Violet Pooley Sweeny
Inducted: 1998
Violet Pooley Sweeny
Category: Player – Amateur
Born: December 1886
Place of Birth: Victoria
Death: March 19, 1965
Born in Victoria in the later part of the nineteenth century, Violet Pooley Sweeny played in her first provincial championship in 1905 and won the title. A month later she took the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Championship title. Over the course of the next 25 years, Violet Pooley Sweeny would capture 8 more provincial titles, and another six PNGA Championships.
In 1911, Sweeny reached the fourth round of the British Ladies’ Championship. In 1913, she was the first overseas player to reach the semi-finals.
In addition to her record career as a player, Violet dedicated a great deal of herself back to the game, as a founder of the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Union, as vice president of the organization in 1924, and provincial president for the CLGU for fourteen years.
International:
- 1905, 1909, 1914, 1920, 1923, 1927, 1928 Pacific Northwest Women’s Golf Champion
- 1909 Oregon State Champion
Provincial:
- British Columbia Women’s Amateur Champion 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1914, 1920,
1922, 1923, 1929
Other Items of Note:
- Vice President of Canadian Ladies Golf Union in 1924
- President of British Columbia Canadian Ladies Golf Union 1933 – 1946
- Competed in only two Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship due to distance
- Competed in U.S Women’s Amateur Championship in 1913 but was defeated in 2nd round
- Competed in British Women’s Amateur Championship in 1911 but was defeated in 4th round by eventual champion
Awards:
Inducted to BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1974
Inducted to Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 1989
Inducted to BC Golf Hall of Fame in 2001