Marking 50 Years Of The World Amateur Team Championships

October 7, 2008

By David Mackintosh

On Oct. 13, 1958, on the Old Course at St. Andrews, an unusually large crowd surrounded the 18 th green. The Saturday before, in a historic and emotional ceremony, Bob Jones had been proclaimed Freeman of the City. Now, after a six-day marathon of 359 holes in the inaugural World Amateur Team Championship , Jones' USA team was tied with Australia, a birdie either way to clinch the playoff, the stage set for what would prove to be one of the most dramatic finishes in Eisenhower Trophy history.      

When team captain Bob Stevens and Bruce Devlin both rolled putts straight into the hole, Australia had not only pulled off a remarkable two-stroke victory, but by defeating the favorites from America, guaranteed the future success of this worldwide challenge.  

Starting on Oct. 16 at The Royal Adelaide Golf Club and the West Course of The Grange Golf Club, the Eisenhower Trophy celebrates 50 years of excellence -- exactly the sparking trajectory representatives of national golf associations, federations and unions had in mind when they assembled mid-1958 with a plan to unite peoples of world through the friendship and sportsmanship of the game.

In half a century the popularity of these World Amateur Team Championships (women's teams from around the world began competing for the Espirito Santo Trophy in 1964) has soared, from 29 competing countries in 1958 to a new record, 48 ladies and 72 men's teams participating in Adelaide.* Unchanged is the pride, honor and comradeship that lift these biennial meetings well beyond the limited goal of victory, to be present and represent one's country is still one of the highest honors in golf.

Seasoned Stars

A young Jack Nicklaus, right, celebrates the United States of America's victory in 1960. (USGA Museum)

The Australian team was far from the favorite that blustery week in Scotland. As throughout much of the history of these championships the USA was the team to beat, under the captaincy of Bob Jones fielding four of the very best in Charlie Coe, Bill Hyndman III, Billy Joe Patton and Dr. Frank Taylor Jr.

Jones, legendary winner of the 1930 Grand Slam and founder of Augusta National Golf Club, was America's most celebrated golfer. His support and friendship with President Dwight D. Eisenhower were key in the evolution of this global challenge, and his team of internationally seasoned stars was expected to coast to victory.

Patton had almost won the Masters as an amateur and Coe was a two-time U.S. Amateur champion. Taylor and Hyndman were Amateur finalists and Hyndman's stellar career later included three runner-up finishes at the British Amateur.

The Australian team, however, was not unfamiliar with the big stage. Precocious Bruce Devlin, 21 that week, was the least experienced member of the fabled four although he was soon to win the Australian Open as an amateur, and later as a professional eight PGA Tour titles.

Tasmania's talented Peter Toogood, 27, who made his first hole-in-one at age 8 --with a 3-iron no less -- had eight Tasmanian Opens to his credit, was the 1954 Open Championship silver medalist and recently had beaten his brother John in the final of the Australian Amateur. The third member of the team was South Australian Bob Stevens, 30, a tall and debonair man with a silky swing, the 1952 Australian Amateur champion who had brought international glory to his homeland as winning captain of the inaugural 1954 Commonwealth Championship at St. Andrews.

This illustrious if-yet-unheralded group was spearheaded by 35-year-old Victorian Douglas Bachli, the only Australian to win the British Amateur, besting U.S. favorite "Big Bill" Campbell at Muirfield in 1954. After watching teenage Bachli in action, visiting South African icon Bobby Locke had declared: "the lad's a golfing marvel."

The powerful American team paid scant attention to their antipodean rivals on Wednesday morning, more to be feared the weather, false-promising azure skies disguising an icy-cold autumnal blast, accompanied later by lashing rain. As the day grew steadily worse, matching par became secondary to merely completing the round. The Old Course was at her toughest and best.

None of the Australian squad broke 80 - a number closer to par than the card's 72 - a rough start in the best-three-of-four format that immediately left them 17 strokes behind leaders Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I). Gale-force winds continued to howl Thursday, but Australian prospects brightened significantly when Devlin surged to a best-of- the-day 73, equaled only by Patton. Hard-earned 76s by the others improved the Australians to fourth place and a nine-stroke deficit.

The Old Course stayed defiant Friday, but now it was Toogood's turn to battle fire-with-fire, an outstanding 3-birdie 71 - the lowest score of the championship. When added to Devlin's 74 and Stevens' 75, the antipodeans were just four off the pace.

"We had now beaten the USA and GB&I on two successive days and were positive that we could do it again," said Stevens in a recent conversation. " 'It's not over yet!' I told the lads."

The weather improved on Saturday when Devlin celebrated his birthday by unleashing the artistry that would soon lead to an Australian Amateur title. His hard-earned 73 and teammates' 154 meant the 'Men from Down Under' might pull off a miracle -- unless the USA could birdie one of two closing holes.

It's exactly what Bill Hyndman III did -- a superb 3at the world-famed 17 th Road Hole for a 72, the round of the day. The previous night, Jones had told his players not to be aggressive at No. 17 because forecasters had predicted strong winds and foul weather.

"I told our team to take no chance with the road at 17 unless the situation appeared to be dire," said Jones.

Hyndman's drive was 200 yards from the flagstick and there was a strong right-to-left wind. He checked with Jones, who was seated nearby in his 'motorized' cart, and got the approval to go for it. His 4-iron approach was struck solidly and the ball easily cleared the Road Hole Bunker and nearly fell in the hole for an eagle. He made the 6-footer for birdie.

Australia and the Americans were now tied and the rules stipulated an 18-hole playoff: But with a centuries-old by-law prohibiting Sunday golf on the Old Course, both teams would have to wait an anxious additional 24 hours to resume.

On that sunny Monday, although Bachli couldn't match Coe's brilliant 73, Devlin's 72 was four shots better than Taylor, and when Toogood edged Hyndman 75 to 78 (Stevens and Hyndman both had 75s) it was over - 222 to 224. Australia had won the inaugural Eisenhower Trophy, Devlin sharing low-individual with Hyndman and GB&I's Reid Jack.

Nevertheless, Hyndman's brilliant play at the 71st hole brought an unexpected gift upon his return to American soil. Jones had sent him a framed photo of the 17th hole with the inscription: "The 17th hole, the Road Hole, St. Andrews, where I saw Billy Hyndman hit the greatest shot of my life. Bob Jones."

Toogood's 'Moment Of Horror'

Australia has had many golfing heroes, legends even, but none have ever produced as much national pride as that talented quartet. But wait. There's an extraordinary sidelight to the final round of regulation play, an act of sportsmanship that encapsulates the all-embracing spirit of these championships, indeed the game of golf. Here's the rest of the story:

Toogood was on the 14 th hole on Saturday when he learned from early-finishers Devlin and Stevens that five pars would clinch the trophy by a stroke. After complying at the 14 th , 15 th and 16 th Toogood split the fairway with his drive at the crosswind par-5 Road Hole, then hit the 4-iron of his life to 30 feet. The eagle attempt slid agonizingly past the hole. His 2-foot return also lipped out.

"I then did something that I had never done before - or since," Toogood wrote later in his book, Simply Toogood. " I was using a center-shafted putter that could be used by either right- or left-handed players. Without changing my grip I moved forward a half step and back-handed the ball into the hole. To my horror I actually hit the ball twice. The first hit was hardly noticeable. It barely moved the ball and I'm sure that only my caddie and I knew what I had done. This meant I'd made a bogey six. I told my playing partner who was marking my card and after hitting my tee shot on 18, I told Stevens and Devlin what had happened."

"I was walking to the 18 th tee, and there was a loud groan," said Stevens. "When Peter explained the situation I just tried to get him calm, as we could still win." 

Toogood remembered Stevens as the perfect captain, walking with him up the fairway speaking quietly and calmly: "Try to put it out of your mind . . . it's happened . . . you can't change it now . . . just make sure you make four here and we're still in with a chance."

"I was on the 18 th green for two and my 6-foot birdie putt came up one roll short of the hole," said Toogood. "Had it gone in we would have won. We now had to face up to play off against America."

Sportsmanship and integrity captured forever in one brief moment at St. Andrews, perfectly summing up the entire raison-d'être of these World Amateur Team Championships.

Australia's men would triumph for a second time in 1966,  in the altitude of Mexico City, defeating the USA again by a two-stroke margin, then romp to an 11-shot victory over Sweden in 1996 in the Philippines. Two years later they'd fall just short of defending in Chile when GB&I put on an amazing last-day charge, repeating a 1972 runner-up finish across the Andes in Argentina.

A Wellspring Of National Heroes

Twenty-five editions of the Men's World Amateur Team Championship have produced countless memorable moments, and many past participants are today's legends: Michael Campbell, Ben Crenshaw, Ben Curtis, Sergio Garcia, Trevor Immelman, Tom Kite, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Curtis Strange and Tiger Woods, to name several. 

Yet in truth it is names that are not as immediately recognizable who have had the greatest impact on worldwide growth of the championship, whose surprise victories have had tremendous impact on home-country golf.  For instance, Japan's breakthrough triumph in 1984, when Kazuhiko Kato, Noriaki Kimura, Kiyotake Oie and Tetsuo Sakata won the trophy and filled national headlines and driving ranges.

When Sweden vanquished the USA and New Zealand in 1990 with stellar play by Klas Eriksson, Matias Gronberg, Gabriel Hjerstedt and Per Nyman, the country's junior golf program was inundated, and when the Netherlands swept aside Canada two years ago in South Africa, Wil Besseling, Joost Luiten and Tim Sluiter became national heroes overnight.

Notable participants have devoted lifetimes to the betterment of the game - Deane Beman became commissioner of the PGA Tour, Fred Ridley served as president of the United States Golf Association and many will recognize Sir Michael Bonallack, who was the Secretary of The R&A.  Lesser known is Sir Michael's extraordinary Eisenhower Trophy record. Between 1960 and 1972 he represented Great Britain & Ireland on seven consecutive teams during which period he remarkably won five British Amateur and five English Amateur titles. He also was the leading amateur twice in The Open Championship and played on nine Walker Cup teams.

No country has been more successful than the USA in these championships. The USA has compiled a total of 26 victories, women's and men, winning titles in Argentina, Australia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Fiji, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, and three on home turf.

Australia lies second in the overall placements with five titles and five runner-up spots, Great Britain & Ireland close on their heels with four wins and five seconds by 2000. After that are Scotland, England and Wales competing as separate nations.

By the end of this month, the championships will have circumnavigated the globe approximately 15 times: nine stops in Europe and Africa, seven in North America, South America and the Caribbean, eight in Asia and Australasia. Founding fathers would be delighted to learn more than 2,200 men have played for the Eisenhower Trophy; the Espirito Santo Trophy has attracted almost 1,100 women, numbers that will increase significantly with Adelaide's record 126-team entry.*

The Women's World Amateur Team Championship has had many dazzling finales since its debut in France in 1964, when the home country's inaugural win over favorites USA undoubtedly played an important role in the early development of the now-successful Ladies European Tour.

The Australian women have a stellar record, second in 1968 when the third edition was played in their homeland, victorious a decade later in Fiji, second again to hosting USA in 1980. After a hiatus of 22 years, Australia garnered a second title in a thrilling count-back finish against Thailand in Malaysia. In a clear indicator of the ever-growing strength of women's golf worldwide, the present defending champions, South Africa, edged out Sweden in a homeland victory in 2006, also on card count-back, just the second time that has happened in trophy history. The Swedish women also enjoyed their first-ever triumph in Puerto Rico in 2004.

Each and every edition of these meetings produces a unique template of winners and other fortunes, yet there is one single and enduring tenet of the World Amateur Team Championships that never varies - the absolute commitment to international friendship and sportsmanship through the game of golf.

DavidMackintoshis Senior Golf Correspondent for theBuenos AiresHerald and a World Golf Hall of Fame international voting panelist. 

*At close of entries, July 1, 2008