Now Swinging, Not Swimming, Leslie Cliff Enjoys Her Time On The Links
Former Olympic Medallist Leslie Cliff Is Playing In The B.C. Senior Women’s Championship
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
NANOOSE BAY -- It is the golden anniversary of her silver medal. Leslie Cliff doesn’t dwell on that great Olympic memory of winning silver in the 400-metre individual medley at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.
The swimming part of her life ended a long time ago and Cliff has had a busy and productive business career that is just now starting to wind down. That allows for more time to enjoy another sporting passion: Golf.
Cliff, a longtime member of Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, is competing this week in the B.C. Senior Women’s Championship at Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay.
This being the 50th anniversary of her Olympic medal, Cliff acknowledges she’s been reminiscing a little more about her swimming glory days. In fact, she had a flashback just driving into Fairwinds.
“My coach Derek Snelling retired in Nanoose Bay and passed away about six months ago, so just driving here I was thinking about him,” she says. “Odd things make you think of it. It’s been a long time.
“When I think of my swimming career now I just think how blessed I was to have something that gave me a lot of self-confidence. Probably too much self-confidence,” she adds with a laugh. “Thank God I didn’t win the gold. Imagine how obnoxious I would have been.”
Cliff made the final in five of the six events she entered in the 1972 Olympics. She finished fifth in the 200m IM, seventh in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays and eighth in the 200m backstroke. She won three gold medals and two silvers at the 1971 Pan American Games and two golds at the 1974 Commonwealth Games. She was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1971.
Cliff was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1997.
Cliff dabbled in golf as a child, but didn’t really take up the game until her swimming career ended. “My parents had a place in Palm Springs so as a kid I would hit some balls on the range,” she says. She joined Shaughnessy when she was 25, but her business career didn’t allow much time for golf.
image courtesy BC Sports Hall of Fame
Leslie Cliff Won Over Fifty Canadian Medals Between 1970-75 And Held Numerous Canadian Senior Records
Cliff co-founded Genus Capital Management in Vancouver in 1989 and still chairs the company. “I worked hard,” Cliff says. “I don’t just play golf, I am still working. Three of us founded the company and one of the fellows retired about 20 years ago, so two of us own about 80 per cent of it. I chair the board, I am not in operations. Nobody reports to me. I am slowly giving up clients. In another six months I won’t have any clients. But I am still very involved in the strategic direction of the firm.”
Cliff got more serious about her golf a few years ago and loves the game. “I am kind of an obsessive personality and I love golf,“ she says. “I super enjoy it. My son is a good golfer so it’s a way to stay in touch with him.
“I like the socialization of the game, especially as I get older. . . I love the fact there are so many aspects of it. The putting is so different than driving. And there is never-ending learning. I love working with the pros and getting lessons. it is just a never-ending quest.” Cliff has long gotten over the fact that she’ll never be as a good a golfer as she was a swimmer.
While Cliff swam arrow-straight down those pool lanes, her golf ball sometimes wanders off-line. “I am over that,” she says. “It’s been 50 years. When I was younger I had that problem, but... what’s that saying? -- 'Been there, done that.' I am enjoying life now. I am competitive, but I am competitive for a very short period of time.”
This is the second time Cliff has entered the B.C. Senior Women’s Championship. She came with no illusions of contending, but was pleased Tuesday that she trimmed eight shots off her first-round score. “I played once before a long time ago and did terribly, I was last, and didn’t enjoy it,” she says. “This time, I am going to be three-quarters through the pack and I totally enjoy it.”
The Senior Championship is open to players aged 50 and older as of Aug. 30, 2022. A Super-Senior Championship for players aged 60 and older and a Super-Super Senior Championship for players aged 70 and above are also being contested this week at Fairwinds.
Two-time defending champion Shelley Stouffer of Nanoose Bay and Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge will battle for the Senior Women’s title in Thursday’s final round. Both players are at four-over par through 36 holes and seven shots clear of the rest of the field.
Stouffer bogeyed her last three holes Wednesday and shot a four-over 76, while Turbide carded her second straight 74. “Finished off with a bunch of bogeys, so that wasn’t too good,” Stouffer said.
Turbide drained a 12-foot putt for par on the 18th green to remain tied for the lead. “That was my best putt of the day,” she said. “I’m happy with my round. I struck the ball really well.”
Jackie Little of Procter is third at 11-over, but leads the Super-Senior division by one shot over Barb Flaman of Sherwood Park, Alta. Jose Deslauriers of Parksville is another shot back at 13-over. Holly Horwood of Vancouver leads the Super-Super-Senior category by six shots over Lynda Palahniuk of Kelowna.
Click here for complete scoring.