Metropolitan’s venerated teaching professional, Brian Twite, is now 98 years old and as such the oldest living player who took part in the 1951 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in County Antrum, Northern Ireland. It was the first time the event had been played outside Scotland or England.
Metro members led by Damian Quirk, eager to take their beloved professional to next year’s Open at Royal Portrush, alerted the R&A to the fact that Twite was perhaps the oldest living player in that first Open. Naturally, the game’s governing body quickly responded by inviting Twite to next year’s championship as their guest.
Twite, who arrived at Metro as a young teaching professional from Sunningdale in 1955 was still giving the odd lesson or two at the club until recently coming down with a kidney illness.
“I’ve accepted the invitation which arrived six weeks ago from the R&A and it was very nice of Damian and the members to do all they could to get me there. I still have a few months to get well and hopefully be able to go.”
Twite still remembers his appearance in the Open 73 years ago.
Revered Metropolitan GC teaching professional, Brian Twite, now 98 years old, will return to Royal Portrush as the oldest living player to have competed at the 1951 Open Championship.
“I was 24 and played with the Scottish international Eric Broun. He was a train driver before he turned golf professional. Before we hit off he said to me, ’Brian, remember you have to play around the wind, here, don’t fight it.’
“That’s what I did and played well from tee to green. Unfortunately, I had 36 putts on the first day and 37 during the second round for two rounds of 81 and missed the cut. Broun, had a total of 53 putts on the first two days and easily made the cut.
“The greens were very undulating and if you picked the wrong undulation, even from as little as two feet away, you could end up 10 feet past the hole, worse off than you were with your approach shot.”
Flamboyant Englishman Max Faulkner – he was a natty dresser for the conservative times – won the event in 1951 after being runner-up twice in the Irish Open at Portrush.
Such was Faulkner’s confidence, rumour had it that the evening before the final two rounds he was signing autographs and adding ‘Open Champion 1951.’
A more accurate tale came to the fore after the victory, that this had simply been acceding to a request from a fan to add the title to the signature he was giving to his young son.
Or maybe it could have been an embellishment at the time by Faulkner’s ‘ghost’ writer for a London newspaper – a fresh-faced Ian Wooldridge.