Bob Stevens (golfer)
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Robert Francis Stevens (2 October 1928 – 3 October 2008) was an Australian amateur golfer. He won the 1952
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
. He was a member of the Australian team that won the first
Commonwealth Tournament The Commonwealth Tournament was a men's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It was played roughly every four years, in 1954, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1975. I ...
in 1954 and was also in the team that won the inaugural
Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...
in
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 ...
.


Early life

Stevens was born in
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
on 2 October 1928, the son of Frank Stevens, an on-course bookmaker. At about the age of 8 he started playing golf at
Glenelg Golf Club Glenelg Golf Club is a private golf club located in the Adelaide suburb of Novar Gardens, South Australia, Novar Gardens, also near the seaside suburb of Glenelg, South Australia, Glenelg. It is located adjacent the southern boundary of Adelai ...
. His younger brother
Gavin Gavin is a Celtic male given name. It is the Scottish variation of the medieval Welsh name Gawain, meaning 'God send' or 'white hawk/falcon'. Sir Gawain is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is an epic poem ...
was also an amateur golfer, and later played
Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...
for Australia.


Golf career

In 1946 Stevens won the South Australian boys championship. There were only 5 entries and his 36-hole score of 151 was 51 strokes ahead of the runner-up, his younger brother
Gavin Gavin is a Celtic male given name. It is the Scottish variation of the medieval Welsh name Gawain, meaning 'God send' or 'white hawk/falcon'. Sir Gawain is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is an epic poem ...
. In 1948 he won the South Australian Close Championship at Royal Adelaide, beating professional Jim Mills in an 18-hole playoff, after the two had tied on 153 in the 36-hole event. The same month he reached the final of the South Australian amateur championship, but lost 6&5 to Victorian Bill Edgar. The following year, 1949, he reached the semi-final of the
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
, before losing 2&1 to another South Australian, Bill Ackland-Horman. In 1950, Stevens again reached the final of the South Australian amateur championship, but lost to Bill Shephard by 1 hole. In 1951 Stevens suffered from some ill-health and played less golf. The years from 1952 to 1954 were his most successful. In August 1952 he reached the final of the South Australian amateur at Kooyonga, losing by one hole to Bill Ackland-Horman and then won the South Australian Open title, winning by 5 strokes with a score of 151 at Royal Adelaide. In 1952 both the
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 ...
and
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
championships were held at Lake Karrinyup, the first time either had been held in
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. Stevens finished tied for 12th place in the open. The amateur championship had a 36-hole stroke-play qualifying event with the leading 32 players playing in the match-play stage. Stevens led the qualifiers with a score of 141 and went on to win the title, beating Bill Higgins 7&6 in the final. At the end of 1952 Stevens was a late replacement in the Australian team to tour New Zealand, playing in a number of events including the Sloan Morpeth Trophy. In 1953, Stevens won the South Australian amateur title for the first time, beating Bill Rymill 5&4 in the final. Soon afterwards he won the South Australian Open title with a score of 147, four strokes ahead of Rymill and Bill Ackland-Horman. In September he played in the Sloan Morpeth Trophy, Australia beating New Zealand in Sydney. However, his mother died and he travelled back to Adelaide, returning to Sydney a few days later to defend his
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
title. He lost in the third round. In 1954, Stevens was selected as one of the six-man Australian team to play in the inaugural
Commonwealth Tournament The Commonwealth Tournament was a men's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It was played roughly every four years, in 1954, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1975. I ...
on the
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. The Australians first played in the
Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...
, Stevens losing to William C. Campbell at the last-32 stage. The Australian team won the five-team Commonwealth event, with three wins and a tied match against Great Britain. He missed the South Australian Amateur but returned in time to win the South Australian Open title for the third time in a row, with a score of 142, 3 ahead of Bill Ackland-Horman. In 1958, Ampol sponsored a 36-hole tournament at The Grange in Adelaide, with total prize money of £500, just before the
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 ...
at Kooyonga. Stevens won the event with a score of 138, six ahead of
Eric Cremin Eric James Cremin (15 June 1914 – 29 December 1973) was an Australian professional golfer. Cremin won dozens of significant tournaments in Australia during his career. Later he was instrumental in the establishment of the Far East Circuit, lat ...
,
Harold Henning Harold Henning (3 October 1934 – 1 January 2004) was a South African professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour. He won professional tournaments on the highest level in Africa, Australia, Asia, North America and Eu ...
and
Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Early life Nagle was ...
who tied as runners-up. Three members of the team of four for the inaugural
Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...
had already been selected and the fourth was to be chosen after the open. Stevens was chosen, with Eric Routley as reserve, despite the fact that Routley had finished 8 strokes ahead of Stevens in the open. Stevens was also made captain of the team. In the Eisenhower Trophy, Australia finished level with the United States after the four rounds. There was an 18-hole playoff with the same format as the main event, the best three scores counting. For Australia, Stevens scored 75,
Bruce Devlin Bruce William Devlin (born 10 October 1937) is an Australian professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer. Early life Devlin was born in 1937 in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. His parents, Jess and Artie, moved to Gou ...
72, and Peter Toogood 75 for a total of 222. For the United States,
Charles Coe Charles Robert Coe (October 26, 1923 – May 16, 2001) was an American amateur golfer who is considered by many to be one of the greatest American amateurs in history. Early life Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Coe served as a pilot during World ...
scored 73,
Billy Joe Patton William Joseph Patton (April 19, 1922 – January 1, 2011) was an American golfer best known for almost winning the 1954 Masters Tournament. Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1943. I ...
75 and
Bud Taylor Charles Bernard "Bud" Taylor (July 22, 1903 – March 6, 1962) was an American boxer from Terre Haute, Indiana. Nicknamed the ''"Blonde Terror of Terre Haute"'', he held the NBA World Bantamweight Championship during his career in 1927. ''The R ...
76 for a total of 224, giving Australia a two stroke win. Stevens played in the 1961 Sloan Morpeth Trophy at
Kingston Heath Golf Club Kingston Heath Golf Club is one of the premier golf clubs in Australia, located in Cheltenham, Victoria, Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The course is situated on the Melbourne Sandbelt, sandbelt region in the southeast suburbs of Mel ...
. New Zealand won the match, with Stevens losing his singles match to
Walter Godfrey Walter Hindes Godfrey, CBE, FSA, FRIBA (1881–1961), was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator. He w ...
. He won the South Australian amateur championship in 1959 and 1961, completing three wins. Just before his 50th birthday, Stevens reached the quarter-finals of the 1978
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
, losing to the eventual winner, Mike Clayton.


Later life

Stevens moved to Sydney in 1966, running a business in the packaging industry. He died on 3 October 2008 after a fatal stroke.


Tournament wins

*1948 South Australian Close Championship *1952 South Australian Open,
Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has ...
*1953 South Australian Amateur Championship, South Australian Open *1954 South Australian Open *1958 Ampol Tournament *1959 South Australian Amateur Championship *1961 South Australian Amateur Championship


Team appearances

*
Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...
(representing Australia):
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 ...
(winners) *
Commonwealth Tournament The Commonwealth Tournament was a men's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It was played roughly every four years, in 1954, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1975. I ...
(representing Australia): 1954 (winners) * Sloan Morpeth Trophy (representing Australia): 1952 (tied), 1953 (winners), 1961 *
Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played a ...
(representing South Australia): 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962 (joint winners), 1963


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Bob Australian male golfers Amateur golfers Golfers from Adelaide 1928 births 2008 deaths Sportsmen from South Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen