Simon Forbes Newbold Hobday (23 June 1940 – 2 March 2017) was a South African professional

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 ...

er who won tournaments on three continents.

Amateur career

Hobday was born in Mafikeng. He lived part of his life in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

and represented the country in the 1966 Eisenhower Trophy. In early 1969 he was still was an amateur golfer and still represented Zambia. At the time, he worked as a car salesman in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. In April 1969, while still an amateur, Hobday played the Kenya Open. In the final round he broke the course record at the Muthaiga Golf Course with a 66 (−6) to leap into second place. At 284 (−4) he finished joint runner-up with Scotland's

Bernard Gallacher Bernard Gallacher, OBE (born 9 February 1949) is a Scottish professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Gallacher was born in Bathgate, Scotland. He took up golf at the age of eleven. In 1965 he won the Lothians Golf Association Boys C ...

, five behind champion

Maurice Bembridge Maurice Bembridge (born 21 February 1945) is an English golfer. He won the 1969 News of the World Match Play, the 1971 Dunlop Masters and won six times on the European Tour from its formation in 1972. He also won tournaments around the world, ...

. He defeated several notable professionals including Christy O'Connor Snr and Australia's Bob Tuohy.

Professional career

Hobday turned professional in 1969. He spent his regular career mainly on the Southern Africa Tour, where he won six times and 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 ...

, where he won the 1976 German Open and the 1979 Madrid Open. As a senior, he played mainly in the United States on the Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour), where he claimed five titles between 1993 and 1995 including one senior major, the 1994

U.S. Senior Open The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...

. Hobday also lived in Rhodesia.

Professional wins (17)

European Tour wins (2)

Sunshine Tour wins (6)

*1971 South African Open *1978 Rhodesian Dunlop Masters *1978 Victoria Falls Classic *1979 Rhodesian Open *1981 ICL International *1985 Trustbank Tournament of Champions

Senior PGA Tour wins (5)

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other senior wins (4)

*1997/98 Vodacom Senior Classic (South Africa) *2001 Nelson Mandela Invitational (with Martin Maritz),

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf The Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar is a golf tournament in Missouri on the PGA Tour Champions. Since 2014, it has been played at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale on the par-3 Top of the Rock course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and the 18- ...

- Legendary Division (with

Jim Albus James Christian Albus (born June 18, 1940) is an American professional golfer. Albus was born in Staten Island, New York. He attended New Dorp High School, and went on to Bucknell University, where he was a successful baseball player. It was w ...

) *2003 Nelson Mandela Invitational (with Lee Westwood)

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Note: Hobday never played in the Masters Tournament or

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.''
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1977 and 1984 Open Championships)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eise ...

(representing Zambia): 1966 Professional *

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 the Rest of the World): 1976, 1977

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobday, Simon South African male golfers Sunshine Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of senior major golf championships People from Mahikeng 1940 births 2017 deaths