Forgotten legend who made golf history
September 2010
George Duncan in action: He would not have believed how long the top pros spend over their putts these days. “If you’re going to miss them, miss them quick,” was his philosophy.
by Colin Farquharson
There are some who say – and I tend to agree – that outwith the North-East, Paul Lawrie has never been given the credit he deserved for winning the Open championship in 1999. But is it conceivable that by the year 2060, Paul Lawrie’s victory at Carnoustie will have been all but forgotten, even by his ain folk? Surely not?
Well, the unthinkable did happen with the first local man to win the Open. Born at Oldmeldrum on 16 September 1883, George Duncan was one of the 10 children of the local bobby. Although he won the championship at Deal in 1920, Duncan was a forgotten man in these parts – even in his home village – by the time he died in 1964 at the age of 81.
Meldrum House Golf Club brought belated recognition to Oldmeldrum’s most famous sporting son by naming one of its lounges after him. In it there is a display of George Duncan photographs, books and other memorabilia.
When I was originally researching George Duncan’s early years, I looked in vain for a memorial plaque in Oldmeldrum. There was not even a street name or a faded photograph in the local hostelry to remind the townsfolk that an Open golf champion had been born and brought up among their forefathers. r
In contrast, Duncan is still remembered with pride at Mere Golf & Country Club, some 300 miles away in Cheshire. George was its first professional in 1934. He did not suffer fools gladly – patience was not his long suit – but he was held in high regard with Mere golfers and had been made a life member in 1949. At Mere Golf Club you will see on display, trophies, photographs and memorabilia highlighting the long and splendid career of the policeman’s son. After he retired in 1961, plans were made to mark his significant role in the world of professional golf in the first half of this century.
With all due respect to Paul Lawrie, who has time on his side, Duncan was more than an Open champion. You could write a book about Duncan’s golfing career – and he did it himself. Golf at the Gallop, published in 1951, was an appropriate title for his autobiography, because Duncan is acknowledged as the quickest leading player there has ever been.
He would have fitted in two-and-a-half rounds in the time it takes Colin Montgomerie & Co. to complete 18 holes. Duncan regarded two hours – yes, two hours – as ample time for a round of golf, whether it was tournament play, or just a friendly game with members.
“I cannot make George out,” wrote James Braid of Braid, Vardon and Taylor fame. “He plays so fast that he looks as if he doesn’t care. He’s the most extraordinary golfer I have seen.”
Duncan would not have believed how long the top pros spend over their putts these days. “If you’re going to miss them, miss them quick,” was his philosophy.
He had been introduced to the Aberdeen Links at the age of eight in 1891 and showed an early talent not only for golf, but for football. When later he moved to Wales, his flirtation with football was to cost him his job at Caernarvonshire Golf Club when he turned out for the Conway team.
Professional at Rhos-on-Sea
In 1900, he took his first steps into professional golf at Stonehaven Golf Club and within a year – after turning down a professional signing offer by Aberdeen Football Club and still just 17 – he secured the professional’s job at Rhos-on-Sea, North Wales.
Duncan’s policeman father wanted him to serve his time as a carpenter and was disappointed when his son pursued a career in golf which, at the turn of the century, was not a highly-regarded profession.
He was a player of mercurial brilliance and inspiration rather than consistency. It was said that his game, at its best, was “the champagne of golf – and the fizziest champagne at that”.
Ten years after he left his native North-East and several club moves later, Duncan consolidated his position as one of golf’s rising stars – not a phrase used by the newspapers of the day – finishing third behind five-times champion James Braid in the 1910 Open at St Andrews.
In those days, there were few organised professional tournaments. Big-money challenge matches were still the thing. Victories by Duncan in the 1912 Belgian Open and the French Open and News of the World match-play championship of the following year probably represented a winning strike rate of 25 to 33%.
The years when Duncan was at his peak in his early 30s coincided with World War I, in which he served as a rigger in the Royal Flying Corps. But Big George – he was taller than most of his contemporaries – soon made his mark when he returned to civvy street.
No Open championship had been staged from 1915 to 1918, but an unofficial Open was played in 1919 to celebrate victory. It was called the Professional Golfers’ Championship and was held over the Old Course, St Andrews.
The first 60 players in the 1914 Open, won by Harry Vardon at Prestwick, were invited to compete. George Duncan and Abe Mitchell tied with four-round totals of 312. For the gold medal, they agreed to count their respective scores in the Eden tournament the next day.
Mitchell won, with a 77 to Duncan’s 79.
The 1920 Open at Deal
But Duncan did not have long to wait for his first major win, which came after a remarkable finish to the 1920 Open at Deal. After two scores of 80, the Oldmeldrum man, by now playing out of Hanger Hill Golf Club, trailed Abe Mitchell by 13 strokes after 36 holes.
A new driver, acquired from the exhibition tent, worked wonders for Duncan over the final two rounds. In those days of hickory shafts and golf balls, nowhere near the standard of those you can buy today, the scores of even the best players could vary by several shots a round.
Even allowing for that, Abe Mitchell’s nightmare 84 in the third round at Deal has gone down as one of the ‘great disaster’ rounds in Open championship history. Duncan beat Sandy Herd (Coombe Hill) with two shots to spare. His reward was the first three-figure prize in the history of the tournament – £100 out of a total purse of £225.
In 1924 he left Hanger Hill for Wentworth, where in 1926 he played for Britain against the United States in the forerunner to the inaugural Ryder Cup contest. It was in the aftermath of the 1926 match at Wentworth that Duncan approached wealthy seedsman and golf supporter Samuel Ryder, suggesting that he put up a trophy for biennial competition between the two countries.
Thus the solid gold Ryder Cup trophy, costing £750 and topped off by a golfing figure modelled on Abe Mitchell, who was Ryder’s private golf coach, was brought into being and played for from 1927 onwards.
“When he was in the mood, George was absolutely brilliant on a golf course,” said Eddie Goodwin, who was an assistant under Duncan before became the Mere pro himself in the 1960s.
It was in 1934, at the age of 41, that Duncan accepted an offer from the new Mere Golf & Country Club at Knutsworth in Cheshire. He could have had his pick of jobs in the U.S., but Mere it was, and he remained there for the rest of his working life.
George Duncan died in Leeds in 1964 at the age of 71. His son, Ian Duncan, was professional at Alwoodley until 1989.
Aberdonian Colin Farquharson has spent 50 years in journalism, writing and broadcasting on sport from greyhound racing to wrestling; latterly sports editor of The Press & Journal.
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