With the Open Championship’s return to Royal Portrush Golf Membership in Northern Eire it appears solely becoming that the exploits of one in every of England’s most interesting post-war golfers, Max Faulkner, whose title is inextricably linked with the well-known hyperlinks venue, must be remembered.
A notoriously flamboyant determine, with a penchant for carrying salmon pink plus fours and dragging on a cigarette mid- spherical, Faulkner arrived at Portrush with simply 4 earlier main appearances to his title.
However having completed sixth within the Open in 1949, and fifth in 1950, he was definitely one of many main fancies, along with his likelihood improved by his liking for the Dunluce Hyperlinks, the place he had twice completed runner up within the Irish Open.
The Sussex man opened with strong rounds of 71 and 70 to assert the midway lead and was 4 strokes away from the sphere when he reached the sixteenth gap in the course of the third spherical.
THE BEST SHOT
After hooking his tee shot on that gap inside a couple of inches of the out-of-bounds fence, Faulkner was confronted with both chipping the ball sideways safely again onto the green, and possibly settle for a bogey, or taking a swipe with a wooden, beginning the ball out of bounds, and hoping to fade it again into play.
Reaching for his three-wood, Faulkner lashed the ball over the fence and, because the gallery watched spellbound, it dutifully turned proper, proper and proper once more because it crossed the fence and bounded up the green on to the inexperienced. It was a shot that solely a personality like Faulkner would have dared play, and induced his enjoying associate, America’s Frank Stranahan, to callit the best shot he’d ever seen.
Spherical in 70, Faulkner began the ultimate 18 holes with a six-stroke lead, and seemed certain to win by a large margin, however Argentina’s Antonio Cerda emerged from the pack to put down the gauntlet and approached Portrush’s final 5 holes needing yet one more birdie to tie.
POST OPEN WIN
Fortunately for Faulkner, Cerda’s problem pale over that testing stretch, and the 34-year-old from Selsey was in a position to coast residence by two pictures with a closing 74.
“It was all I ever wished,” Faulkner mentioned later. “The Open meant the whole lot to me. After I was handed the trophy, I seemed on the names on it – Walter Hagen,
Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Henry Cotton – and thought ‘Wow!’ In reality, it meant a lot that one victory sapped my will.
I keep in mind I had a putt on the second gap of the primary spherical at Lytham the next 12 months, from about 4 ft, which I managed to overlook, and my instant thought was: ‘That’s it, I’ll by no means win the Open once more’.”
He by no means did, though he managed 16 different skilled victories, together with three Spanish Opens, and received the Portuguese Open on the age of 52 – a pre-European Tour document that also stands as we speak. He additionally represented Nice Britain & Eire in 5 Ryder Cups, together with the well-known 1957 victory at Lindrick.
A preferred determine on the charity golf circuit throughout and after his skilled profession, Faulkner possessed a depraved sense of humour. When introduced with first prize at a small native match, he’s reported to have mentioned ‘Women and gentleman, massive prize, massive speech, small prize, small speech. I thanks’, after which walked off the stage.
