Bernard John Hunt, MBE (2 February 1930 – 21 June 2013) was an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

Early life

Hunt was born in

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...

, Warwickshire.

Professional career

He turned professional in 1946 and was a leading player on the European circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. He topped the Order of Merit, which was then points-based, in 1958, 1960 and 1965. The best season of his regular career in prize money terms was 1963, when he won £7,209. He was past his peak by the time the formal

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

was introduced in 1972, but finished in the top twenty on the money list in 1973. He played on the

European Seniors Tour The European Senior Tour, currently branded as the Legends Tour, is a professional golf tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was titled as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based i ...

in for its first seven seasons (1992–1998) but his opportunity to make an impact at this level was limited as he was sixty-two by the time the tour was founded. His best season was 1994, when he came fifteenth on the Order of Merit and earned £15,361. Between 1953 and 1969 Hunt represented Great Britain in the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

eight times out of nine. His overall win–loss–half record was 6–16–6, but his record in singles was much better at 4–3–3. In 1963 his younger brother Geoff was also in the team. He was the non-playing captain of the Great Britain & Ireland teams of 1973 and 1975, both of which were defeated by the United States. One of the courses at Foxhills Golf Club located in

Ottershaw Ottershaw is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. The village developed in the mid-19th century from a number of separate hamlets and became a parish in its own right in 1871. Th ...

, Surrey, is named after Hunt, where he served as head professional for 25 years in the 1980s and 1990s.

Personal life

Hunt died in June 2013 at the age of 83.

Professional wins (31)

:''This list may be incomplete'' *1952 Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament *1953 Gor-Ray Cup,

Spalding Tournament The Spalding Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. It was played annually from 1946 to 1960. The total prize money was £1500 in 1946, £1250 in 1947 and 1948, £1350 from 1949 to 1959 and £2250 in 1960. Th ...

, Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament,

Goodwin (Sheffield) Foursomes Tournament The Goodwin (Sheffield) Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the Sheffield area of England. The event was held from 1952 to 1954 and had total prize money of £3,000. The winning finalists shared £500 with £300 to t ...

(with

Jack Hargreaves John Herbert Hargreaves OBE (31 December 1911 – 15 March 1994) was an English television presenter and writer whose enduring interest was to comment without nostalgia or sentimentality on accelerating distortions in relations between the city ...

), Gleneagles-Saxone Foursomes Tournament (with Stewart Ross) *1954

(with Sid Collins Jr.) *1956 Egyptian Open *1957

, Belgian Open *1958

Irish Hospitals Tournament The Irish Hospitals Tournament was a professional golf tournament played from 1958 to 1962. Total prize money was £5000 from 1958 to 1960 and £5,555 in 1961 and 1962. It was sponsored by the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake The Irish Hospitals ...

(tied with Frank Jowle), Bowmaker Tournament (tied with Peter Mills), Professional Short Course Championship *1959 Southern Professional Championship *1960 Pickering Tournament (with Geoffrey Hunt), Southern Professional Championship *1961 German Open, Daks Tournament, Martini International, Woodlawn Tournament *1962 Brazil Open, Smart Weston Southern Professional Championship *1963

British Masters The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently there ...

, Smart Weston Tournament, Swallow-Penfold Tournament, Gevacolor Tournament,

Carroll Sweet Afton Tournament The Carroll's International was a professional golf tournament played in Ireland from 1963 to 1974. It was part of the British PGA tournament circuit, which evolved into the European Tour, and as such is recognised as an official European Tour ...

*1964 Rediffusion Tournament *1965 Gallaher Ulster Open,

*1966 Piccadilly Tournament *1967

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

, Gallaher Ulster Open *1968 Basildon Tournament *1969 Algarve Open,

Italian BP Open The Italian BP Open was a men's professional golf tournament played from 1968 to 1972 in the Rome area of Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consis ...

*1970

Agfa-Gevaert Tournament The Agfa-Gevaert Tournament was a golf tournament in England from 1963 to 1971. It was played at Stoke Poges Golf Club in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. It was sponsored by Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multination ...

, Sumrie Better-Ball (with

Neil Coles Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors ...

), Penfold Tournament *1971 W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament *1973 Grand Bahama Open, Sumrie Better-Ball (with

)

Playoff record

European Seniors Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

''Note: Hunt only played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

and

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1970 and 1972 Open Championships)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (1955 Open Championship – 1960 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain):

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

(winners),

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

(tie) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing England):

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

* Joy Cup (representing the British Isles): 1958 (winners) *

Amateurs–Professionals Match The Amateurs–Professionals Match was an annual men's team golf competition between teams of golfers from Great Britain and Ireland representing amateurs and professionals. It was played from 1956 to 1960. The Professionals won four of the five c ...

(representing the Professionals): 1957 (winners), 1958, 1959 (winners), 1960 (winners) * Double Diamond International (representing England): 1971 (winners, captain), 1972 (winners, captain), 1973 (captain)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Bernard English male golfers European Tour golfers European Senior Tour golfers Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Atherstone Sportspeople from Woking People from Ottershaw 1930 births 2013 deaths 20th-century English sportsmen