Bobby Locke

For the baseball player, see Bobby Locke (baseball).

Bobby Locke
Personal information
Full name	Arthur D'Arcy Locke
Nickname	Bobby Old Baggy Pants Old Muffin Face
Born	20 November 1917(1917-11-20) Germiston, South Africa
Died	9 March 1987(1987-03-09) (aged 69) Johannesburg, South Africa
Nationality	South Africa
Career
Turned professional	1938
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	72
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	15
Other	57
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 4)
Masters Tournament	T10: 1948
U.S. Open	3rd/T3: 1947, 1951
The Open Championship	Won: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1957
PGA Championship	T33: 1947
British Amateur	T33: 1937
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1977 (member page)

Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.

Early years

Locke was born in Germiston, South Africa. He won the South African Open for the first of nine times in 1935, playing as an amateur. He played in his first Open Championship in 1936, when he was eighteen, and finished as low amateur. He turned professional two years later and was a prolific tournament winner in his native country, eventually accumulating 38 wins on the Southern Africa Tour (now the Sunshine Tour). His golf career was interrupted by service in the South African Air Force during World War II.

Success in U.S.

Following the end of World War II, Locke successfully resumed his career in South Africa in 1946. He hosted Sam Snead, one of the top American golfers of the day, for a series of exhibition matches in South Africa in 1946, winning 12 out of the 16 matches. So impressed was Snead that he suggested that Locke come to the United States and give the PGA Tour a try, advice that Locke quickly followed.

Locke arrived in the U.S. for the first time in April 1947, well after the American Tour season had begun. In two-and-a-half years on the PGA Tour, Locke played in 59 events; he won 11, and finished in the top three in 30, just over half. In 1947, despite a late start, Locke dominated the American tour, winning six tournaments (including four in a five-week period), and finishing second to Jimmy Demaret on the money list.

Controversy, ban

In 1948, he won the Chicago Victory National by 16 strokes, which remains a PGA Tour record for margin of victory (tied for margin of victory with J. Douglas Edgar's win in the 1919 Canadian Open).

The following year, Locke was banned from the tour, ostensibly because of a dispute over playing commitments. Locke had indeed given several advance commitments to appear at tournaments and exhibitions, then had not turned up nor given adequate notice nor explanations for his absences. However, it is most likely he was banned because of growing resentment towards him from many of the other PGA players. The 1948 Masters champion Claude Harmon stated, unsolicited, to another golf personality during that era: "Locke was simply too good. They had to ban him." The ban was lifted in 1951, but Locke chose not to return to play in the United States, except for a few isolated appearances. Despite (or perhaps because of) his success, many American players disliked Locke, though not for anything Locke did. They simply resented a foreign player arriving on tour and "raiding" the prize money, as the highly skilled Locke often did. Prize money for tournament golf was not abundant in that era.

Playing attributes

Locke built his success around his outstanding putting ability, coining the phrase "You drive for show, but putt for dough." Wearing his trademark knickers, white shoes, and stockings, Locke played the game at a slow and deliberate pace, perhaps another reason that American pros were annoyed with him. On the greens, Locke was a bona fide genius, using a very unusual putting style (he would bring the putter back far to the inside on the backstroke, then virtually "trap" the ball with a hooded, closed clubface on the forward stroke, imparting a tremendous amount of overspin), and a great eye for reading breaks, to put on veritable putting clinics every time he played. Locke believed he could put spin on putts (similar to full-swing shots) and make them "hook" and "slice", and used his unorthodox technique to great success.

Locke was not particularly long from the tee, but placed great emphasis on accuracy in hitting fairways and greens; he employed an extreme right-to-left ball flight (one that bordered on a hook) on nearly every full shot.

Australian contemporary pro Jim Ferrier, who played the U.S. Tour during the late 1940s with Locke, described Locke's putting method as being designed to overcome the very heavy grain present on many Bermuda-grass greens of that era, particularly in warm-climate regions such as South Africa and the southern United States. In these regions, greens had to be constructed during that era using Bermuda-grass turf in order to survive the extreme summer heat; turfgrass research eventually developed a wider variety of strains which could be used. Locke's putting method allowed the ball to glide on top of the grass without being affected very much by the grain. Ferrier explained that Locke had apparently learned the technique from an Englishman in Egypt, while he was stationed there during World War II.

Worldwide success

After leaving the PGA Tour, Locke continued his career in Europe and Africa, where he felt more comfortable. He won 23 times in Europe, most notably a quartet of successes in The Open Championship, which came in 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1957. He was the first of many South Africans who subsequently won major championships, including Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.

During this time Locke also played many other parts of the world. In 1955 he won the Australian Open held at Gailes Golf Club in Queensland; he later rated this as one of the best courses he had ever played. In 1959, Locke was involved in a serious car accident, and subsequently he suffered from migraines and eye problems that put an end to his competitive career, although he continued competing occasionally after that, without much success.

Locke was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977. He was only the second member (after Gary Player) who did not come from either the United States or the United Kingdom. He died in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1987.

Amateur wins (9)

• 1931 South Africa Boys
• 1935 South Africa Amateur, Natal Amateur, Transvaal Amateur
• 1936 Natal Amateur, Lucifer Empire Trophy
• 1937 South Africa Amateur, Transvaal Amateur, Orange Free State Amateur

Professional wins (72)

PGA Tour wins (15)

• 1947 (6) Canadian Open, Houston Open, Philadelphia Inquirer Open, All American Open, Columbus Open, Goodall Round Robin
• 1948 (2) Phoenix Open, Chicago Victory Open
• 1949 (3) Cavalier Invitational, Goodall Round Robin, The Open Championship
• 1950 (2) All American Open, The Open Championship
• 1952 (1) The Open Championship
• 1957 (1) The Open Championship

Major championships are shown in bold.

Other wins (57)

• 1935 South African Open, Natal Open (both as an amateur)
• 1936 Natal Open (as an amateur)
• 1937 South African Open (as an amateur)
• 1938 South African Open, Irish Open, New Zealand Open, South Africa Professional, Transvaal Open
• 1939 South African Open, Dutch Open, South Africa Professional, Transvaal Open
• 1940 South African Open, Transvaal Open, South Africa Professional
• 1946 South African Open, South Africa Professional, Transvaal Open, Yorkshire Evening News, British Masters, Brand Lochryn Tournament
• 1947 Carolinas Open, Carolinas PGA Championship
• 1948 Carolinas Open
• 1949 Transvaal Open
• 1950 South African Open, South Africa Professional, Transvaal Open, Dunlop Tournament, Spalding Tournament, North British Tournament
• 1951 South African Open, Transvaal Open, South Africa Professional
• 1952 French Open, Mexican Open, Lotus Tournament, Carolinas Open
• 1953 French Open, Natal Open
• 1954 Egyptian Open, German Open, Swiss Open, Dunlop Tournament, British Masters, Egyptian Match Play, Transvaal Open, Swallow-Harrogate Tournament
• 1955 Australian Open, Transvaal Open, South African Open, South Africa Professional
• 1957 Daks Tournament, Bowmaker Amateur-Professional
• 1958 Transvaal Open
• 1959 New Hampshire Open

Major championships

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1949	The Open Championship	Tied for lead	(69–76–68–70=283)	Playoff 1	Harry Bradshaw
1950	The Open Championship (2)	Tied for lead	(69–72–70–68=279)	2 strokes	Roberto De Vicenzo
1952	The Open Championship (3)	1 shot deficit	(69–71–74–73=287)	1 stroke	Peter Thomson
1957	The Open Championship (4)	3 shot lead	(69–72–68–70=279)	3 strokes	Peter Thomson

¹ Defeated Harry Bradshaw in 36-hole playoff: Locke (135), Bradshaw (147)

Results timeline

Tournament	1936	1937	1938	1939
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T8 LA	T17 LA	T10	T9
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Amateur Championship	R256	R64	-	-

Tournament	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	NT	DNP	T14	T10	T13
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	NT	NT	DNP	T3	4	T4
The Open Championship	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	T2	DNP	DNP	1
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	NT	DNP	DNP	DNP	T33	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
The Masters	DNP	DNP	T21	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	3	WD	T14	5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	1	T6	1	8	T2	4	DNP	1	T16	T29
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	CUT	T49	CUT	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

NT = No tournament
LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Source for 1936 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1936, pg. 6.

Source for 1937 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1937, pg. 12.

See also

• Golfers with most major championship wins
• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most Sunshine Tour wins

External links

• World Golf Hall of Fame profile