Looking Back: Adelaide Advertiser Tournament in Australia

The Adelaide Advertister Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, from the 1940s into the 1960s. Many of the top Australian golfers of the period won the tournament. The tournament was named after its title sponsor, the local newspaper.

First played: 1948

Last played: 1967

The "Big 3" of the immediate post-World War II era in Australian golf were Ossie Pickworth, Norman Von Nida and Eric Cremin. And those three golfers, in that order, were the first three winners of the Adelaide Advertiser Tournament.

Cremin finished runner-up the first two years (1948-49) before winning in 1950. Then he repeated as champ in 1950. Cremin wound up with three wins and four runner-up finishes.

Three wins was the tournament record, shared by Cremin with Kel Nagle. Murray Crafter, Frank Phillips and Bob Stanton were all two-time winners.

The tournament was stroke play, 72 holes. The lowest winning score was Brian Crafter's 275 in 1966. The largest margin of victory was nine strokes by Stanton in 1967, the tournament's final year.

You won't find American World Golf Hall of Fame member Lloyd Mangrum on the following list of champions, but in 1952 he won a "special edition" of this tournament. Mangrum was on an exhibition tour of Australia with fellow American golfers Jimmy Demaret, Ed Oliver and Jim Turnesa. A 36-hole tournament was quickly arranged under the name Adelaide Advertiser Special Tournament to take advantage of their presence, and Mangrum was the winner.

Winners of the Adelaide Advertiser Tournament

1948 — Ossie Pickworth, 287
1949 — Norman Von Nida, 284
1950 — Eric Cremin, 284
1951 — Eric Cremin, 281
1952 — Jack Harris, 285
1953 — Kel Nagle, 279
1954-55 — Tournament not played
1956 — Bill Shephard (a), 211 (54 holes due to poor weather)
1957 — Murray Crafter, 282
1958 — Kel Nagle, 279
1959 — Murray Crafter, 281
1960 — Eric Cremin, 288
1961 — Peter Thomson, 286
1962 — Kel Nagle, 280
1963 — (tie) Bruce Devlin, Frank Phillips, 282 (no playoff)
1964 — Frank Phillips, 285
1965 — Bob Stanton, 291
1966 — Brian Crafter, 275
1967 — Bob Stanton, 291

Golf courses: The tournament was always played at one of two golf courses — Royal Adelaide Golf Club or Kooyonga Golf Club. It typically alternated between those clubs.