Bio of Golfer Georgianna Bishop
Full name: Georgianna Milling Bishop
Date of birth: October 15, 1878
Place of birth: Bridgeport, Connecticut
Date and place of death: September 1, 1971 in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Her Biggest Wins
- 1904 U.S. Women's Amateur
- 1907 Metropolitan Women's Championship
- 1908 Metropolitan Women's Championship
- 1920 Connecticut Women's Amateur
- 1921 Connecticut Women's Amateur
- 1922 Connecticut Women's Amateur
- 1926 United States Senior Women's Golf Association Championship
- 1927 Connecticut Women's Amateur
Bishop In the U.S. Women's Amateur
Bishop was the champion of the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1904, the 10th time that tournament was played. She won it the same day she turned 26. It was played at Merion, but on the original Merion Cricket Club golf course (the courses at today's Merion Golf Club did not yet exist in 1904).In the first round that year, Georgianna defeated her sister, and in the third round Bishop beat 1900 winner Frances Griscom. In the championship match, she beat Mrs. E.F. Sanford. Bishop played out of Brooklawn Golf Club in Bridgeport.
In her title defense the following year, Bishop was knocked out in the semifinals. In the stroke-play qualifying round, she shared medalist honors with Margaret Curtis at 87, which was, at the time, the tournament record.
Bishop was solo medalist one other time, in the 1914 U.S. Women's Amateur, once again with a tournament-record score: 85. Bishop played the tournament 18 times total, first in 1899, last in 1923.
More About Georgianna Bishop
Bishop had a knack for giving herself a happy birthday. As noted, her 1904 U.S. Women's Amateur victory happened on her birthday. And, 22 years later, her 1926 United States Senior Women's Golf Association Championship victory also happened on her birthday. (That tournament, by the way, should not be confused with the USGA championship known as the United States Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship. The USGA senior women's amateur began only in 1962.)In 1905, Bishop was part of the American team of golfers who traveled to England to play in the British Ladies Amateur, and, while there, competed in a team match-play competition against British golfers. The event was organized by Margaret Curtis and was the inspiration, many years later, for the Curtis Cup. The British side won the tournament easily, 7-1. But Bishop earned the lone American victory, beating British Ladies Amateur champ Lottie Dod.
During the 1914 U.S. Women's Amateur where Bishop was the medalist, there were multiple side events played in conjunction with the main draw. In one of those, Bishop shot an 81, which was a women's course record at Nassau Country Club on Long Island. The following day, she lowered that to a 79, becoming the first woman to break 80 at Nassau CC.
In addition to her two wins in the Metropolitan Women's Championship, Bishop was runner-up five other years (1909, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1920).
When she won the Women's Am in 1904, friends from Bridgeport, Conn., and the Brooklawn club presented Bishop with a replica of the Robert Cox Trophy (the original went to the club for one year before being returned to the USGA). In 1955, Bishop donated that trophy to the USGA Museum.
Georgianna Bishop was inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame in 1959. She was 97 years old when she died in 1971.
