is the great, great, great nephew of May Hezlet.

He, too, travelled to Portrush to attend the plaque unveiling.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Mr Cramsie said May was "very unassuming" as a person.

"She was quite competitive in everything that she did," he said.

"I think as a family they were all quite competitive in everything they did and golf was almost a sideshow, it wasn't the only thing they did."

Turning to speak about the plaque, Mr Cramsie said: "It's nice as a family from a historical perspective, but I think also it's good as a representation of ladies' golf particularly and of what can be achieved by people when they put their mind to it."

Alice Kinkead, former Ladies' captain at the club, said May did so much for golf, "for mens' golf, but particularly womens' golf".

"I think it's high time she is honoured and we are honoured to have this plaque."

Ms Kinkead said May marked the beginning of "a certain degree of autonomy for women".

"She was very keen that women's clubs, women's branches, would manage their own finances, for example, not allowing the men to do it for them. She was quite a bit ahead of her time."

Shirley Robinson, Ladies' Branch president, told BBC News NI it was a "tremendous honour for the club".

She said May was a wonderful pioneer of ladies' golf and brought worldwide recognition to Portrush.

"If she were looking down from above today, I am very sure she would be gratified to see that the Ladies' Branch of Royal Portrush has continued to produce Curtis Cup, International players and Champions."

May Hezlet was born in Gibraltar on 29 April 1882.

In Northern Ireland, the Hezlets, a golfing family, lived at Bovagh House in rural Aghadowey.

May's mother, her three sisters and her brother were all accomplished players at Royal Portrush.

She published a book, Ladies' Golf, at the age of 22.

When it came to setting up ladies' golf clubs, it is said that May insisted that the women should manage their own finances, instead of men taking charge.

By 1902, she had won her second British title at Deal in Kent.

In 1907, in bad weather at Royal County Down, she beat her sister Florence to win her third British title.

May and Florence Hezlet had played in a British and Irish side which had taken on a visiting American team at Royal Comer.

Her last appearance as a golfer for Ireland was in the Home Internationals in 1912.

In 1909, Ms Hezlet married a Church of Ireland minister, the Rev. A.E. Ross, who later became Bishop of Tuam. He died in 1923.

In later years, she became president of Portrush Ladies' Club and held the post until 1951.

May Hezlet died on 27 December 1978, aged 96.