Reed On The Greens March 4, 2017
Silent Sandy, Masters Tournament Inseparable
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

With the Masters Tournament again quickly approaching, and acting as the unofficial start to the Southwestern Ontario golf season, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the career of Charles Ross (Sandy) Somerville of London.

Of course, “Silent Sandy” – a nickname given to the quiet competitor during the 1933 British Amateur – is best known for winning the 1932 U.S. Amateur tournament, and for being named Canada’s Golfer of the Half-Century 1900-1950. The London Hunt and Country Club legend dominated golf in the 1920s and ‘30s when the world’s best amateur golfers, including the incomparable Bobby Jones, did not turn professional.

Bobby Jones (left) visits with Sandy Somerville at Augusta National Golf Club. Photo: London H&CC Archives.

In fact, Jones and Somerville were close friends as well as competitors, so it’s no surprise that Somerville is also closely associated with the Masters Tournament.

Jones once said of Somerville, “If there is anything connected with golf which he cannot do well, I do not know what it is.” Jones invited Somerville to the first Masters Tournament – then known as the Augusta National Invitational – in 1934. Somerville promptly recorded the Masters’ first hole-in-one at today’s No. 16 – Redbud – which in ’34 was hole No. 7, a 145-yard par-3. He used a mashie niblick, roughly equivalent to a 7-iron. The green was changed by the 1937 Masters Tournament which increased the difficulty of the par-3. In 1948, Robert Trent Jones again revamped the short hole which Somerville had called the course’s “weak link.”

Today, the 170-yard par-3 requires anything from a short- to medium-iron shot, and it has provided the setting for many memorable shots, including Jack Nicklaus’s 40-foot birdie putt in 1975. The green is the hole’s main defense; being below the hole is a must. The back bunker and a pond on the left also pose hazards.

In total, Somerville played in the first three Masters tournaments, but he received an invitation from Jones until the 1950s. Beginning with Somerville in 1934, the Canadian Amateur champion was a fixture at Augusta for many years.

Somerville captured the 1930 Canadian Amateur at his home course, when London Hunt occupied grounds now part of Western University. That year, he and Jones launched their friendship at the U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania. Jones won the Grand Slam that year, with victories at the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur.

In the first round of the 1930 U.S. Amateur, Somerville and Jones faced off, with the great American golfer stating later that this match was the one he worried about the most. Jones played the first six holes at one-under, just one stroke better than Somerville. At hole No. 7, Jones holed a slippery eight-foot putt for birdie, while Somerville missed a birdie opportunity from seven feet. Jones then ran away with the match, with birdies at No. 8 and No. 9. The match ended at No. 14, with Jones winning, 5 and 4.

But Somerville, a strong, athletic man with a smooth, efficient golf swing, dominated the Canadian Amateur golf ranks in the 1920s and ‘30s, with six national titles (1926, ’28, ’30-’31, ’35, ’37), and four runner-up finishes (1924-25, ’34 and ’38). His win at the 1932 U.S. Amateur tournament (he was the first Canadian to win the event) not only gave him international recognition, but also put London on the golf map. Concurrently, his great performance drew even more admiration from Jones, who by then had already solidified close ties with his Canadian friend.

At Baltimore Country Club’s Five Farms course, 10 miles west of Baltimore, a 29-year-old Somerville defeated American Johnny Goodman of Omaha, Nebraska, 2 and 1, to win the coveted U.S. Amateur title. On September 17, 1932, The Chicago Tribune wrote, “Here’s how Ross Somerville, the sandy haired Canadian Scot, marched to victory in the United States amateur golf championship:

Qualified with 36-hole score of 150
Defeated John F. Brawner Jr. of Washington, D.C., 5 and 3
Defeated Jack Westland of Chicago, 3 and 2
Defeated Bill Blaney of Boston, 6 and 5
Defeated Jesse Guilford of Boston, 7 and 6
Defeated Johnny Goodman of Omaha, Neb., 2 and 1

“Somerville fell into the back slapping hands of a dozen friends from London, Ont. who had suddenly realized that their fellow citizen was a golfer and rushed down over night for the final match, bringing funds with them for wagering purposes,” wrote the Chicago Tribune. “They found no fellow townsmen of Goodman’s, but they did manage to find action for their money among the Americans in the clubhouse.”

The Chicago Tribune wrote: “Goodman cracked on the last nine holes, which he entered with a lead of 2 up. His sharp accuracy was degenerating into wobbly uncertainty, and his ball was rolling into traps, both on the drives and approach shots.” Despite less than Somerville-like putting as they made the turn, Sandy righted the ship and got the job done.

“Somerville established his final margin of victory on the … 34th. Their drives were about alike, 250 yards long, but Goodman’s pitch dropped 35 feet short of the green while Somerville’s stopped on the carpet only 12 feet from the cup. Goodman ran his approach up two feet from the cup, but Somerville sank his for a birdie three, going 2 up. Then they moved onto the 35th and the end … and Somerville to blush in the klieg of newly found acclaim,” wrote the Chicago Tribune.

The Chicago Tribune called Somerville a “sober faced competitor.” A three-minute standing ovation from hundreds surrounding the green prompted Somerville to state, “I’ve hardly come down to earth yet, and I’m so out of breath I can’t talk. I thank you for your fine reception of my play this week.”

After Somerville’s victory, Jones said, “I believe that for the championship to be won by someone other than an American is a good thing. Particularly is this true when the winner is a fine golfer and sportsman like Sandy Somerville.”

Somerville Canadian Sports Hero

Sandy Somerville’s first set of clubs, hanging in the clubhouse at London H&CC. Photo: Jeffrey Reed.

Born in London in 1903, Somerville was the son of C.R. Somerville, a manufacturer of note and City of London mayor 1918-19. The elder Somerville died in 1931, the year before his son’s remarkable feat at Baltimore Country Club. Both were members of the Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association (CSGA). In 1999, the association first awarded the Sandy Somerville Trophy (presented by Toronto’s Rosedale Golf Club) for Best Gross Better Ball at its annual tournament.

Somerville was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. He died in 1991 at age 88. A member of London Hunt for more than 70 years, Somerville was an all-around athletic star. A member of the Canadian Amateur Athletic Hall of Fame, the University of Toronto Hall of Fame and the London Sports Hall of Fame, Somerville also claimed four Ontario Amateur golf titles, and two Canadian Senior titles.

Off the links, “Silent Sandy” turned down offers from both the Toronto Argonauts and Toronto Maple Leafs. But following graduation from U. of T., he decided upon golf, and in 1950 was named Canadian Golfer of the Half-Century in a Golf Canada (then RCGA) poll. He served as the association’s president in 1957.

London’s George “Mooney” Gibson was voted Canada’s Baseball Player of the Half-Century 1900-1950, giving London bragging rights on the diamond and on the golf course.

With apologies to Canada’s 2003 Masters champion, Somerville was the Mike Weir of his day. In fact, London lawyer David Nash, son of another Canadian golf legend and CSGA member – Jack Nash – once quipped that Somerville “was the Tiger Woods of his time. When Sandy won the U.S. Amateur, it was a Major.”

The CSGA’s Somerville Trophy. Photo: Jeffrey Reed.

Another famous London Hunt and CSGA member, super senior Ed Ervasti (who died in 2015 at age 101), said of his friend Somerville, “He was such a marvellous gentleman. You don’t see gentlemen golfers like him today. And that’s what made it so nice playing with him, he always observed the rules and etiquette of the game.”

Weir is certainly Canada’s greatest golfer of all time. You can make the argument for George Knudson, too. Moe Norman was an incredible ball striker. And Gary Cowan is the only other Canadian to have won the U.S. Amateur, in 1966 and ’71.

One thing is for certain, though: no one’s game spoke louder than that of “Silent Sandy” – a key character in the history of London Hunt and Country Club, Canadian golf and the Masters Tournament.

Sandy Somerville relives his ace at Augusta National’s hole No. 16.

For the record, it was Somerville’s quiet, business-like approach to golf at the 1933 British Amateur that earned him the nickname, “Silent Sandy.” But Jones recognized that his friend was a quiet assassin on the links.

Ervasti recalled a story stemming from that first Masters Tournament. “A lady was standing near (Somerville) and she said to her friend that she bet she could get Sandy to say three words. Well, Sandy overheard her and he turned to her and said, ‘you lose.’ He loved to play golf but he was not one to talk about it, preferring to separate discussion off the course from his or his partners’ play on it.”

Jones got it right. Somerville knew he was not bigger than the game of golf, but he gave back to the game more than any other Londoner in history.

When you’re watching the Masters Tournament this April, watch closely as today’s PGA Tour competitors approach the green at No. 16. Listen closely, and you just might hear the roars from 1934, when “Silent Sandy” made the tournament’s first hole-in-one.