The woman behind this underdog Open
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — It’s no secret that golf, for as long as it has been in existence, has been a male-dominated sport. Nowhere more so than in Scotland, England and Ireland, the places where the game essentially was born.
That’s what makes this 148th British Open all the more fascinating: Because the world’s oldest and most prestigious major championship is being played at Royal Portrush this week for the first time in 68 years largely as the result from the work of one woman.
But Wilma Erskine is not just any woman.
S he’s known more around these parts as “The Boss,’’ and there isn’t a soul who has been involved in the arduous — and sometimes unrealistic — process to bring the Open back to the spectacular rugged Northern Ireland coastline who would argue that she wasn’t the catalyst in making it happen.
Erskine is the secretary/manager of Royal Portrush. She has held that duty for 34 years. She’s set to retire in the fall. Her work, after all, is done. What else is there left to accomplish?
This week is her figurative microphone drop.
“The old title used to be secretary of the club, but because I’m female, people think I’m a typist, so they call it secretary/manager,’’ Erskine said during a break from her harried schedule in the Portrush upstairs clubhouse grill room. “There’s a few [women] coming into the business, but I’m sort of a wee bit odd. I started when I was 22 in a small golf club, went to another golf club, and then I came here.
“I would never, at 26 years of age, be appointed here now. I’ve grown with the job. It’s a way of life.’’
Erskine is a trailblazer. You’d be hardpressed to find a golf club across Scotland, England or Ireland where the club secretary is not a man.
“I’m a position, not a person,’’ Erskine said. “I’m the secretary of a club, I’m not a female. What’s this gender bit all about anyway? It’s a job. You’re there to do the job.’’ And nobody has done it better. It was Erskine who spearheaded the talks between the club and officials from the Royal & Ancient, the governing body for the Open Championship, as talks began to bring it back to Portrush.
“I’ve been there from the very beginning,’’ she said with a deserved trace of pride in her voice. “We had the Senior British Open from 1995 to ’99, then 2004. But there was nothing else coming up, so a small group of people sat down to look at the future of the club. We said, ‘Let’s see if we can run a big event.’
“So we started working on the Irish
Open. It hadn’t been here since the 1940s. We secured it in 2012. We had the biggest crowds ever. They had to stop selling tickets the week before. That was deemed a massive success. Then the R& A came and realized we were in for business.’’
Finally, in 2014, the R& A included Royal Portrush in the British Open rota, signing an agreement to bring the tournament there three times.
“A run-down seaside town’’ is the way Erskine describes the previous perceptions of Portrush.
“Now it’s a desirable place to buy a second home for retirement and it’s sort of an ‘in’ town to come and visit,’’ she said. “The people here are buzzing. They have a sense of pride. This is their event.’’
Erskine is quick to dole out credit away from her role. Rory McIlroy, who grew up 60 miles to the south in Holywood, just outside of Belfast, winning four majors by age 25, opened a lot of eyes to Northern Ireland. Graeme McDowell, a native of Portrush, winning the 2010 U.S. Open, and Darren Clarke, who has a home in Portrush, winning the 2011 British Open, brought more attention to the region.
“The boys have all been ambassadors,’’ she said. “There’s a legacy to be left here in Northern Ireland.’’
The beautiful irony to Erskine’s legacy is that her parents wanted a boy.
“I was supposed to be a William, after my dad,’’ she said. “I always hated my name. Wilma’s a bit of an unusual name. But if I’d been a Jane, nobody would remember a Jane. So I was Wilma. The Flintstones. So it’s sort of a Wilma brand.’’
A brand that should be patented and never duplicated.