Remembering 2-Time U.S. Women's Am Champion Barbara McIntire

Barbara McIntire, a two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and winner of the 2000 USGA Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship, died on May 6 in Southern Pines, N.C., at the age of 90.

A quiet, gracious person whose life embodied contributions to the game, McIntire’s modesty off the golf course belied her fierce competitiveness on it. She won the 1959 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., and added a second title in 1964 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. In both of those Women’s Am victories, she rallied to win after trailing in the 36-hole final.

McIntire played on six USA Curtis Cup teams from 1958 to 1972 and was a two-time Curtis Cup captain, in 1976 and again in 1998. She later served as chair of the USGA Women’s Committee in 1995-96, demonstrating the hard work and integrity that is the hallmark of a volunteer. Women’s Committee chairs and members since McIntire’s term have singled her out as the inspiration for their service.

“Barbara McIntire was a true icon and ambassador of amateur golf – a champion, mentor, volunteer and steward of the game whose impact will resonate for generations," said Courtney Myhrum, a member of the USGA Executive Committee and former chair of the USGA Women's Committee. “Her passion for golf was matched only by her grace and generosity, both on and off the course.

“The USGA and the entire golf community are profoundly grateful for her lifelong dedication to the game. Her unwavering commitment set a powerful example for all of us who love the game and strive to give back. She leaves behind an extraordinary legacy that will continue to inspire us all."

A lifelong amateur, Barbara Joy McIntire was born on Jan. 12, 1935, in Toledo, Ohio. She began playing golf at age 10 and competed in the inaugural U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in 1949. She was runner-up in 1951 and 1952, losing to future World Golf Hall of Famer and four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Mickey Wright in the '52 final, 1 down, at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Barbara McIntire celebrates her 1959 U.S. Women's Amateur triumph with her parents. (USGA Archives)

McIntire had a fierce will to win but also had a generous spirit, even in the heat of national competition. In the 1998 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, for example, she battled Anne Quast Sander, a rival for more than 50 years. They were tied through 17 holes, after which McIntire made an unfortunate bogey. Sander then lagged her birdie putt to within 2 ½ feet of the hole. Friends were dismayed when McIntire conceded the putt, giving Sander the match.

“No, I knew she’d make it,” McIntire said. “I didn’t want to make her putt it.”

McIntire’s career spanned generations. In her first U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1950, at age 15, she faced six-time champion Glenna Collett Vare in the first round. It was long past Vare’s remarkable prime and McIntire won, 3 and 1.

These were the golden years of women’s amateur golf, when large galleries and splashy press coverage made the players into stars. By 1956, McIntire was one of the game’s top amateurs. That year, she recorded the best finish by an amateur player in U.S. Women’s Open history to that point with a birdie-par-eagle finish to tie professional Kathy Cornelius. The 18-hole playoff went badly for McIntire, and she shot 82 to Cornelius’ 75, but her game was nearing a peak. Shortly thereafter, sports agent Mark McCormick offered her a lucrative financial package if she would turn professional, but McIntire, who remained deeply committed to amateur golf throughout her life, brushed him off.

“I have always played golf simply because I enjoy it, which is, I suppose, the true criteria of a lifelong amateur,” she once said.

She won the 1960 British Ladies Open Amateur, becoming one of only six players at that time to have held both the U.S. and British titles. Sports Illustrated featured McIntire on the cover of the Aug. 22, 1960, issue.

She was one of the nation’s primary boosters of the biennial Curtis Cup Match with Great Britain and Ireland and her record as a player and captain is unparalleled. Competing on teams in 1958, ’60, ’62, ’64, ’66 and ‘72, she lost only one singles match, winning three and halving three. Her record was less sterling in foursomes, where she lost five and halved one match against three wins.

Barbara McIntire (left) enjoyed a long friendship on and off the golf course with future USGA president Judy Bell. (USGA Archives)

No Curtis Cup in which she competed ended in defeat for the USA, although the first match in which she played, in 1958, ended in a tie.

Her record as a Curtis Cup captain was a perfect 2-0. In 1976, her USA team won, 11½-6½. In 1998, McIntire was long removed from Curtis Cup competition when the USGA asked her to again serve as captain. The USA had lost four of the previous six outings, and was seeking a win. McIntire used heroic past performances to rally her team in meetings and played patriotic music on the drive to The Minikahda Club, in Minneapolis. The USA eked out a 10-8 victory.

She was an experienced international competitor, playing for the USA in the first Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in 1964. In 1998, when she was USA captain, her team, led by U.S. Women’s Open runner-up Jenny Chuasiriporn, won by a record 21 strokes.

Quite apart from her life as a competitive golfer, McIntire enjoyed great success in the business world. In the 1960s she formed a partnership with longtime friend Judy Bell, another fine amateur, and they opened the first of seven retail businesses in Colorado Springs, Colo. Their shops were geared toward quality, American-made products and personal service. When McIntire and Bell shut their businesses for good some forty years later, television crews covered the closing.

Barbara McIntire (right) beat the legendary Joanne Carner in the 1964 U.S. Women's Amateur final. (USGA Archives)

McIntire and Bell also joined forces to co-chair the annual Ladies Invitation for many years at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The Invitation had been won by Babe Zaharias in the 1940s and was a draw for the nation’s top amateurs throughout its 50-year history. McIntire and Bell ran it as a large party for their friends, welcoming new contestants to serious golf and famous festivities, such as their annual pre-tournament steak fry on Cheyenne Mountain.

McIntire’s quiet grace was acknowledged by the USGA in 2000 when she was presented the Association’s highest honor, the Bob Jones Award, for distinguished sportsmanship. At the presentation ceremony, she again demonstrated her aplomb in difficult circumstances. When she was introduced, she slipped and fell off the narrow podium. Then, near the end of her written acceptance speech, she was dismayed to find the crucial final page was missing.

From memory, she plowed ahead, reciting an Edgar Guest poem:

Here honor counts more than the victory

And a golfer is more than their gold.

Here love of the game means more than the game,

or the joy that the pride may hold.

Oh, the game of golf gleams with the finest dreams,

and the best that we mortals know.

It is rich in the things that a true life brings,

God grant we may keep it so.

For Barbara McIntire, it was a typical performance, coming from behind to again prevail.

Barbara McIntire, 2-Time U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion, Dies at 90