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Daily Mail Tournament

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Daily Mail Tournament
Tournament information
LocationUnited Kingdom
Established1919
Final year1950
Final champion
Charlie Ward

The Daily Mail Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. The Daily Mail sponsored the St Andrews Tournament in 1919 and in 1920 continued their sponsorship with the start of the Daily Mail Tournament. The event was dropped after the 1927 tournament[1] and not reinstated until 1936. The event was unusual in that it took place in 1940, after the start of World War II. The prize money for the 1940 event was just £500, money being raised for the Red Cross A tournament was also played in September 1945, soon after the end of the war, and was informally referred to as the "Victory" tournament. The last event was played in 1950.

1919

The Daily Mail started their sponsorship by providing £500 for prizes for the St Andrews Tournament played over the Old Course on 25 and 26 May 1919.[2] The event was organised by the PGA. Since there was not enough time to organise qualifying contests the entry was restricted to the 60 leading PGA members in the 1914 Open Championship.[3] The PGA later invited locals Laurie Ayton, Snr and Andrew Kirkaldy who would not otherwise have qualified. The Open Championship was not played in 1919 and the tournament was regarded as the most important of the year. This tournament sometimes called the "Victory Open" even though it was restricted to professionals.

Ted Ray led after the first day on 150 with two rounds of 75. Abe Mitchell was second on 151 with Fred Leach, Arnaud Massy and Willie Ritchie on 153 and James Batley on 154.[4] The over-night leaders struggled on the second day. Ray took 80 and 85 and finished fourth while Mitchell's 80 and 81 put him on 312. Harry Vardon and Sandy Herd had the best scores on the second day. Vardon had rounds of 76 and 77 and a total of 313, good enough for third place, while Herd scored 75 and 78 and a total of 316 gave him a tie for fifth place with Batley. George Duncan scored 78 and 76 and finished on 312 to tie Mitchell. There was no play-off and so Duncan and Mitchell shared the prize money, taking £87 10s each. Vardon took £50 and a bronze medal, Ray £30 and there were prizes down to £5 for 20th place. Since a stroke-play competition had been arranged for the following morning on the Eden Course, and with the field including both Duncan and Mitchell, it was decided that the round would decide the possession of the gold and silver medals.[5]

The Daily Mail also provided £125 in prize money for a tournament played the following day, 27 June, on the Eden Course. 8 players were invited: 4 from England and 4 from Scotland. England were represented by Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor, Ted Ray and Abe Mitchell while Scotland had James Braid, George Duncan, Sandy Herd and Laurie Ayton, Snr. A medal round was played in the morning with each match being an England/Scotland pairing. Ray had an excellent round of 71 and won by 5 shots, taking the £20 first prize. Taylor had a 76 and took the £15 second prize while Herd and Mitchell scored 77 and shared third place. Mitchell's 77 bettered the Duncan's 79 and he took the gold medal from the St Andrews tournament. Two Scotland against England foursomes were played in the afternoon. Ray and Taylor won their match while Duncan and Braid won the other. The winning players won £7 10s each, the losers £2 10s.[6]

Winners

Year Winner Country Venue Score Margin
of victory		 Runner(s)-up Winner's
share (£)		 Ref
St Andrews Tournament
1919 George Duncan  Scotland Old Course at St Andrews 312 Tie Shared 100
and 75		 [5]
Abe Mitchell  England
Daily Mail Tournament
1920 George Duncan  Scotland Royal North Devon Golf Club 291 7 strokes England Abe Mitchell 100 [7]
1921 Albert Hallam  England Formby Golf Club 295 1 stroke England Arthur Havers 300 [8]
1922 George Duncan  Scotland Old Course at St Andrews 300 4 strokes Jersey Ted Ray 300 [9]
1923 Ted Ray  Jersey Lytham & St Annes Golf Club 288 1 stroke England Len Holland
England Abe Mitchell		 300 [10]
1924 Charles Whitcombe  England Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club 289 9 strokes England Len Holland 300 [11]
1925 Charles Johns  England Notts Golf Club 293 1 stroke England James Adwick
England George Buckle
England Tom Williamson		 300 [12]
1926 Aubrey Boomer  Jersey Old Course at St Andrews 297 3 strokes Scotland George Duncan
England Abe Mitchell		 300 [13]
1927 Abe Mitchell  England Wentworth Golf Club 294 3 strokes England Fred Robson 300 [14]
1928–35: No tournament
1936 Alf Padgham  England Bramshot Golf Club 284 3 strokes England Sam King 500 [15]
1937 Sam King  England Little Aston Golf Club 283 4 strokes England Henry Cotton 500 [16]
1938 Alf Perry  England Gosforth Golf Club 284 4 strokes Wales Dai Rees 500 [17]
1939 Henry Cotton  England Queens Park Golf Club 292 Playoff
(36 holes)		 England Archie Compston 500 [18][19]
1940 Dick Burton  England Sundridge Park Golf Club 280 1 stroke England Henry Cotton 100 [20]
1941–44: No tournament due to World War II
1945 Charlie Ward  England Old Course at St Andrews 298 1 stroke England Max Faulkner 200 [21]
1946 Alf Padgham  England Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club 301 3 strokes England Charlie Ward 525 [22]
1947 Dai Rees  Wales Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club 279 2 strokes Australia Norman Von Nida 525 [23]
1948 Norman Von Nida  Australia Sunningdale Golf Club 270 5 strokes England Reg Whitcombe 525 [24]
1949 Tom Haliburton  Scotland Glasgow Golf Club 271 1 stroke Scotland Laurie Ayton, Jnr 525 [25]
1950 Charlie Ward  England Walton Heath Golf Club 290 Playoff
(36 holes)		 South Africa Bobby Locke
Australia Ossie Pickworth		 525 [26][27]

References

  1. ^ "Golf - "Daily Mail" tournament abandoned". The Times. 8 December 1927. p. 7.
  2. ^ "Golf – The St Andrews tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 25 June 1919. p. 12.
  3. ^ "Golf - Professional tournament". The Times. 31 May 1919. p. 5.
  4. ^ ""Big three fail" – Golf at St Andrews – Ray and Mitchell leading". The Glasgow Herald. 26 June 1919. p. 9.
  5. ^ a b "St Andrews golf – Mitchell and Duncan tie". The Glasgow Herald. 27 June 1919. p. 13.
  6. ^ "St Andrews Golf – Eden course tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 28 June 1919. p. 9.
  7. ^ "Golf – The £580 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 18 June 1920. p. 14.
  8. ^ "Golf – The £1000 tournament – Arthur Hallam's remarkable victory". The Glasgow Herald. 13 May 1921. p. 12.
  9. ^ "Golf at St Andrews – Duncan's brilliant win in £1000 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 12 May 1922. p. 12.
  10. ^ "£1000 tournament – Ray comes into his own". The Glasgow Herald. 4 May 1923. p. 16.
  11. ^ "Golf – C A Whitcombe's triumph". The Glasgow Herald. 16 May 1924. p. 17.
  12. ^ "Golf – £1200 tournament won by a stroke". The Glasgow Herald. 15 May 1925. p. 15.
  13. ^ "Brilliant golf – Aubrey Boomer wins". The Glasgow Herald. 21 May 1926. p. 7.
  14. ^ "Golf – Mitchell wins at Wentworth". The Glasgow Herald. 13 May 1927. p. 6.
  15. ^ "Golf – Final stages of £2000 tournament – Padgham wins with record round". The Glasgow Herald. 4 April 1936. p. 2.
  16. ^ "Brilliant final rounds – S L King wins £2000 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 10 April 1937. p. 3.
  17. ^ "Ryder Cup players in first three places – Perry's fighting finish to win £2000 golf tourney". The Glasgow Herald. 9 April 1938. p. 18.
  18. ^ "Cotton and Compston to replay – Thrilling last round duel at £2000 golf tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 1 April 1939. p. 3.
  19. ^ "Cotton's grand start – Winner of £2000 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 3 April 1939. p. 4.
  20. ^ "Thrilling golf duel – Champion wins £500 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 15 June 1940. p. 10.
  21. ^ "Ward's one stroke victory at St Andrews". The Glasgow Herald. 22 September 1945. p. 4.
  22. ^ "Padgham's thrilling victory in £2500 golf tourney". The Glasgow Herald. 30 March 1946. p. 2.
  23. ^ "Rees nine strokes under level fours – Welshman wins professional tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 24 May 1947. p. 2.
  24. ^ "Von Nida's victory with record aggregate". The Glasgow Herald. 15 May 1948. p. 4.
  25. ^ "Scottish professionals first and second". The Glasgow Herald. 20 May 1949. p. 6.
  26. ^ "Ward-Pickworth-Locke tie at Walton Heath". The Glasgow Herald. 13 May 1950. p. 9.
  27. ^ "Ward wins playoff at Walton Heath – Locke's faulty putting". The Glasgow Herald. 15 May 1950. p. 10.
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