THE SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP - 50 years ago

2008 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most notable Scottish Amateur Championships for Ayrshire, which was played that year at Prestwick Golf Club.
The championship was particularly notable for the Ayrshire golf community as the county provided three of the four semi finalists.

The champion that year was a member of the host club, W.D. (Dick) Smith - pictured right - , who played in the championship out of Selkirk.


Smith was a Scottish international from 1957 to 1960 and again in 1963, and played in The Walker Cup in 1959 where he met a 19 year old Jack Niklaus in the final day singles.

Later in his career, in 1983, Smith won the Scottish Seniors Championship to add to his amateur title.

In the 1958 Scottish Amateur Championship semi final Smith beat Irvine (Bogside) legend Jimmy Walker - pictured below - by 3 & 2 to reach the final.


Walker himself won the Scottish Amateur Championship at Western Gailes in 1961, the same year he represented G.B. & I. in The Walker Cup. He also represented Scotland at international level frequently from 1954 to 1963.



In the second semi final Ian R. Harris - pictured below right -, who played out of Hayston and later became a stalwart member of Royal Troon, beat I.G.F. Lee (Cathkin Braes)by 5 & 4 to secure his final place alongside Dick Smith.

Harris, like the other two Ayrshire stalwarts, represented Scotland frequently on the international stage from 1954 to 1959.


In the 36 hole final it was the home club player, Dick Smith, who emerged triumphant by a 6 & 5 winning margin.

50 years on, Ayrshire has enjoyed a number of successes in the national championship in the intervening period.

As well as Jim Milligan (Kilmarnock Barassie) who won the championship over his home course 20 years ago this year, Ayrshire has provided the winner on five other occasions since Dick Smith won in 1958. The other Ayrshire winners over the period are 1961 - Jimmy Walker (Irvine), 1969 - Jackie Cannon (Irvine), 1987 - Colin Montgomerie (Royal Troon), 1989 - J. Allan Thomson (Ayr Belleisle), and in 1994 Hugh McKibbin (Troon Welbeck) who, like Dick Smith, triumphed in an all Ayrshire final against Alan Reid (Kilmarnock Barassie) played at Renfrew Golf Club.