Dunlop-Southport Tournament

Southport Tournament

Tournament information
Location	Southport, England
Established	1930
Month played	May
Final year	1948
Final champion
Fred Daly

The Southport Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the Southport area in North West England. It was founded in 1930 when it was sponsored by a Manchester newspaper, the Daily Dispatch. From 1931 it was sponsored by Dunlop and was known as the Dunlop-Southport Tournament, being jointly funded by Southport Corporation. The last event was played in 1948 when Southport Corporation withdrew their funding.^[1] It was replaced by the "Dunlop Tournament", played at various location in the United Kingdom. The tournament was played in May and was played over 72 holes of stroke play. Qualifying, over 36 holes, took place at local courses immediately before the tournament.

Henry Cotton dominated the first six events, winning twice and being runner-up in the other four.

The 1939 event was cancelled because of difficulties finding suitable courses for qualifying and the event itself.

Winners

Year	Winner	Venue	Score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share (£)	Ref
Daily Dispatch Southport Tournament
1930	Archie Compston	Royal Birkdale	285	4 strokes	Henry Cotton Horton Smith	200	[2][3]
Dunlop-Southport Tournament
1931	Henry Cotton	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	287	2 strokes	Archie Compston	360	[4]
1932	Henry Cotton	Hesketh Golf Club	281	Playoff (36 holes)	William Twine	360	[5][6]
1933	Bill Davies	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	293	1 stroke	Henry Cotton Willie Nolan Ernest Whitcombe		[7]
1934	Alf Padgham	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	279	2 strokes	Henry Cotton	300	[8]
1935	Charles Whitcombe	Royal Birkdale	295	1 stroke	Dick Burton Henry Cotton	315	[9]
1936	Alf Padgham	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	282	2 strokes	Dick Burton	315	[10]
1937	Dick Burton	Hesketh Golf Club	280	3 strokes	Charles Whitcombe		[11]
1938	Don Curtis	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	287	2 strokes	Arthur Lees	315	[12]
1939: No tournament
1940–45: No tournament due to World War II
1946	Max Faulkner	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	296	1 stroke	Norman Von Nida	350	[13]
1947	Norman Von Nida	Hesketh Golf Club	285	5 strokes	Charlie Ward	350	[14]
1948	Fred Daly	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	290	Playoff (36 holes)	Ted McNeill	350	[15][16]

Dunlop Tournament

Year	Winner	Venue	Score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share (£)	Ref
1949	Max Faulkner	Wentworth Club	287	2 strokes	Sam King	350	[17]
1950	Bobby Locke	Wentworth Club	353	2 strokes	Charlie Ward	350	[18]
1951	Charlie Ward	Little Aston Golf Club (and Sutton Coldfield Golf Club)	359	1 stroke	Jimmy Adams	350	[19]
1952	Max Faulkner	Sunningdale Golf Club	345	7 strokes	Tom Haliburton	350	[20]
1953	Henry Cotton	Wentworth Club	353	5 strokes	Dai Rees	350	[21]
1954	Bobby Locke	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club (and Hesketh Golf Club)	361	1 stroke	Antonio Cerdá	350	[22]
1955	Peter Alliss	Wentworth Club	359	1 stroke	Eric Brown	500	[23]
1956	Gary Player	Sunningdale Golf Club	338	2 strokes	Arthur Lees	500	[24]
1957	Ken Bousfield	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club (and Hesketh Golf Club)	353	2 strokes	Syd Scott	500	[25]
1958	Peter Thomson	Wentworth Club	348	3 strokes	Harold Henning	500	[26]
1959	Peter Alliss	Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club	280	1 stroke	Henry Cotton Dai Rees	600	[27]
1960	Eric Brown Ralph Moffitt	Gleneagles Hotel	273	Tie			[28]
1961	Kel Nagle	Notts Golf Club	277	2 strokes	Frank Phillips	1000	[29]

From 1950 to 1958 the tournament was played over 90 holes. The first two rounds were played on two different courses after which there was cut and the remaining three rounds were played on the main course.

Other Dunlop sponsored tournaments

Other Dunlop-sponsored events in Britain included the "Dunlop-Metropolitan Tournament" (1934–39) which was replaced by the Dunlop Masters from 1946−83.

Dunlop has sponsored many golf tournaments worldwide. The names of the various tournaments can be quite confusing:

• From 1960−77, Dunlop sponsored the South African Masters. That tournament is now called the Nashua Masters.
• In 1969 the Dunlop Tournament was started in Japan. That tournament has gone through several name changes, and is currently called the Diamond Cup Golf tournament.
• In 1973 the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament was started in Japan. That tournament still exists under that name.
• In 1977 the Dunlop International Open was started in Japan. In 1988 that tournament was renamed to Dunlop Open and is now called the Kirin Open.
• Other tournaments which have used the name "Dunlop" include the Dunlop International (Australia), Dunlop Wizard (Japan) and Dunlop Invitational (Japan).

References

1. "Golf – New year's professional tournaments". The Times. 18 December 1947. p. 2.
2. "Great golf at Southport – Compston wins". The Glasgow Herald. 10 May 1930. p. 3.
3. "Compston wins British golf – Horton Smith deadlocked with Henry Cotton for second money". The Pittsburgh Press. 9 May 1930. p. 58.
4. "British golf triumph – Cotton wins at Southport". The Glasgow Herald. 16 May 1931. p. 3.
5. "A thrilling finish – Twine equals Cotton's wins at Southport". The Glasgow Herald. 14 May 1932. p. 18.
6. "Cotton's £200 shot – One stroke victory at Southport". The Glasgow Herald. 16 May 1932. p. 18.
7. "Davies wins by a stroke – Thrilling finish to Southport tourny". The Glasgow Herald. 13 May 1933. p. 7.
8. "Padgham wins at Southport – Remarkable scoring". The Times. 5 May 1934. p. 6.
9. "Southport £1600 tournament – C Whitcombe's putting victory". The Glasgow Herald. 20 May 1935. p. 7.
10. "Padgham wins again – Prize-money now totals £1015". The Glasgow Herald. 9 May 1936. p. 3.
11. "Richard Burton wins £1600 golf tournament – Charles Whitcombe in second place: Jack M'Leans good showing". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1937. p. 19.
12. "Padgham's bid in vain – Don Curtis wins £1600 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 7 May 1938. p. 3.
13. "Faulkner wins at Southport – Exciting golf finish". The Glasgow Herald. 11 May 1946. p. 4.
14. "Another fine win for Von Nida – £850 in three weeks". The Glasgow Herald. 10 May 1947. p. 2.
15. "Two Irishmen tie for first prize at Southport". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1948. p. 4.
16. "Daly's sound victory at Southport – Opponents poor finish". The Glasgow Herald. 10 May 1948. p. 4.
17. "Faulkner's putting wins first prize". The Glasgow Herald. 7 May 1949. p. 2.
18. "Open champion's victory in Dunlop golf". The Glasgow Herald. 6 May 1950. p. 9.
19. "Ward wins Dunlop tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 7 April 1951. p. 2.
20. "Faulkner's remarkable golf "treble"". The Glasgow Herald. 3 May 1952. p. 9.
21. "Cotton answers test of Wentworth". The Glasgow Herald. 9 May 1953. p. 4.
22. "Locke wins Dunlop golf by one stroke". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1954. p. 4.
23. "Alliss wins at Wentworth". The Glasgow Herald. 7 May 1955. p. 7.
24. "Player beat tournament record by seven". The Glasgow Herald. 5 May 1956. p. 7.
25. "Bousfield wins Dunlop tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 11 May 1957. p. 4.
26. "P W Thompson's Dunlop tournament success". The Glasgow Herald. 10 May 1958. p. 4.
27. "Dunlop tournament's exciting finish". The Glasgow Herald. 9 May 1959. p. 9.
28. "Brown and Moffitt tie in Dunlop tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 9 May 1960. p. 4.
29. "Players from abroad dominate Dunlop". The Glasgow Herald. 3 July 1961. p. 9.