LALI STANDER: In praise of Bobby Locke, one of SA’s best golfers

With Ashleigh Buhai’s triumph at Muirfield in the AIG Women’s Open, SA’s tally of Major victories swelled to 25.

When running your finger down the list of SA champions, you get down to the man who set the ball rolling more than 70 years ago with the first of Bobby Locke’s four Open Championship victories at Royal St George in 1949.

In my 20-plus career in the golf industry my only regret is that I never met  Locke.

On my office wall hangs a framed and signed photograph of Locke smiling, Claret Jug in hand. In my memory banks I have stored hundreds of anecdotes and tales over the years. They do paint a picture of the man, but how I would have loved to have known the legend.

It’s almost impossible to compare golfers from different eras. So much has changed over the years, including equipment, the strength of the fields, course conditioning and length and the fitness expectations of the modern golfer.

Even comparing playing records does little. Today’s golfer has far more playing opportunities than those of 70 years ago, who had to travel by ship between continents. 

So how then does one separate the careers of SA golfing legends Locke and Ernie Els? It might surprise some to learn that both have won four Majors, both have 70-odd professional wins, and both were regarded as the best player in the world for a spell.

Perhaps one should beware of falling into the trap of being biased to the more recent winner when considering which of these two is SA’s second-greatest golfer ever, after Gary Player — for while Ernie’s career record is remarkable, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a gentle reminder of just how good Locke was.

“In the 1940s and 50s, my dad used to say that it was never a case of thinking you could beat Bobby Locke; that was never an option,” said international golf commentator and former European Tour champion Dale Hayes.

“He often said that if you could get within single figures of Bobby in a tournament, then you had had an amazing week. It was genuinely a case of who was going to finish second. From 1935, for the next 20 years, he was never beaten in a four-round tournament in South Africa.”

Locke burst onto the scene as a teenager. At age 17, as an amateur, he won the SA Amateur and the SA Open double. Two years later he repeated the feat, before embarking on a remarkable professional career that saw him win across the globe.

In 1938, as a rookie, he won the Irish Open, New Zealand Open and the SA Open —  an event he would claim no fewer than nine times in total, including a stretch from 1937 to 1946 when he won five on the trot. The only thing that could stop him winning the SA Open, it seemed, was World War 2.

In the war, Locke served with distinction, making over 100 missions as a bomber pilot.

Back then, professional golfers made more money from exhibition matches than prize money and once the war had ended, a series of matches in SA was set up between Locke and Sam Snead, considered by many to be the best golfer in the world.

Locke thumped the American in 12 of the 14 matches they played.

At the invitation of Snead, Locke headed over to the PGA Tour, where he was equally successful. In 59 events, he won 11, finished runner up 11 times and placed in the top four on 34 occasions.

His 16-stroke win in the 1948 Chicago Victory National remains a PGA Tour record for margin of victory.

Sadly, in 1949, Locke was banned by the PGA Tour for apparently reneging on tournament commitments after his British Open win that year. But there was a more sinister reason for his banning, as Denis Hutchinson explains.

“I met Claude Harmon, the winner of the 1948 Masters, at Lochinvar Golf Club in Houston one year. Bruce Devlin introduced me by saying, ‘Claude, I’d like you to meet Denis Hutchinson from SA’.”

Harmon replied, “SA? You know that old bastard Bobby Locke? We had to ban him — he was too goddam good for all of us.”

Locke’s crowning glory is undoubtedly his four Open Championships. He followed his 1949 triumph with victories at Troon in 1950, at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1952 and, finally, at St Andrews in 1957.

His big, roping hook and nerveless putting were an ideal combination for the links courses of the UK and beyond his wins, he also recorded two runner ups, a fourth, a tie for sixth and an eighth place.

In fact, in the 10 Opens between 1949 and 1958, Locke and his great friend and rival Peter Thomson counted for eight of them.

Sadly, tragedy struck Locke in 1960, when the car he was driving was hit by a train at a level crossing. The accident saw Locke hospitalised for two weeks, fighting for his life. Thankfully, he survived, but the injuries he sustained called an early end to his remarkable playing career. 

A charismatic man, Locke was a great entertainer on and off the course. Instantly recognisable in his baggy plus fours, Locke enjoyed a post-round drink and a song and was eager to show off his skills on the ukulele when the opportunity arose. Undoubtedly, he was one of SA’s best — no matter the era.