Tony Jacklin
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Anthony Jacklin
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(born 7 July 1944) is a retired
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
er. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also
Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...
captain from 1983 to 1989; Europe winning two and tying another of these four events.


Early life and education

Jacklin was born on 7 July 1944 in the town of
Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...
, North Lincolnshire. His father was a steel worker and his mother Dorothy worked at a market. He attended Henderson Avenue Primary School in the town.


Playing career

Jacklin turned professional in 1962, becoming an assistant to
Bill Shankland William J. Shankland (25 July 1907 – 8 September 1998) was one of Australia's great all-round sportsmen. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative rugby league three-quarter back, he played his club football in Sydney, ...
at
Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...
Golf Club. In 1969, he became the first British player to win
The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
in 18 years, winning by two strokes at
Royal Lytham & St Annes Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the The Open Championship, Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being ...
. The following season, he won his second major title, the U.S. Open by seven strokes on a windblown
Hazeltine National Golf Club Hazeltine National Golf Club ( ) is a golf club located in Chaska, Minnesota, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis, United States. It is a private club and therefore closed to guests not accompanied by a member. The golf course was designed by Robert ...
course. It was the only U.S. Open victory by a European player in an 84-year span (1926–2009); Northern Ireland's
Graeme McDowell Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Be ...
ended that streak in 2010. Jacklin won eight events on the
European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
between its first season in 1972 and 1982. He also won tournaments in Europe prior to the European Tour era, and in the United States,
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and
Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
. His 1968 PGA Tour win at the
Jacksonville Open Invitational The Greater Jacksonville Open was a PGA Tour event that was played from 1945 until 1976. Shortly after World War II, the Jacksonville Open began play as a PGA Tour event in Jacksonville, Florida at the Hyde Park Golf Club until it was discontinue ...
was the first by a European player on the U.S. Tour since the 1920s; Jacklin was the first British player since the 1940s and Henry Cotton to devote much of his effort to American Tour events. However, Jacklin may be best remembered for his involvement in the
Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...
. He was a playing member of the "Great Britain and Ireland" team in 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1977, and of the first European team in 1979. Except for a tie in 1969, all of those teams were defeated. Jacklin was involved in one of the most memorable moments in Ryder Cup history at
Royal Birkdale Golf Club Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the United Kingdom in North West England, located in Southport, Merseyside. It is one of the clubs in the rotation for both the Open Championship and Women's British Open and has hosted the Open Champi ...
in 1969. After his eagle putt on the 17th evened his match with
Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...
, Nicklaus conceded Jacklin's two-foot putt on the 18th, halving the match, and ending the Ryder Cup with a tied score. "The Concession" ended with the two golfers walking off the course with arms around each other's shoulders. Jacklin and Nicklaus later co-designed a golf course in Florida called "The Concession" to commemorate the moment. Jacklin suffered a devastating near-miss in
The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
of 1972 at
Muirfield Muirfield is a privately owned golf links which is the home of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Located in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland, overlooking the Firth of Forth, Muirfield is one of the golf courses used in rotation for The ...
. Tied for the lead with playing partner
Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...
playing the 71st hole, Jacklin had a straightforward 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 hole, while Trevino was not yet on the green after four struggling strokes. But Trevino holed a difficult chip shot, and Jacklin took three putts, leaving him one shot behind. Trevino parred the final hole to win, but Jacklin bogeyed, finishing third behind
Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...
. Jacklin was just 28 years old at the time, but never seriously contended again in a major championship. In 2013, Jacklin said of his experience in the 1972 Open: "I was never the same again after that. I didn't ever get my head around it – it definitely knocked the stuffing out of me somehow." In 1973 Jacklin won the Caribbean Tour's Los Lagartos Open at 261 (–27). He defeated runner-up Gene Borek by 13 shots. It was the third lowest score ever by a professional at a four-round tournament outside of the United States. Jacklin served as the non-playing captain of Europe in four consecutive Ryder Cups from 1983 to 1989. He had a 2.5–1.5 won-loss record, captaining his men to their first victory in 28 years in 1985, and to their first ever victory in the United States in 1987. Jacklin was inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...
in 2002. He retired from tournament golf in 2004 at the age of sixty, having won a number of events at senior level. Jacklin has developed a golf course design business since his retirement from competition. He has designed numerous courses, including the 9-hole par 3 course of The St. Pierre Park Hotel in
Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
.


Personal life

Jacklin's first wife, Vivien, was from
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The couple married in 1966, eleven months after their initial meeting at a Belfast hotel. They had three children together: Bradley, Warren and Tina. Vivien Jacklin died suddenly of a
brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
in April 1988, aged 44. In an interview in 2002, Jacklin said: "You can't understand the anguish of losing a spouse until it happens to you. I lost my will to live after my first wife died. I contemplated doing something very terrible to myself. Eventually I recovered." Six weeks after his first wife's death, Jacklin met a 16-year-old waitress named Donna Methven at a golf tournament in England. Jacklin later said: "I was at my lowest ebb and Donna was a shoulder to cry on." They had a two-month affair which led to front-page headlines in British tabloid newspapers. In December 1988, Jacklin married his second wife, Astrid Waagen, a Norwegian woman. They have a son called Sean, who is a professional golfer. Jacklin is also stepfather to Waagen's two children, daughter Anna May and son A.J., from her previous marriage to former
Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...
guitarist
Alan Kendall Alan Kendall (born 9 September 1944) is an English musician and was the lead guitarist for the Bee Gees, in an unofficial capacity from 1971 until 1980, and again from 1987 until 2001. Career His first recording was "Don't Play That Song (You ...
. In 1971, Jacklin said that he received death threats from a caller who also threatened to bomb his wife's family home in Belfast. The caller said that Jacklin would be shot if he played in the Ulster Open, because his wife's family supported
Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
. Jacklin withdrew from the tournament. Jacklin said in an interview in 1989 that he was barely on speaking terms with his mother. "To get along with people I have to like them. My mother and I don't get along. I don't share the belief that blood is thicker than water. She has tried to run my life long enough," Jacklin said. Jacklin has been hearing impaired since the 1980s and wears a hearing aid device on both sides. He is a patron of the English Deaf Golf Association. Jacklin was second in the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The ...
in both 1969 and 1970. He was a subject of the television programme '' This Is Your Life'' in February 1970 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
outside Buckingham Palace after receiving his OBE which he had received in the
1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' Lo ...
. He later received a CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours. In 2013, Jacklin took part in the eleventh series of the BBC1 Saturday night entertainment competition, ''
Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...
''. He was the first celebrity to be eliminated from the show.


Professional wins (29)


PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)


European Tour wins (8)

European Tour playoff record (1–1)


Other European wins (9)


Australia and New Zealand wins (3)


South American Golf Circuit wins (1)


Caribbean Tour wins (2)


South African wins (1)


Senior PGA Tour wins (2)


Major championships


Wins (2)


Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.


Summary

* Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1963 Open Championship – 1968 Open Championship) * Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1970 US Open – 1970 Open Championship)


Team appearances

*
Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...
(representing Great Britain & Ireland/Europe): 1967, 1969,
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...
, 1973,
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
, 1977, 1979, 1983 (non-playing captain), 1985 (winners, non-playing captain),
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
(winners, non-playing captain), 1989 (tied, retained Cup, non-playing captain) *
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
(representing England): 1966,
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
,
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...
,
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
*
Double Diamond International The Double Diamond International was a team golf tournament that was played from 1971 to 1977. It was hosted in England for the first three years, and then in Scotland. From 1974 and 1977 the event was preceded by an individual 36-hole stroke pla ...
(representing England): 1972 (winners), 1973, 1974, 1976 (winners, captain), 1977 (captain) *
Marlboro Nations' Cup The Philip Morris International was a professional team golf tournament, played from 1972 and 1976. The 1972 and 1973 tournaments were called the Marlboro Nations' Cup. There was no tournament in 1974 but the event was played in 1975 and 1976 under ...
(representing England): 1972, 1973 *
Hennessy Cognac Cup The Hennessy Cognac Cup was a biennial team golf tournament contested from 1976 to 1984. The contests in 1976, 1978 and 1980 were between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representi ...
(representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1976 (winners, captain), 1982 (winners, captain) *
UBS Cup The UBS Cup was a team golf tournament contested by the United States and a team representing the "Rest of the World" which ran from 2001 to 2004. In 2001 and 2002 it was called the UBS Warburg Cup. Six golfers on each side had to be 50 or over, and ...
(representing the Rest of the World): 2003 (tie, captain)


See also

* 1967 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates * List of golfers with most European Tour wins


References


External links

* * *
Tony Jacklin Golf Course Design site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacklin, Tony English male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers European Senior Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golf course architects Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Scunthorpe 1944 births Living people