In the bunker of the JTA Archive, we’re fuming as we reach for the sand wedge.
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Chabad.org has a nice feature about Laetitia Beck, a Duke University golf player from Israel who’s chosen to lay down her clubs this Yom Kippur and attend High Holiday services. Here’s the line that bogeys: "Laetitia Beck is well on her way to becoming the Sandy Koufax of women’s professional golf."
No disrespect, but the first Sandy Koufax of female golf played 85 years before Laetitia Beck. That’s well before Koufax. Or Hank Greenberg, for that matter.
Clara Spitz (nee Herzfeld) of Richmond, Virginia, relinquished her shot at the 1926 Virginia State Golf Association amateur championship title in deference to the Day of Judgment. Listed under her husband Jacob’s initials (sign of the times), the VGSA indicates her sacrifice in their online record-keeping with the word "default."
Without Koufax or Greenberg in the picture, the local Richmond Jewish paper "The Jewish Morning Journal" had to pick their own name. They went with, "the lady martyr."
As we enter Yom Kippur, I leave you with this "Happy Gilmore" clip about restoring titles to their rightful owners:
Golf clap to Jewish Treats of the National Jewish Outreach Project for bringing this to our attention.
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