Arthur Robert Ham (11 April 1891 – 29 September 1959) was an English professional golfer. He was a professional in England and New Zealand, before settling in the United States where he was a professional at a number of clubs. He won the 1922 New Zealand Professional Championship and was runner-up in the 1923

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

Professional in England

Ham was born in

Wells, Somerset Wells () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath, Somerset, Bath a ...

, England on 11 April 1891. He became the professional at

Blackwell Golf Club Blackwell Golf Club is a golf club situated in the village of Blackwell near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. It has been host to regional qualifying for The Open Championship on many occasions and is recognised as one of the best courses in ...

near

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, in about 1910. In 1914, playing with George Tuck, they won the Midland Professional Foursomes at Stourbridge. Soon afterwards he moved to the North Shore club in

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

. Ham had some useful performances after World War I, including reaching the last-16 of the 1920

News of the World Match Play The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the '' News of the World'', and was commonly known ...

, only losing at the 19th hole.

Professional in New Zealand

In late 1921, Ham left the North Shore club to become the professional at Wellington Golf Club, at

Heretaunga, Wellington Heretaunga is a suburb of the city of Upper Hutt, located in the lower (southern) North Island of New Zealand. Heretaunga adjoins the suburb of Silverstream to its southwest and the two are commonly thought of associated with each other. To the ...

, New Zealand. He won the 1922 New Zealand Professional Championship beating Andrew Shaw 2&1 in the final. In August 1923 Ham travel to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

to play at the championship meeting being played at

Royal Adelaide Golf Club The Royal Adelaide Golf Club (often referred to as Seaton) is a private Australian golf club located in the Adelaide suburb of Seaton, northwest of the city centre. The links at Seaton has been the venue for many international and interstate ...

. In the

, Ham was tied for the lead after the first round. However he dropped back after a third round of 79 and finished runner-up, three behind Tom Howard. The following day a 36-hole professional event was organised at the newly-opened

Kooyonga Golf Club Kooyonga Golf Club is a private golf club in Australia, located in South Australia at Lockleys, South Australia, Lockleys, a suburb west of Adelaide. Members entry is off May Terrace, Brooklyn Park, South Australia, Brooklyn Park. Work on the c ...

. Ham won the event by a stroke from

Arthur Le Fevre Arthur Le Fevre (1887 – 27 June 1957) was an Australian professional golfer and golf club maker. He won the 1921 Australian Open (golf), Australian Open. Early life Le Fevre was born in Rye, Sussex, England in 1887 as Arthur Feaver, the son o ...

and also had the best 18-hole score of 77. In the professional tournament the following week Ham just missed out on the match-play stage after finishing tied for 5th place in the 36-hole qualifying.

Professional in the United States

Ham left New Zealand in late 1923, travelling to the United States. He soon became the professional at Plum Hollow Country Club in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. He one of 32 players to reach the match-play stage of the

1924 PGA Championship The 1924 PGA Championship was the seventh PGA Championship, held September 15–20 at the French Lick Springs Golf Club in French Lick, Indiana. Walter Hagen, the 1921 champion, defeated Jim Barnes in the finals, 2 up. It was the sixth of Hagen ...

and was runner-up to

Al Watrous Albert Andrew Watrous (February 1, 1899 – December 3, 1983)Ancestry.com. U.S., ''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2014. was an American professional golfer who played on ...

in the 1927

Michigan Open The Michigan Open is the Michigan state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Michigan section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1916 at a variety of courses around the sta ...

. He was later connected to other clubs in the Detroit area, before moving to Charlotte Country Club in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, in 1930. He later moved to other clubs in the

Carolinas The Carolinas, also known simply as Carolina, are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the southwes ...

, including Myrtle Beach, Lenoir and Mount Airy. In 1946, at the age of 55, he qualified for the

U.S. Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

. He was also involved in golf course design. Ham died in Charlotte, on 29 September 1959.

Results in major championships

''Note: Ham only played in the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.''
NT = No tournament
R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Arthur English male golfers People from Wells, Somerset 1891 births 1959 deaths 20th-century English sportsmen