Phyllis Barclay

Athlete (1993)

Golf

Phyllis Barclay started to make an impression on the women's golf scene just as the era of Canadian interprovincial team play was being introduced.

Born in Delisle, she moved to Saskatoon with her family in 1926, played school sports and her earliest test in individual sports was in speed skating where she was silver medalist in the 1932 city half-mile championship.

Phyllis made her first Saskatchewan women's golf team in 1948, joining Mabel Palko, Eleanor Van Impe and Renee Robbins on a team, which competed at St. John, N.B. She won the first flight final. She made the Saskatchewan team on 11 occasions, including 1958 when the Canadian tournament came to Saskatoon.

At the national level, she once played a round against Marlene Stewart Streit and once against six-time Canadian champion Ada MacKenzie.

As well, Phyllis was Saskatoon's city champion in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952 and she won the Saskatchewan title in 1948, was runner-up in 1949 and 1950 and won Saskatchewan again in 1951. She shot a hole-in-one at the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club on May 20, 1969, and within a month, her husband, Howitt, also went out and shot one.

After moving to Vancouver in 1970, Phyllis joined the Fraser View Golf and Country Club and qualified for the British Columbia senior team in 1971. She was also a member of the Saskatoon rink, which won the Saskatchewan women's curling championship in 1952.