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| Burton in full swing |
Lancashire golfer Dick Burton made history when he won The Open Championship of 1939.
In the build-up the tournament The St Andrews Citizen newspaper stated: ‘In no event is it more difficult to act the prophet than in an Open Championship, and the task of spotting the winner is no more easy this year than on any former occasion’.
It tipped Henry Cotton, making a bid to win the title for a third time, stating ‘it is difficult to imagine anything nearer perfection in golf, and by popular choice he is Britain’s No.1 hope.’
Dick Burton, who had represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Ryder Cup matches against the USA at Ridgewood Country Club, New Jersey, in 1935 and at Southport and Ainsdale in England in 1937 was regarded as being the longest driver in British golf but was not one of the fancied players.
Born in Darwen, Lancashire, in 1907 where his family lived in a farmhouse overlooking the golf course, he and his brothers, Tom and John, were drawn to the game.
By the end of the third round of The Open, the unfancied Burton had put himself firmly in the frame, tied in fourth place on 219 with Johnny Bulla and Martin Pose from Argentina, four shots behind Johnny Fallon.
With six players within four shots of one another there was great excitement in the final round and spectators darted about between matches as the battle for the Championship ebbed and flowed.
Bulla set the bar with a 73 for 292, Fallon having fallen away with a final round 79 for 294. It looked like the Claret Jug was heading across the Atlantic for the first time since 1933.
British hopes rested on Dai Rees of Wales and Burton. The Welshman could not sustain the challenge, however, leaving Burton ‘the sole crusader for Britain’.
The pressure was piled on the Lancastrian when he was made aware of the position while on the 12th tee and knew he needed a 72 to win.
He showed his mettle and rose to the challenge though he had a wobble at the 16th hole where he drove into a patch of rough grass, put his second shot short of the green, played a weak chip and ended up taking a five.
The 17th he played conservatively for a five. His drive at the 18th landed some 20 yards short of the green from where he played a niblick to some four yards from the pin and putted out for a ‘birdie’ three and victory by two strokes finishing with a 71 for a total of 290.
Runner-up Johnny Bulla said: ‘The best man won, and I am tickled to death that I did so well.’
He went on to say how much he had enjoyed visiting St Andrews and that he hoped to be back to compete in The Open the following year.
His hopes were not to be realised, for in September 1939 German tanks rolled into Poland and the world was plunged in a conflict which was to last until 1945.
No more Open Championships were to be held until 1946, when the first post war Open took place at St Andrews.
The long hiatus caused by the war, during which he served in the Royal Air Force, meant that Dick Burton would always be remembered as the man who held The Open title for the longest time.
In 1946 he wrote to the R&A: ‘Dear Sirs, Please find enclosed my fee of five guineas for this year’s Open. I will bring the trophy back when I come.’
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