The second annual South African Golf Hall of Fame Induction Gala was held on 22 December 2010 at the Oubaai Golf Resort in George. There were 18 new inductees, of which half have passed on.
I knew 13 of the 18 though and would like to share my memories of them with you.
Maud Gibbs and Jack Watermeyer were inducted in the ‘administrators’ category and HB Keartland into ‘media’, all posthumously. Both HB and his son Basil made an enormous contribution to golf.
Clarence Olander, Jimmy Boyd, Bernard Wynne and David Suddards were inducted in the ‘amateur golf’ category; the first three are all deceased.
Bernard Wynne was a terrific amateur golfer who won four SA Amateur Championships between 1928 and 1938.
The first SA Amateur team that was picked toured Britain in 1937. It was made up of Bobby Locke, Clarence Olander, Frank Agg and my father Otway Hayes. Bobby Locke was the outstanding player and was already head and shoulders above any amateur golfer in South Africa, but Clarence Olander was no slouch.
He won three SA Amateurs and was the runner-up twice and also won the SA Open in 1936 which gave him the double.
The ‘50s was the decade of the amateurs. Amateurs won four SA Opens in that period and they also won the Commonwealth Golf Tournament for South Africa. Jimmy Boyd was one of those winners. In 1953 he beat Otway Hayes in a playoff at Royal Cape. That same year he lost in the final of the SA Amateur. He also lost in the final in 1949, but won again in 1958 when he beat Arthur Walker. Jimmy started his golf in Middelburg, but being a pilot, he played most of his golf on the East Rand.
David Suddards is a small man with a big heart. He owned one of the best short games around, but was also able to keep the ball in play. He represented South Africa 18 times between 1975 and 1984, making him the most capped Springbok golfer. David played in three Eisenhower teams, but that could have been five if South Africa had not been banned from competing in 1978 and 1984.
David and Kevin Suddards were the first brothers to play in the Eisenhower Trophy. They were followed by Derek and Neil James, but the Jameses went one better as they played on the same team.
Only one professional golfer was inducted this year and that was John Bland. Blandie started his golf at Irene Golf Club where his father was the greenkeeper.
Before joining the tour full-time, he was also the club pro at ERPM. He won his first professional tournament in 1970 at Reading Golf Club. A few months ago, and 40 years after that first win, he won on the European Seniors Tour. John won on the European Tour, on the US Champions Tour and won many tournaments on the Sunshine Tour.
The only blemish is that he never won the SA Open. John has always been enormously popular both with the golfing fans and his fellow professionals. His long-time friendly rivalry with Tony Johnstone is legendary and still carries on today.
Women’s golf was well represented at the induction ceremony with three ladies joining Sally Little in the Hall of Fame: Jackie Mercer, Gillian Tebbutt and Alison Sheard. Jackie Mercer won her first SA Amateur in 1964 and her last one in 1979.
She was a terrific player, but it was her promotion of the game and her coaching that made her a household name in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Gilly Tebbutt and Alison Sheard were consistent winners of both the SA Amateur and SA Strokeplay Championship. Alison’s eight wins were eclipsed by Gilly.
George Blumberg was inducted posthumously as a benefactor. He was South Africa’s greatest benefactor and whether it was advice, financial assistance or even help with the actual playing of the game, you could always count on ‘Uncle George’. Quite simply there are a number of South African golfers that wouldn’t be where they are had it not been for George Blumberg.
Special recognition inductions were bestowed on Theo Manyama, Vincent Tshabalala and Richard Mogoerane. Vincent won the French Open in 1977 and was the leading golfer of colour in South Africa for many years.
Although Theo and Richard were very good players, the politics of the day never allowed them to reach the heights they could have. Both of them have never looked back though and have been positive about growing golf and making golf a better game in South Africa.
Theo is one of the world’s top referees and Richard has coached thousands of golfers, predominantly in the North West Province.
Brian Henning, Phil Ritson and Laurie Waters were inducted into the ‘contribution to golf’ section of the Hall of Fame.
Laurie Waters was a four-time winner of the SA Open, but more importantly he was a golf course designer and a great promoter of the game. He ended up as the professional at Salisbury Golf Club and retired just before WWII.
Brian, the second-oldest of the four Henning brothers, was a club professional at King David Golf Club when he started promoting tournaments on the Sunshine Tour. He soon took over the Sunshine Tour and by the time he emigrated to the US, it had become the world’s fourth-biggest tour behind the US, European and Japanese Tours. Brian’s career went from strength to strength in America. He was hired to start the Senior Tour, which was a massive success under his leadership. It’s safe to say that Brian Henning has organised more golf tournaments than anyone on earth.
Phil Ritson, as well as being a good enough player to represent South Africa as a professional, was a great teacher of the game. Phil originally made his name in Durban, then moved to Johannesburg and quickly became the tour’s top teacher. He taught them all, young and old, male and female, good and bad.
He is a great communicator and was always able to find a way to get a golfer to improve. Phil also emigrated to the US and was ‘discovered’. Today he is in the US Golf Teachers Hall of Fame and is consistently voted as one of America’s finest teachers.
