Michael Bonallack
Sir Michael Francis Bonallack, OBE (born 31 December 1934) is an English amateur golfer who was one of the leading administrators in world golf in the late 20th century.[1]
| Sir Michael Bonallack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||
| Full name | Michael Francis Bonallack | ||||||
| Born | 31 December 1934 Chigwell, Essex, England, UK | ||||||
| Sporting nationality | England | ||||||
| Career | |||||||
| Status | Amateur | ||||||
| Best results in major championships | |||||||
| Masters Tournament | CUT: 1966, 1969, 1970 | ||||||
| The Open Championship | T11: 1959 | ||||||
| U.S. Amateur | R64: 1961 | ||||||
| British Amateur | Won: 1961, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970 | ||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
| (For a full list of awards, see here) | |||||||
Bonallack was born in Chigwell, Essex. He learned the game of golf under the tutelage of head professional Bert Hodson at Chigwell[2] and soon won the Boys Amateur Championship in 1952. A rare example of an outstanding golfer who remained an amateur in the era when professional domination of the sport became firmly entrenched, he went on to win the Amateur Championship and the English Amateur five times each and the Brabazon Trophy four times. He was a member of nine Walker Cup teams and played in the Eisenhower Trophy seven times. His best finish at the Open Championship was eleventh in 1959. He was the leading amateur at the Open in 1968 and 1971.
Affiliations
He was Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews from 1983 to 1999 and Captain from 1999 to 2000. He has also been President of the Golf Club Managers' Association (1974–84), Chairman of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (1976–81), Chairman of the Golf Foundation (1977–82), and President of the English Golf Union (1982).
He is the current President of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) and also served as President of the One Armed Golfers Society, the Professional Golfers Association of Europe and as Chairman of the advisory committee for the Official World Golf Rankings.[3] He is also President of the National Association of Public and Proprietary Golf Courses (NAPGC).
Honours
Bonallack received an OBE for services to golf in 1971, and was created a Knight Bachelor in 1998.[4] In 1972, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honour given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He is a member of Augusta National Golf Club,[5] and has received numerous honours from golfing organisations around the world, culminating in his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.
Legacy
Europe and the Asia-Pacific play for the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy every two years. The teams consist of 12 amateur golfers and no more than two players can be from the same country.
Personal life
Bonallack married Angela Ward in February 1958.[6]
Tournament wins (30)
Note: This list may be incomplete
- 1952 Boys Amateur Championship
- 1957 Berkshire Trophy
- 1959 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Doug Sewell)
- 1961 The Amateur Championship, Berkshire Trophy, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase (tie with David Harrison)
- 1962 English Amateur
- 1963 English Amateur
- 1964 Brabazon Trophy
- 1965 The Amateur Championship, English Amateur, Lytham Trophy (tie with Clive Clark), Berkshire Trophy
- 1967 English Amateur, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase (tie with Bob Durrant lost playoff for Gold Medal)
- 1968 The Amateur Championship, English Amateur, Brabazon Trophy, Berkshire Trophy, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase
- 1969 The Amateur Championship, Brabazon Trophy (tie with Rodney Foster), Golf Illustrated Gold Vase
- 1970 The Amateur Championship, Berkshire Trophy
- 1971 Brabazon Trophy, Berkshire Trophy (tie with John Davies), Golf Illustrated Gold Vase
- 1972 Lytham Trophy
- 1975 Golf Illustrated Gold Vase
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||
| The Open Championship | T11 | |||
| U.S. Amateur | R128 | |||
| The Amateur Championship | R128 | R32 | SF | R32 |
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | CUT | ||||||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | CUT | CUT | T33 | T27 | CUT | T21LA | T42 | ||
| U.S. Amateur | R64 | T53 | T11 | T14 | ||||||
| The Amateur Championship | QF | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | |||
| The Open Championship | CUT | T22LA | CUT | CUT |
| U.S. Amateur | R32 | |||
| The Amateur Championship | 1 | – | – | – |
Note: Bonallack did not play in the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship.
LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1970 Open Championship)
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Sources: Masters,[7] U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,[8] Open Championship,[9] Amateur Championship (1956,[10] 1957,[11] 1958,[12] 1959,[13] 1960[14])
Awards and achievements
- 1968 British Association of Golf Writers award
- 1971 Officer of the Order of the British Empire
- 1972 United States Golf Association Bob Jones Award
- 1991 American Society of Golf Course Architects Donald Ross award
- 1998 Knight Bachelor
- 1999 Spanish Golf Federation Golf Medal of Honour
- 2000 Czech Republic Golf Shield of Honour
- 2000 Metropolitan Golf Association Lifetime Service Award
- 2000 Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame
Team appearances
this list may be incomplete
- Eisenhower Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1960, 1962, 1964 (winners), 1966, 1968 (individual leader, tie), 1970, 1972
- Walker Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965 (tied), 1967, 1969 (playing captain), 1971 (winners, playing captain), 1973
- Amateurs–Professionals Match (representing the Amateurs): 1957, 1958 (winners), 1959, 1960
- St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1958 (winners), 1960 (winners), 1962 (winners), 1964 (winners), 1966 (winners), 1968 (winners), 1970 (winners), 1972 (winners)
- Commonwealth Tournament (representing Great Britain): 1959, 1963 (joint winners), 1967 (joint winners), 1971
- European Amateur Team Championship (representing England): 1963 (winners), 1965, 1969 (winners), 1971 (winners)
References
- ^ . In Golf We Trust. 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
- ^ Hodson, Andrew. "Bert Hodson Ryder cup". hodsongolf.com. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ Mackie, Keith. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
- ^ "Sports stars share honours". BBC News. 13 June 1998. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
- ^ "Augusta National Golf Club members list". USA Today.com. 4 August 2004.
- ^ "Tributes Paid to Lady Angela Bonallack". The R&A. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ www.masters.com 26 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ USGA Championship Database 21 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ www.opengolf.com
- ^ The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1956, pg. 4.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1957, pg. 4.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald, 7 June 1958, pg. 4.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald, 28 May 1959, pg. 9.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1960, pg. 13.
External links
- Sir Michael Bonallack at the World Golf Hall of Fame
- Gazette of knighthood