At the young age of 19, Florence Fowler, on a handicap of five, won the first South Australian Women’s Amateur Golf Championship in 1906.
Florence Ayers was born in 1877, a granddaughter of South Australia’s eighth Premier, Sir Henry Ayers after whom Ayers Rock (now Uluru) and Ayers’ House are named.
Golf was a sport afforded mostly by the wealthy families given the cost of club fees. Florence was attracted to the game and discovered she had a natural skill.
At the youthful age of 19, Florence Fowler née Ayers (1877-1966) on a handicap of five, won the first South Australian Women’s Amateur Golf Championship in 1906.
The young woman was clearly a standout golfer, winning the same title in three consecutive years – 1910, 1911, 1912 – and again in 1922.
At a national level, she was also the runner-up in the 1903, 1910 and 1912 Australian Women’s Amateur Golf Championships, only beaten in a play-off in 1912.
By that time, she was married and known as Mrs Maxwell Fowler.
Records suggest Florence was one of Australia’s first female golfers to travel abroad and compete internationally.
Capping off a long and successful competitive career, Florence became Australian golf’s first female international title holder when she won the Italian Ladies’ Open Championship in 1931.
Further, she was also the runner-up in the 1932 Swiss Ladies’ Amateur Championship.
Preserved in the Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Florence’s scrapbooks and photo albums are intriguing records of women’s golf in Australia, England and Europe in the early 20th C.
