Hector Thomson (21 November 1913 – March 1988) was a Scottish golfer. He won the 1936

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

and was in the British Walker Cup team in 1936 and 1938. He turned professional and had some success, winning the

Scottish Professional Championship The Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament which was open only for Scottish players. The final champion was John Higgins. History The Scottish Professional Championship was held in Edinburgh in Dece ...

in 1953. Thomson was born in Machrihanish,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, Scotland, the son of Archie Thomson, the professional at

Machrihanish Golf Club The Machrihanish Golf Club is a classic Scottish links course situated in Machrihanish north of the Mull of Kintyre. The main course, with views of the western seaboard including the Paps of Jura and Ireland, was ranked the No. 39 course outs ...

. Archie qualified for the

1925 Open Championship The 1925 Open Championship was the 60th Open Championship, held 25–26 June at Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. In the final Open at Prestwick, Jim Barnes captured his only Open title, one stroke ahead of runners-up ...

, the last Open at Prestwick, and finished tied for 65th place, having qualified in a tie for 14th place. Archie later moved to Glasgow, where he ran a golf school. Thomson first came to prominence when he won the Boys Amateur Championship at Glasgow Golf Club in 1931, beating Francis McGloin 5&4 in the final. Nearly 2,000 people followed the match. Thomson won the

Irish Amateur Open Championship The Irish Amateur Open Championship is an amateur golf tournament held annually in Ireland and organised by the Golf Ireland. The championship has been played as a 72-hole stroke-play event since 1958. Previously it was played as a match-play to ...

in 1934 and 1935. In 1935 he also won the

Scottish Amateur The Scottish Amateur is the national amateur match play golf championship of Scotland. It has been played since 1922 and is organised by the Scottish Golf Union. It is a "closed" event with entry currently restricted to those who were either bor ...

beating Jack McLean 2&1 in the final. McLean had won the previous three Scottish Amateur Championships. In 1936 he won the

, beating the Australian Jim Ferrier by 2 holes in the final. The same year he played in the Walker Cup losing 10½–1½ to the Americans, a match in which the British team only got three halves. Thomson also played in the

1938 Walker Cup The 1938 Walker Cup, the 10th Walker Cup Match, was played on 3 and 4 June 1938, on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. Great Britain and Ireland won by 7 matches to 4 with one match halved. It was their first victory in the Walker Cup. Great ...

at St Andrews, a match that the British won 7–4, their first Walker Cup win after nine defeats. Thomson won both his matches. Thomson gave up his amateur status in late 1939 to work in his father's golf school. However, he didn't give a formal notice of his decision, only giving official notice in 1945. At that point he was 31 and over the age limit of 30 to join the PGA. His situation was complicated by the fact that he worked for his father and was not affiliated to a golf club. This meant that he couldn't play in major PGA events and his appearances were limited to the Open Championship and some Scottish events, including the

Northern Open The Northern Open is a golf tournament played annually in Scotland since 1931. For some years it was one of only two 72-hole tournaments on the "Tartan Tour", the PGA Tour in Scotland's schedule, the other being the Scottish PGA Championship, b ...

and the

where the Scottish PGA gave him permission to play. This situation continued until 1955 when he left to take up a position in Egypt. Thomson took up a number of positions after leaving the U.K. He was first at Gezira Sporting Club in Egypt, and then at positions in Switzerland and Italy, before moving to the Glyfada Golf Club in Glyfada, Athens.

Amateur wins

''this list is incomplete'' *1931 Boys Amateur Championship *1934

*1935

*1936 The Amateur Championship

Professional wins

*1953

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Note: Thomson only played in The Open Championship.''
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur * Walker Cup (representing Great Britain):

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

(winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Hector Scottish male golfers Amateur golfers Golfers from Argyll and Bute Sportspeople from Athens 1913 births 1988 deaths