The Shell Winter Tournament was an invitation professional golf tournament. The event consisted of a series of single round competitions, all played on Saturdays from 4 November to 9 December, with TV coverage on ITV's World of Sport. There were four qualifying rounds, two semi-finals and a final. The final was planned for 9 December but was postponed because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and eventually played on 20 April 1968. The event was sponsored by the retail market division of

Shell-Mex & BP Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British joint venture between petroleum companies Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB ...

Format

First prize was £250 for the qualifying rounds, £500 for the semi-finals and £1,000 for the final. In addition there was an extra prize of £10, £20 or £40 for each stroke the winner finished ahead of the field. Two qualifying rounds were played on 4 November with two more played on 11 November. 20 players competed in each event with the leading 9 advancing to the semi-final stage. The qualifying contest at Long Ashton was reduced to 14 holes because of bad weather. Ties for qualifying places were decided on the last nine holes. The semi-finals were played on 11 and 18 November at Mere Golf Club,

Mere, Cheshire Mere is a civil parish and linear village along the old course of the A556 road in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, North West England, about south-west of Altrincham. Bucklow Hill is at its northea ...

and Whittington Heath Golf Club,

Whittington, Staffordshire Whittington is a village and civil parish which lies approximately 3 miles south east of Lichfield, in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,591, increasing to 2,603 at the 2011 C ...

. Ten players qualified from each event. Brief coverage of the semi-finals was shown on ITV's World of Sport.

Finlay Morris Finlay Smith Morris (September 1945 – 18 November 1967) was a Scottish professional golfer. He was Boys Amateur Champion in 1961 and won the Coca-Cola Tournament at Haggs Castle in 1967. He was killed in a road traffic accident at the age of 2 ...

, who had competed at Mere, was killed in a road traffic accident returning home to Scotland. The final was planned for 9 December at

St George's Hill Golf Club St George's Hill is a private gated community in Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom. The estate has golf and tennis clubs, as well as approximately 420 houses. Land ownership is divided between homes with gardens, belonging to home owners, and the ...

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, but was postponed because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and eventually played on 20 April 1968. There was again coverage on World of Sport. There were two rounds of 9 holes with lunch in between. The final was won by

Brian Huggett Brian George Charles Huggett, (born 18 November 1936) is a Welsh professional golfer. He won sixteen events on the European circuit, including two after the formal start of the European Tour in 1972. In 1968 he won the Harry Vardon Trophy for l ...

with rounds of 35 and 33, a shot ahead of John Panton, who scored 34 and 35. Huggett won a total of £1,685, £125 in the qualifying round, £520 in the semi-final and £1,040 in the final.

Winners

References

{{Reflist, 2 Golf tournaments in the United Kingdom 1967 in golf