KILLINEY GOLF CLUB

Chapter 3 - Outstanding sports people

When Joshua Pim died on April 15th 1942, his obituary in “The Irish Times” was understandably brief, given the severe restriction on the size of newspapers during World War II and a consequent pressure on space for competing stories. Making all due allowance, however, it would have been viewed as seriously understating the point, certainly among the members of Killiney Golf Club, to describe Dr Pim as “a former tennis champion.”

 In fact, he was the finest tennis player this country has produced, being the winner of no fewer than four Wimbledon titles, the Men’s Singles of 1893 and 1894 and the Men’s Doubles of 1890 and 1893. So, it must have been quite a feather in the caps of our founder members that they had Dr Pim among their number, when the club was launched in 1903. His wife was a founder associate member and had a more than useful golf game, as her handicap of 10 would indicate, while daughter May, is an honorary life associate member of the club.

Tennis had clearly dominated Dr Pim’s sporting life, though he insisted on treating it purely as a hobby, not allowing it to interfere with his medical practice.

So proficient did he become at the Royal and Ancient game that even in his fifties, he remained one of the keenest competitors in the club. Indeed, it was only as a result of a handicap revision in the mid- 1920s, that his handicap was eased out from scratch to two.

At the time of the foundation of Killiney GC, he and his wife were rearing a young family and they eventually had three daughters and a son. Then there were the demands on a career in medicine. Having received an LRCPI in 1891, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, five years later. And his deep involvement in medicine may account for the fact that when appearing for the British Isles Davis Cup team in 1902, he was listed mysteriously as “Mr X.”

The early 18 easily the most period in the h Irish tennis. Of men, Willough Hamilton, Wilfred  Baddeley, Dr Pim and    Harold Mahony, who dominated the Wimbledon singles from 1890 to 1896, all except Baddeley, an identical twin, were from this country. As it happened, the peak of this Irish domination occurred in 1890 when Hamilton captured the men’s singles and Frederick Owen Stoker, a current Irish rugby international, partnered Dr Pim to victory in the men’s doubles.

A year later, Dr Pim played with the handicap of a damaged hand, sustained when falling out of a car in Dublin. Still, he got to the final of the men’s singles before losing to Baddeley by the score of 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0. It was to be the first of three titles for Baddeley.

Dr Pim, who was noted for his joie de vivre, could be brilliant but inconsistent. In 1893, however, he achieved his major breakthrough, beating Mahony in an all-Irish final before overcoming Wilfred Baddeley in the Challenge Round in four sets. Then Dr Pim and Stoker, who, incidentally, was a cousin of “Dracula” creator Bram Stoker, regained the doubles title.

A year later, Wildred Baddeley came through to the Challenge Round, making for a fourth meeting with Dr Pim in four successive years. And the Irishman was once more successful, which meant that hon- ours in their Wimbledon rivalry were even at 2-2.

So, in five successive Wimbledon challenges, Dr Pim was beaten in the second round of the men’s singles in 1890, was runner-up to Wilfred Baddeley in 1891 and 1892; and was victorious in 1893 and 1894. Meanwhile, he won three successive Irish titles from 1893 to 1895, in what was unquestionably one of the most productive three-year periods in the history of Irish sport.

His 1893 Fitzwilliam success was notable for the fact that he made his final opponent, Ernest Renshaw, run to the left-hand corner of the court with strong drives, before dropping the return the right where his opponent couldn’t reach it. It ended 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Two years later when completing a hat-trick of Fitzwilliam triumphs, he demolished his English opponent W V Eaves, losing only five games.

A brilliant partnership with Stoker also extended to Fitzwilliam where they emerged victorious in 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1894/5.

Josh Pim, who remained an enthusiastic swimmer until shortly before his death, lived all of his married life at Secrora, Killiney.

Gertrude Solomons, an associate member of the club until her death on June 30th, 1975, had the distinction of retaining a single-figure handicap for upwards of 30 years.

One of twin daughters, the only children and Lily Levy, she was born on January 6th 1883 at Aliwal North, South Africa, where her father was a wool merchant and one-time mayor of the town.

Gertrude, who lived on Rochestown Avenue, was a member of the Killiney and Kingstown (later Dun Laoghaire) clubs. In fact, she won ILGU medal competitions at Kingstown in and 1932 and represented both clubs in team events. At championship level, her finest achievement was to reach the semi-finals of the Irish Women’s Close Championship at Royal Co Down in 1926.

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Killiney has been extremely fortunate in the of outstanding sportspeople have graced the club’s membership, though it must be stated that most of them had gained prominence, before turning to golf as an expression of enduring, competitive instincts. Leonard Owens was a notable exception.

Well-known these days as the highly respected professional at Royal Dublin, he was, in fact, very much identified with Killiney at the time of his finest golfing achievements, more than 30 years ago. That was when he brought distinction to the club both as an amateur and a tournament professional.

Born on June 21st 1949, Leonard developed his golfing skills at Killiney under the watchful eye of professional Danny O’Brien. And a productive method delivered its first significant dividend in 1970, when he captured the Irish Youths Championship at Tullamore, with a four-round aggregate of 286. Two years previously, four putts on the final green had deprived him of the British Youths’ title at Lindrick, where he was forced to settle for a share of second place behind John Cook.

When he turned professional in 1971, Leonard remained at Killiney, as the tournament professional. His renowned business acumen was in evidence even at that e stage, insofar as he succeeded in 100 shares in himself at £10 each members, thereby financing a challenge on South Africa’s Sunshine Tour in the winter of 1971-’72.

His early tournament activities as a professional brought some heartening comments from no less a figure than Tony Jacklin who, as winner of the British Open at Royal Lytham in July 1969 and the US Open at Hazeltine the following June, was one of the games most respected players at that time. “There are some good, young players coming up and one of them really impresses me,” said Jacklin. “He is a young Irishman named Leonard Owens who has a good future ahead of him”.

With a superb exhibition of putting, allied to skilful shot-making from tee to green, Leonard coasted to a 4 and 2 victory over Roddy Carr in the final of the Carrolls Irish Matchplay Championship at Douglas, Cork. A £500 winner’s cheque was the biggest of his burgeoning career.

On October 31st, a letter went out from the secretary of Killiney GC. It read: “Dear Leonard. Congratulations on your great win. I am certain this is the breakthrough you needed and that it will be the forerunner to many more successes. Yours sincerely, Brendan Jordan.” This was followed by the conferring of honorary membership of the club, to ark his achievement.

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Fitzgibbon, Norma Stoker and Des Lacey were badminton internationals who enjoyed their golf at Killiney. Fitzgibbon and Ms Stoker were, of course, also tennis internationals and, with Michael Hickey, maintained a fine, Killiney tradition, instituted by Dr Joshua Pim.

A badminton international on 37 occasions between 1946 and 1962, Fitzgibbon also played Davis Cup tennis for Ireland in Monaco 1952. He twice won the Fitzwilliam club (in 1953 and 1954) and with his wife, captured the Irish Mixed Doubles title in 1951. He was also an inter-county hurler.

Norma Stoker had the distinction of gaining international honours at badminton, tennis and hockey, making her one of the country’s outstanding, all-round sportswomen. Her badminton successes included the Irish Open title of 1937 and was six- times Irish Women’s Doubles tennis champion, in partnership with Hilda Wallace in 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935; with E Goddard in 1940 and with Ms P Egan in 1941

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Acknowledged as one of the finest left-halves in the history of Irish hockey, Davy Rowlands won Irish Senior Cup medals with Monkstown in 1910 and 1914. He was capped 26 times for Ireland between 1910 a 1923 and captained his country to a second Triple Crown triumph in 1920.

Rowlands, Frank Duke, Leslie Andrews and Maeve O’Reilly completed a quartet of Irish hockey internationals at Killiney. And the club also has reason to be proud the membership of Paddy Lowry, an Irish champion sprinter who gained the distinction of competing in the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.

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Then there is lacrosse international Alison Carter. Before joining Killiney, Arthur Kilduff was capped at golf for Ireland against Scotland as a member of Milltown GC in 1928. And Florence “Froggie” Kennedy played golf for Leinster in 1967 and 1968, when Ita Butler (Elm Park) was the star of the side. And Ms Butler made her provincial swansong in 1975, the year Pauline Martin gained Leinster honours.

The more sedate pursuit of contract bridge has also been graced by Killiney members. Dr Dick Belton and Des Purcell were internationals, as were Valerie Hand, Ann Montwill and Aileen O’Keeffe.

Meanwhile, aquatic sports have been proudly represented by club members Dr J C  Beckett, Gerry Higginbotham, Norman Judd, Joe Tallon, Hilary Kavanagh and Nancy Robinson, who were swimming and water polo internationals. Indeed, Higginbotham, whose family name has been associated with the club from its earliest years, won the Liffey Swim.

In terms of swimming achievement, however, Dr Jim Beckett stood apart. An uncle of the country’s Nobel Prize winner for Literature, he won 23 international water-polo caps between 1902 and 1926, captaining his country on several occasions, including the side which competed in the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924.