Bio of British Golf Champion Bernard Hunt

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Bernard Hunt was one of the leading British pro golfers from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. He won dozens of tournaments, mostly in the U.K. but also in Continental Europe and elsewhere. And Hunt had a very good singles record in the Ryder Cup, which he played eight times as part of Team Great Britain & Ireland.

Full name: Bernard John Hunt

Date of birth: February 2, 1930

Place of birth: Atherstone, Warwickshire, England

Date and place of death: June 21, 2013, in Surrey, England

In the Majors

Bernard Hunt played in The Masters twice, but otherwise only played in the British Open among the four major championships. He finished in the Top 10 four times, all of them actually Top 5 finishes.

Hunt first played The Open in 1952, and he last played in 1974. The first of his Top 5 finishes was in the 1955 Open, in which he tied for fifth place.

His best showing was a tie for third place in the 1960 British Open. Hunt closed with the best score of the tournament, a 66, in the final round, but finished four strokes off Kel Nagle's winning score.

He finished solo fourth in 1965 and tied for fifth in 1965. Hunt also had Top 20 finishes in 1959 (tied 11th), 1962 (tied 16th), 1963 (tied 11th) and 1971 (tied 20th).

In the Ryder Cup

Hunt was a stalwart for the Great Britain & Ireland side in the Ryder Cup, playing in each one from 1953 through 1969 with the exception of 1955. That's eight times as a player. He later captained Team GB&I twice.

Hunt's playing appearances included some momentous versions of the Ryder Cup, too. He was part of the 1957 GB&I squad that beat Team USA for the first time since 1933 (and Team USA wasn't beaten again until 1985). He was also part of the GB&I team that tied Team USA in the 1969 Ryder Cup, the one that ended with Jack Nicklaus' famous concession of a tying putt to Tony Jacklin.

Hunt played for Team GB&I in the Ryder Cups of 1953, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1969. Hunt played 27 matches over those eight playing appearances. He had a terrible record in doubles — 1-9-1 in foursomes, 1-3-2 in fourball, overall 2-12-3 in doubles formats. But he was one of relatively few British golfers of his time to compile a winning record in singles: He was 4-3-3 (four wins, three losses, three ties) in 10 singles matches. (Another way to look at his singles record: Of 10 matches played, he lost only three. That is a remarkably good record for British players of his era against that era's powerhouse American squads.) That made his overall record 6-15-6.

Hunt's nine foursomes losses is the Ryder Cup record for Team GB&I/Europe and tied for the overall Ryder Cup record (but at least he's in good company: Tiger Woods also had nine foursomes losses).

In his first appearance, the 1953 Ryder Cup, Hunt could have secured a tie for his team (although the U.S. would have retained the Cup as the defending champion) by winning the last hole of his singles match against Dave Douglas. But he missed, and GB&I lost by one point.

He got another chance in the 1957 Ryder Cup, the one Team GB&I won. This time, he easily beat Doug Ford in singles, 6 and 5.

Hunt's other singles victories included, in the 1961 Ryder Cup, a 5-and-4 win over Jerry Barber. In 1963, he beat Dow Finsterwald, 2-up; in 1965, Hunt defeated Gene Littler, 2-up. In addition to his tie vs. Douglas in 1953, Hunt also earned halves in singles against both Bobby Nichols and Julius Boros in 1967.

Hunt was selected as team captain for GB&I in both 1973 and 1975 (the 1975 squad being the final GB&I team — it was expanded to Team Europe beginning in 1977). Team USA, captained by Jack Burke Jr. in 1973 and by Arnold Palmer in 1975, won both.

More About Bernard Hunt

His contemporary Peter Alliss wrote that Hunt "was renowned for his short backswing." A tall golfer for his era (6-foot-2), Hunt, in his younger days, "had a long swing and plenty of body movement," Alliss wrote, "and was consequently a wild driver."

Hunt decided that taming that driver and focusing on accuracy over distance was his path to success. And he turned out to be right. Alliss wrote that Hunt "emerged as a tournament winner in 1953 with a flat, three-quarter swing."

Although his driving improved, the strength of his game turned out to be medium- and short-iron play and good (not necessarily great) putting. Another 1970s British author referred to Hunt as "not a handsome swinger ... (but) one who would always play the percentage shot."

Hunt, the son of a PGA professional, turned pro in 1946. His first regional pro victory happened in 1952. In that breakout year of 1953, he won five important titles on the British circuit, including the Spalding Tournament plus, with a partner, two foursomes tournaments.

From that point on, Hunt was known as a golfer who could always go very low when he got hot. In that 1953 Spalding Tournament, he scored 28 for one nine, at that time the British record for lowest 9-hole score. He birdied seven consecutive holes in the 1958 Daks Tournament, again one of the best-such streaks up to that point. In the 1966 Piccadilly Strokeplay, his score of 195 after the first three rounds was believed at the time to be the second-lowest such score known.

Another big year was 1961, when Hunt won four tournaments including the German Open, Daks Tournament and Martini International. His biggest victories were the British Masters in both 1963 and 1965. He also won other national opens, such as the Belgian Open in 1957, Brazil Open in 1962, and French Open in 1967.

Hunt was also a three-time winner of the British PGA's Harry Vardon Trophy, presented to the circuit's annual Order of Merit leader. Hunt claimed the trophy, then based on a points formula, in 1958, 1960 and 1965.

Hunt's last big year was 1970, the year he turned 40, when he won the first three tournaments of the season. The creation of the modern European Tour was still two years away. Hunt did play the Euro Tour for several seasons, but, already into his mid-40s, had no wins or Top 3 finishes.

The European Seniors Tour was founded in 1992 when Hunt was already 62 years old. But he did make 46 starts from 1992-99 with seven Top 10 finishes, including one runner-up showing.

In addition to playing in the Ryder Cup, Hunt also represented England seven times in the World Cup: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1968. He served as captain of the British PGA in 1966, and again from 1995-97.

All the while he was winning tournaments, Hunt was also serving as a club professional. Hartsbourne Golf Club in Hertfordshire, England, was an early stop. Later in his career, Hunt spent a couple decades as head professional at Foxhills Club in Ottershaw, Surrey, England. The club renamed one of its courses, today known at the Bernard Hunt Golf Course, in his honor.

He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) in 1977.

Hunt had a brother who also played professionally. In fact, Bernard and Geoffrey Hunt were partners in winning the team-format 1960 Pickering Tournament. They also played together in the 1963 Ryder Cup, although not as partners. The Hunts were the second set of brothers (after the Whitcombes in the 1930s) to play together on the same Ryder Cup team.

Bernard Hunt's Professional Wins

Hunt won more than 40 professional titles in his career. The following list is broken down into his biggest victories, which are those on the pre-European Tour circuit; followed by wins elsewhere in the world, and then those victories in British tournaments for assistant pros or regional titles/short-course titles.

British/European Circuit

Outside of Europe

  • 1956 Egyptian Open
  • 1962 Brazil Open
  • 1973 Grand Bahama Open

Assistant/Regional Titles

  • 1952 Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament
  • 1953 Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament
  • 1958 Professional Short Course Championship
  • 1959 Southern Professional Championship
  • 1960 Southern Professional Championship
  • 1962 Southern Professional Championship
Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Alliss, Peter. The Who's Who of Golf, 1983, Orbis Publishing.
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf, Volume 2, 2009, McFarland and Company.
espn.com. "Ryder Cup legend Hunt passes away," June 22, 2013, http://en.espn.co.uk/golf/sport/story/215287.html.
European Tour. Players, Bernard Hunt, Career Records, https://www.europeantour.com/players/548/career-record?tour=dpworld-tour.
Foxhills Club. Bernard Hunt Golf Course, https://www.foxhills.co.uk/golf/bernard-hunt.
Liverpool Daily Post. "Awards to sports aces," December 31, 1977.
PGA of America. Ryder Cup Media Guide, Ryder Cup Records, 2023.
Steel, Donald, and Ryde, Peter. The Encyclopedia of Golf, 1975, The Viking Press.
Tate, Alistair. "British Ryder Cupper Hunt dead at 83," Golfweek, June 24, 2013, https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2013/06/24/bernard-hunt-dead-83-obituary-british-ryder-cup/.

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