by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com
Photo: (L-R) Golf great Bobby Jones with Sandy Somerville. Photo courtesy London Hunt & Country Club Collection.
Did you know that London, Ont. and the Masters Tournament have inseparable ties?
In 1934 during the inaugural Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, London’s Charles Ross (Sandy) Somerville of London Hunt & Country Club recorded the first hole-in-one. Canada’s Golfer of the Half Century 1900-1950 used a mashie niblick to ace the tournament’s hole no. 7 (today’s hole No. 16 – Rosebud) – then a 145-yard par-3.
In fact, ‘Silent Sandy’ was a good friend of Masters and Augusta National founder Bobby Jones – the greatest amateur golfer of all-time and one of golf’s greats. I am very fortunate to own one of the largest private collections of Somerville photos – more than 100 in all.
Read my previously-published story on Somerville and the Masters Tournament here.
I recounted much of this in my 2018-published book, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018.
