Mary Linzee "May" Hezlet (1882–1969) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 amateur golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

er.

Born in Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

, she and her sisters Florence and Violet Hezlet grew up in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and became top golfers in their era. In 1899, at the golf course in Newcastle, County Down

Newcastle, County Down

Newcastle is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 7,444 people recorded in the 2001 Census. The seaside resort lies on the Irish Sea coast at the base of Slieve Donard, one of the Mourne Mountains, and is known for its sandy beach and the Royal County Down Golf Club...

, May Hezlet defeated Rhona Adair

Rhona Adair

Rhona K. Adair was a British golf champion.Born in Ireland, along with May Hezlet Rhona Adair is the most famous Irish golfer from the turn of the 20th century. She was 17 years of age when she played in her first British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 1895. She won the prestigious event in...

 to win the first of her five Irish Ladies Close Championships, three of which came in succession from 1904 to 1906. In two of those victories her sister Florence was the runner-up. That same year (1899), she became the youngest-ever winner of the British Ladies Amateur, an age record that still stands.

Hezlet won the British Ladies Amateur again in 1902 then in 1904 at Scotland's

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Royal Troon Golf Club

Royal Troon Golf Club

Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course located in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The club was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. Its Old Course is now one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour...

 she lost in the final to Lottie Dod

Lottie Dod

Charlotte "Lottie" Dod was an English sportswoman best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only fifteen, in the summer of 1887...

. She won her third British title in 1907 and her fifth Irish Ladies Close Championship in 1908 at the Royal Portrush Golf Club

Royal Portrush Golf Club

Royal Portrush Golf Club is a private golf club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is the only golf club outside of the UK Mainland which has hosted The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's major championships. The club has two links courses, the Dunluce Links and the Valley Links.The...

.

Hezlet published a book titled Ladies Golf in 1904 that was immensely popular and a 2nd edition was published 1907 with an additional updating chapter. In 1912, she contributed to The New Book of Golf by Horace G. Hutchinson.

In 1909, she married a M.E.L. Ross. Her brother Charles O. Hezlet was runner-up in The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...

 in 1914, played in the Walker Cup

Walker Cup

The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in odd numbered years between teams comprising the leading amateur golfers of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland...

, and won several Irish amateur titles.