From 24-27 November this year, Australia＊s greatest golf championship will be staged for the 90th time. The first occasion was in 1904, and in the years since only Ossie Pickworth (1946-48) has recorded three consecutive successes. Greg Norman had his chance in 1997 when, whilst looking to add to his wins in 1995 and 1996, he lasted until the fourth hole of a sudden-death play-off with Lee Westwood before stumbling. At Moonah Links magnificent Open Course this November, Peter Lonard will be the player on a hat-trick. Lonard recorded single-shot victories in 2004 at The Australian and at Moonah in 2003, and is likely to be the bookies＊ favourite with history beckoning.
In the time since that 1904 championship, the Open has evolved from an event of limited local standing to being rated by the likes of Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd and Jack Nicklaus as the world's fifth Major. It has been the stage for the game's greatest ever players as they have battled to claim Australian golf's most prized piece of silverware
-- the Stonehaven Cup. It is of no surprise then, that the names engraved on that cup are synonymous with Major championship history.
Three of the sport's five Immortals are there; in addition to South African Gary Player's record of seven inscriptions (most indelibly alongside the year 1965 when he plundered Kooyonga to the phenomenal tune of 28 under-par), there's Nicklaus's name six times, and also Gene Sarazen for his win at Metropolitan in 1936 where he made good his promise to return and avenge his 1934 defeat by Sydney pro Bill Bolger. And the other two? Well Ben Hogan was terrified of flying and made the trip to Britain only once
-- once enough though to claim the British Open, however the thought of a trip to Australia was simply too much. And Tiger, well he's stated that he wants this title, and Tiger is pretty good at getting what he wants so don't be afraid to hold your breath on that one.
But what of those who couldn't win all four of the Majors? For a start there's Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, whilst Australia's five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson is there for his wins in 1951, 1967 and in 1972. Greg Norman and Australia's greatest ever amateur, Ivo Whitton, are there five times. And sitting just one title shy of Norman and Whitton is the only player to have won three successive Australian Opens - the great Ossie Pickworth. Back to Whitton though, and he is to Australian golf what Bobby Jones is to American golf. Like Thomson, Whitton was able to win the Open in three different decades;recording the fifth of his victories at The Australian in 1931.
Greg NormanIt is unfortunate however, that for 85 years Whitton's 1912 victory by five strokes from Fred Popplewell and Dan Soutar was shrouded in controversy. Certainly, no doubts have ever been cast as to the solidity of Whitton's character, rather the accepted reading of history appears to be that Whitton was the beneficiary of an incorrect ruling by the committee controlling the championship and instead of being disqualified, Whitton's ＆indiscretion＊ went unpenalised with the record books telling the remainder of the story. In any case, the 1912 championship wasn't even the first Australian Open to produce a disputed winner. A quick scan of the Open records will show that the fourth Open Championship of Australia, the 1907 event, was won by Michael Scott with Dan Soutar the runner-up, eight strokes in arrears. History though, casts a rather large shadow of doubt over the validity of Scott's triumph.
The 1907 Open was played at Royal Melbourne, with the club's committee controlling the championship. After the first two rounds the tee markers on each hole were moved slightly to a fresh piece of turf, and on every hole,except the 12th, the position they were moved to was to the left of the sand and water boxes. On the 12th however, they were situated to the right of the bo
xes.This variation led to a number of players playing from outside the designated teeing ground; with the penalty for such action, under the Rules of Golf in 1907, being automatic disqualification.
As it happened, one of the players who had played from outside the teeing ground was Michael Scott, but due to the extenuating circumstances the committee decided to waive the penalty of disqualification and completely overlooked the incident. The ruling provoked a good deal of consternation and as a result, Royal Melbourne Golf Club wrote to the governing body of world golf, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, hoping for a decision that would vindicate its ruling. However, in direct contradiction to the path chosen by Royal Melbourne, the R&A's decision was that the correct course of action would have been to disqualify Scott and all of the other players who had committed the same breach.
So, in addition to his 1905 title, Dan Soutar should have been the 1907 Australian Open champion, but it was not to be. Now, with the competition more than closed, despite the obvious injustice, the Stonehaven Cup has "Hon. M. Scott" engraved alongside the year 1907, and that is how it shall read for ever more. But what then of Whitton and the 1912 controversy? Again the venue was Royal Melbourne and again the runner-up by the length of the straight was Dan Soutar, this time jointly with Fred Popplewell. What happened on this occasion was that, when faced with a terrible lie whilst playing the 14th hole during one round, Whitton opted to declare his ball to be unplayable. He then, according to the Rules of Golf, proceeded to drop the ball in a wrong place. Of this there is no dispute. There is also no dispute that Whitton was directed by a member of the committee controlling the championship to drop where he did. It also appears that Whitton went so far as to question the decision, but was assured by the official that it was correct.
It also appears certain that when the matter was referred to the R&A, in order to clarify what should have happened, the committeeman's role in the incident was not mentioned (incidentally, the matter was in fact referred to the R&A by the New South Wales Golf Association, not by the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the body that conducted the event). Hence, the R&A ruled that the relevant penalty of disqualification should have been applied. However, when the entire facts were presented to Australian Golf Union officials in 1997, they were adamant that as it was the committeeman who determined where Whitton's ball should be dropped, Whitton should indeed have been absolved from any penalty, and that whether or not the committee reached its decision via the correct method, it was perfectly correct to award the championship to Whitton.
Arnold PalmerSo much then for the disputed championships, but hardly even the beginning of the drama. To properly record every noteworthy Open moment would see the compilation of something resembling the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Rather than such a work, what follows here is simply a brief listing of some poignant Open moments to remind golf fans that what will unfold before them at Moonah in November is simply another chapter in the history of Australia's most prestigious golf title.
Whilst it is impossible to properly compare the ability of players across different eras, it is not impossible to compare their achievements. In 1920, at The Australian, New South Welshman Joe Kirkwood slashed an amazing twelve strokes from the previous Open tournament record score with his wining total of 290. It was the first Open played after World War I and it was also the first time 300 was broken in the event's history. Again the runner-up was Dan Soutar, and his score of 295 was the second best the Australian Open had seen. It fact Soutar finished in the top two on eight occasions, but was the winner only once - a reco
rd to truly rival Greg Norman's string of near misses around the globe!
Kirkwood's record stood for fourteen years until the first of the five Immortals arrived in Australia in 1934. At that time Gene Sarazen hadn't yet won all four of the modern Major championships, however he was well on his way to doing so and had already established himself as one of the greats of the game. Indeed it was assumed he would win the Open, and probably take Kirkwood's record with him. Given this, nobody was surprised that his tournament total at Royal Sydney of 286 bettered that old mark by four. What shocked the golfing world was that 'Gene the Machine' had only finished second. Sydneysider Bill Bolger bettered Sarazen by three to set the new mark at 283, and the golfing media alight. But Sarazen, though gracious in defeat, vowed to return and win the title. In 1936, at Metropolitan he showed himself to be as good as his word. This time he came as the past winner of all four Majors. He also came as the man who had played what to this day remains the most famous shot in the history of the game - the fabulous holed 4-wood to the 15th in the 1935 Masters at Augusta for a double-eagle - with Bobby Jones looking on from behind the green. He left as the 1936 Open Champion of Australia and as the holder of the new tournament record total with his score of 282.
In 1939, Sydney amateur Jim Ferrier, later to become the 1947 US PGA champion, completed an unprecedented double-double. He won both the Australian Open and Amateur Championships in 1938 and 1939! It is a feat that will surely never be repeated. After 'Big Jim's' 1939 triumph, the Open took a six-year break for World War II. Competition resumed again in 1946 at Royal Sydney and the championship was won by the then Sydney pro Ossie Pickworth. In 1947, at Royal Queensland, Pickworth was c