Bobby Locke

<p>Arthur D'Arcy Locke was born on November 11, 1917, in Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa. Displaying prodigal golfing talent as a youth, Locke won the South African Amateur and South African Open at age seventeen in 1935. During World War II, Locke served his country as an officer and bomber pilot in the South African Air Force, flying over one hundred combat missions in the Mediterranean and European theaters.</p>
<p>Following the war, Locke stormed the international golfing scene. Invited by Sam Snead to compete in America in 1947, Locke's unorthodox style—deliberately hooking every shot with an extreme inside-out swing and sporting formal knickerbockers and a necktie—astounded American spectators. In his first American tour in 1947, Locke won six tournaments and finished in the top four in fourteen of seventeen starts.</p>
<p>However, it was on the historic links courses of Great Britain that Locke achieved golfing immortality. Known as 'Old Muffin Face' for his impassive, cool demeanor on the greens, Locke captured <strong>The Open Championship</strong> four times: 1949 at Royal St George's, 1950 at Troon (with a record score of 279), 1952 at Royal Lytham & St Annes, and 1957 at St Andrews. His putting genius was so lethal that opponents declared he could hole putts from anywhere, cementing his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.</p>