This week’s Open is at Troon where Locke won in 1950

Buoyed by his extraordinary success in America, where he won seven times in 1947 and three times in 1948, Bobby Locke – the “Prince of Putters”, began to focus more on tournaments elsewhere in the world and, in particular, Britain and the Open Championship, which he would win four times between 1949 and 1957.

Now Locke was a very relaxed golfer and, often, while the other professionals were pacing up and down in the clubhouse, their faces tight and drawn with strain, he would slip away into the locker room and lie down for a quiet snooze. He would ask to be woken up five minutes before his tee time. When he started his round his swing was a picture of calm confidence and the birdies started flowing.

Whether he took a nap before the start of the 1949 Open at Sandwich in ’49 is not known but, typically laid back, Bobby did go yachting with friends the day before the start of the Championship. The next day he breezed through the 36-hole qualifier (back then everybody had to qualify for the main event) before posting rounds of 69, 76, 68 and 70 to tie Irishman Harry Bradshaw at the top on 283. In the 36-hole play-off that followed a brilliant Locke destroyed Bradshaw by shooting 67-68 as against the 74-73 of his opponent.

It has gone down in golfing folk-lore but in round two Bradshaw found his ball in the rough nestling right up against a broken beer bottle. Unaware that he could gain relief, he took a mighty smack and hit the ball and pieces of glass onto the fairway. It cost him a shot and, quite possibly, the Championship.

The following year at Troon, Locke won The Open again, finding the consistent, well-watered greens to his liking. Great putter that he was, he didn’t three-putt once in 72 holes. He shot 69, 72, 70 and 68 for 279 to edge out Roberto De Vicenzo on 281. The 279 was a record score for The Open, eclipsing the 283 previous best by Gene Sarazen in 1932, Henry Cotton in 1934, Alf Perry in 1935 and Locke himself in 1949.

However, there comes a time when a player must deal with a crisis that can make or break one’s chances of winning. This happened to Locke at the par-3 fifth hole in round two. He pulled his tee shot into long grass, put his next into a pot bunker, failed to get out at his first attempt, put his next on the green for four then two-putted for a potentially crippling triple-bogey six.

“My first thought,” he said, “was that I had blown my chances and must be satisfied with one Open victory. But after a rethink, I determined not to give up. I swallowed the bitter pill and scored four birdies in the next six holes.”

At Royal Lytham in 1952 Locke won his third Open in four years, this time with a score of 287 which was just one better than a young Australian, Peter Thomson. But it very nearly didn’t happen. In those days The Open finished on Saturdays when competitors were required to play two rounds, and Locke – four behind leader Fred Daly after 36 holes – had an 8:50am tee time for round three. At 7:45am he walked the hundred yards or so from his hotel to the garage where his car was parked, with his clubs secure in the boot, only to find the garage locked.

“I looked around, everything was closed. I found a milk delivery man, enquired where the garage owner was and was told he would be arriving about nine o’clock and lived 15 minutes away.” This was panic time and all Locke could do was jump up on the cart – give the milkman 10 shillings – and implore him to head for the garage owner’s house as quickly as possible.

“I scrambled in among the milk bottles and, after a bumpy ride, we got to the house. He was still in bed. I dragged him out and we arrived at the garage at 8:20am. I got in my car, raced to the course and arrived at 8:40am with no time even for a few loosening swings.” Locke admitted to being “really strung up” at that point because he liked to take things slowly. But, being the great putter he was, he holed a 30-footer across the green for a birdie two at the opening par-3 hole. In a near-gale and watched by a massive 10,000-strong gallery, he went on to win. His touch on the greens was superb as he once again lived up to his name as the “Prince of Putters”.

He continued to play well in The Open, finishing eighth the following year, second behind Thomson (who would famously win five Opens) in 1954 and fourth in 1955. Then, in 1957, came what Locke described as “the greatest day of my life” when he lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews with another 279 aggregate, a record for an Open at the Home of Golf, and his total three strokes better than runner-up Thomson.

With a lucky horseshoe in his bag, Locke felt he was in command going into the final round after a 69, a 72 and a 68. He felt only the treacherous par-5 14th stood in his way, where in the 1939 and 1946 Opens he had scuppered his chances with a triple-bogey eight and double-bogey seven respectively.

At this hole in 1957, he experienced what he described as “a wonderful stroke of luck. My only bad shot of the day was my third at 14 which finished in a deadly pot bunker, deep and small. ‘Oh no, it’s sure to be up against the face and I’ll have no shot’, I said to myself. But when I got to the bunker the ball was sitting up beautifully in the middle of the sand. It was still a tricky approach but I played it beautifully, landing just 15 inches from the cup to save my par. I didn’t look back after that.”

There was one more scare. On the 18th green, Locke marked his ball two-and-half inches to the side at the request of playing partner Bruce Crampton. Facing a birdie putt for a three-shot victory, Bobby forgot to replace his ball in its original position. This was only noticed later in a television replay but the R and A ruled when a competitor had three for The Open from two feet and produces a technical error providing no possible advantage, that in equity and in the spirit of the game no penalty should be imposed.

Written by Randpark member Grant Winter.

Grant Winter’s book “Bobby Locke, Prince of Putters, Banned for his Birdies?” is available at grantwinter1950@gmail.com