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Amazing golfing stories

We’ve all got our favourite stories that we bring out at the 19th hole., but we believe these 5 from the wider world of golf can top even those…

01 September 2016 3 minute read Amazing golfing stories

Lee Trevino entertains Gary Player with one of his amazing stories. Rebecca Naden/PA Archive

Clubhouses across the world echo with tall tales – the hole in one struck in blizzard conditions, the time a seagull stole your ball only for it to be discovered later on the green, or the perfect round that no one saw.

Everyone has their favourite tale to tell (some more truthful than others), but the beauty of the modern game is that these stories are often recorded for posterity.

Here are a few of the most amazing golfing stories…

Striking it unlucky for Lee Trevino

It’s debated how many times the world-famous golfer was struck by lightning, with some sources suggesting as many as three, but what is known is that during the 1975 Western Open, the then five-time Major winner was struck by lighting and suffered serious injuries to his spine. This led to surgery to remove the damaged spinal disk.

He later told Golf Digest: “Once they cut on you, you're never the same. You can't swing hard at it, can't dig it out of the rough.”

While he never truly recovered from the freak accident, his famous sense of humour never went. When asked about the incident later on he retorted, “I should have held up my 1-iron to the sky, because not even God can hit the 1-iron.”
   

World War Golfing
  

Not even a World War can stop golfers

Golfers are a surprisingly hardy bunch, playing in the worst conditions, but few can be as tough as playing during the Second World War with the threat of being bombed on the cards.

But the outbreak of the war and threat of the Luftwaffe didn’t stop Richmond Golf Club, which famously posted its new rules for during the conflict.

These included: 

  • In Competition, during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play
  • A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced
  • A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place. Penalty one stroke.

That’s right, you’d be penalised a stroke for replaying a shot if disturbed by a bomb going off. They don’t make them like they used to… 

The Mysterious Montague

In a world where fame and fortune await those who win the Masters and Open, the story of the Mysterious Montague is even stranger than it was at the time. In the 1930s, New Yorker John Montague arrived in Hollywood like most looking for fame. However his skills didn’t lie in acting, but in golf.

Described at the time as the “the world's greatest golfer” by famed sportswriter Grantland Rice, it’s said he could hit a 300-yard drive and chip a ball into a glass from across the room.

While he indulged his passion for the game, playing with the likes of Howard Hughes, Babe Ruth and Bing Crosby, he never turned pro. Even more surprising is that he never allowed himself to be photographed.

The truth came out when his image was snapped by a Time photographer. The article was seen in his home town and it was revealed John Montague was in fact LaVerne Moore – a wanted armed robber.
   
Harry Bradshaw (further left) pictured without beer bottle. PA Archive
Harry Bradshaw (further left) pictured without beer bottle. PA Archive
   

The Bradshaw Beer Bottle

When you think of drinks associated with golf, it’s more likely to be champagne or whiskey than beer, but it wasn’t the drinking of such beverages per se that caused Harry Bradshaw problems in 1949 – it was the bottle itself.

Playing the Open at Royal St George’s, Bradshaw hit the rough on the 5th hole of the second round, but when he discovered his ball he found it had wedged itself in the bottom half of a broken beer bottle.

The rules at the time would have actually allowed him to remove the ball without penalty, but in the heat of competition, and not wanting to wait, Bradshaw decided to play the ball as it lay as he feared he’d have to take a penalty for moving it.

In his words, he picked his “blaster”, closed his eyes tightly and let fly. The bottle was smashed to pieces and the ball, sadly, only went about thirty yards. He holed in six and lost the competition.

Smile John Daly

We’re now used to having camera phones pushed into our faces and, as a professional golfer, it’s become part of the game. However, back in 2008, it was still seen as rude to photograph people without their permission. This, along with a poor game, goes some way to explaining John Daly’s response at being snapped at the Australian Open.

It was the end of the first round of the championship and Daly had just shot a woeful six over. On his last hole of the day, he found himself in the rough – and confronted by spectator Brad Clegg trying to take his picture.

In a fit of rage, Daly took the camera and smashed it against the nearest tree, yelling: “You want it back, I'll buy you a new one.”

When he’d calmed down, Daly said in a statement: “I was looking to take a drop and a camera was six inches away from my face. If I was 10 under, I would have felt the same.

“My eyes are still burning from the flash of the camera. I feel it was very rude to put a camera that close to somebody's face in any situation. The guy that had the camera had already taken a dozen shots at close range.”

The lesson – don’t mess with John Daly.
   

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