Arthur Robert Ham (11 April 1891 – 29 September 1959) was an English professional golfer. He was a professional in England and New Zealand, before settling in the United States where he was a professional at a number of clubs. He won the 1922 New Zealand Professional Championship and was runner-up in the 1923

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

Professional in England

Ham was born in

Wells, Somerset Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath and south of Bristol. Although the population recorde ...

, England on 11 April 1891. He became the professional at Blackwell Golf Club near

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, in about 1910. In 1914, playing with George Tuck, they won the Midland Professional Foursomes at Stourbridge. Soon afterwards he moved to the North Shore club in

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...

. Ham had some useful performances after World War I, including reaching the last-16 of the 1920

News of the World Match Play The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the ''News of the World'', and was commonly known b ...

, only losing at the 19th hole.

Professional in New Zealand

In late 1921, Ham left the North Shore club to become the professional at

Wellington Golf Club The Royal Wellington Golf Club, (formerly Wellington Golf Club) founded in 1895, is one of New Zealand's most beautiful and historic golf courses. The Golf Club is situated in Heretaunga, Upper Hutt, just north of Wellington and alongside the Hut ...

, at

Heretaunga, Wellington Heretaunga is a suburb of the city of Upper Hutt, located in the lower (southern) North Island of New Zealand. The settlement, one of the older suburbs in the Hutt Valley, dates from the 1840s when European settlers sought country sections. A p ...

, New Zealand. He won the 1922 New Zealand Professional Championship beating

Andrew Shaw Andrew Shaw may refer to: *Andrew Shaw (businessman), president and CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra * Andrew Shaw (golfer) (1898–1983), former professional golfer *Andrew Shaw (ice hockey) (born 1991), Canadian ice hockey player *Andrew Sha ...

2&1 in the final. In August 1923 Ham travel to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

to play at the championship meeting being played at

Royal Adelaide Golf Club The Royal Adelaide Golf Club (often referred to as Seaton) is a private Australian golf club located in the Adelaide suburb of Seaton, northwest of the city centre. The links at Seaton has been the venue for many international and interstate ...

. In the

, Ham was tied for the lead after the first round. However he dropped back after a third round of 79 and finished runner-up, three behind Tom Howard. The following day a 36-hole professional event was organised at the newly-opened

Kooyonga Golf Club Kooyonga Golf Club is a private golf club in Australia, located in South Australia at Lockleys, a suburb west of Adelaide. Members entry is off May Terrace, Brooklyn Park. Work on the course started in 1922 and the first nine holes opened on ...

. Ham won the event by a stroke from

Arthur Le Fevre Arthur Le Fevre (1887 – 27 June 1957) was an Australian professional golfer and golf club maker. He won the 1921 Australian Open. Early life Le Fevre was born in Rye, Sussex, England in 1887 as Arthur Feaver, the son of Henry Feaver and Carol ...

and also had the best 18-hole score of 77. In the professional tournament the following week Ham just missed out on the match-play stage after finishing tied for 5th place in the 36-hole qualifying.

Professional in the United States

Ham left New Zealand in late 1923, travelling to the United States. He soon became the professional at Plum Hollow Country Club in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. He one of 32 players to reach the match-play stage of the

1924 PGA Championship The 1924 PGA Championship was the seventh PGA Championship, held September 15–20 at the French Lick Springs Golf Club in French Lick, Indiana. Walter Hagen, the 1921 champion, defeated Jim Barnes in the finals, 2 up. It was the sixth of Hagen' ...

and was runner-up to

Al Watrous Albert Andrew Watrous (February 1, 1899 – December 3, 1983) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1920s and 1930s. Early life Born in Yonkers, New York, of Polish descent, Watrous moved to Michigan at an early ...

in the 1927

Michigan Open The Michigan Open is the Michigan state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Michigan section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1916 at a variety of courses around the sta ...

. He was later connected to other clubs in the Detroit area, before moving to Charlotte Country Club in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, in 1930. He later moved to other clubs in the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

, including Myrtle Beach, Lenoir and Mount Airy. In 1946, at the age of 55, he qualified for the U.S. Open. He was also involved in golf course design. Ham died in Charlotte, on 29 September 1959.

Results in major championships

''Note: Ham only played in the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.''
NT = No tournament
R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Arthur English male golfers People from Wells, Somerset 1891 births 1959 deaths