The champion of the Illinois Women’s Open each year has her name added to the prestigious Elaine Rosenthal Memorial Trophy, which honors one of Chicago and the nation’s early women’s golf pioneers.
Ms. Rosenthal played in many championships in the late 1910s through the mid-1930s, representing the Chicago area and playing out of Ravisloe Country Club.
A three-time Women’s Western Amateur champion, Rosenthal compiled an impressive amateur record. As an 18-year-old in only her second national tournament, Rosenthal was runner-up in the 1914 U.S. Women’s Amateur. In 1917 Rosenthal won the Women’s North and South Championship and then temporarily retired from competition, devoting all her time to working with the American Red Cross and the Women’s Auxiliary to the Navy.
World War I Red Cross volunteers Elaine Rosenthal, Mrs. M. Goldschmidt, Miss Inez Ridgeway, Mrs. Harry Sloan and Mrs. D. R. Day standing in their uniforms in an unknown office in Chicago.
Upon returning to competitive amateur golf, Rosenthal, who played the latter part of her career under her married name of Elaine Reinhardt, won her third Western title in 1925. She was spoken of by many as the successor to Glenna Collett as America’s greatest woman golfer.
While she won many championships, most noteworthy was that she volunteered her services as part of “The Dixie Kids” – a foursome of talented young golfers who barnstormed the United States in 1917-18 playing exhibition matches.
Those charity matches marked the first time in the history of golf that spectators paid for tickets to watch a golf event, in this case all monies raised went to The American Red Cross to buy medical supplies for use on the battlefields of Europe. Equally remarkable are the identities of the four young stars who rode trains between cities to showcase their talents: Elaine Rosenthal and Alexa Stirling were the women; Perry Adair and Bobby Jones were the men. While playing the Midwest, this famous foursome was often joined by Charles “Chick” Evans and Walter Hagen.
Ms. Elaine Rosenthal finishing her swing for a news photographer in an unknown location.
One Red Cross benefit tournament at Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester, Vermont, featured the four main players: Jones, Adair, Stirling and Rosenthal.
Bobby Jones (1902-1971) was only 16 at the time of this 1918 tournament, and he finished second with a score of 79. Perry Adair, Jones longtime friend, finished two strokes better than Jones.
Alexa Stirling (1897-1977), who shot a 92 and was paired with Jones, is actually known as “The Girl Who Beat Bobby Jones” as she was the only female to defeat Jones in a serious competition; however, at the time he was only 6 and she was 12 – an obvious disadvantage.
Above: this button-hanger ticket was for one of the “Dixie Kids” exhibitions during World War I to raise monies for the American Red Cross to buy medical supplies for use on the battlefields of Europe. Below is the scorecard from that day, July 31, 1918, at Ekwanok Country Club – scores from L to R are Rosenthal (R), Jones (J), Stirling (S) and Adair (A).
Stirling also won three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles in 1916, 1919 and 1920 (none played in 1917-18 due to WWI).
Elaine Rosenthal (1896-1994), paired with Adair that July day, shot an 83, the duo thus defeating Jones and Stirling (ironically, the latter two are the more famous of the group).
Rosenthal was inducted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.
