Fred Leach (1885–?) 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 ...

. His best performance in 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 ...

, the only major tournament he played in, was a tie for 6th place in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. His final score was only six shots shy of the pace set by

Jock Hutchison Jack Falls "Jock" Hutchison (June 6, 1884 – September 27, 1977) was a Scottish-born professional golfer who was based in the United States. Early life Hutchison was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, the son of William and Helen (née Fa ...

and

Roger Wethered Roger Henry Wethered (3 January 1899 – 12 March 1983) was an English amateur golfer, and the brother of female golfer Joyce Wethered. Early life Born in Surrey, Wethered was the only son of Herbert Newton Wethered and his wife Marion Emmeli ...

who tied for first place and went to a playoff in which Hutchison prevailed.

Biography

Leach was born in 1885 in

Baildon Baildon is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford, Bradford Metropolitan Borough in West Yorkshire, England and within the Historic counties of England, historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England. He was an assistant at Bradford Golf Club and while there was the second placed assistant in the 1903

Leeds Cup The Leeds Cup is a golf tournament that has been played annually in northern England since 1902. The event is organised by the north region of the Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland), Professional Golfers' Association. It ...

behind Bertie Snowball. Soon afterwards he moved south and became an assistant to William Fulford at Northwood Golf Club. Leach was joint runner-up in the 1905

, played at his old club at Bradford, five strokes behind

Sandy Herd Alexander Herd (24 April 1868 – 18 February 1944) was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake. Early life Born in St Andrews, Scotland, on 24 April 1868, to a golfing family, Herd had br ...

and tied with Bertie Snowball. He was at Northwood for 21 years before moving to Highwoods Golf Club at

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...

when that course opened in 1925 and then became professional at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club from 1926 to 1950, where he replaced William's nephew Jack Fulford. Leach tied for 6th place in the

1921 Open Championship The 1921 Open Championship was the 56th Open Championship, held 23–25 June at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Former local Jock Hutchison won his only Open Championship, in a 36-hole playoff over amateur Roger Wethered. It was Hutc ...

and reached the final of the 1922

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 ...

Sunningdale Golf Club Sunningdale Golf Club is a golf club in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, Berkshire, England, located approximately west-southwest of London. Sunningdale Golf Club was founded in 1900 and has two eighteen hole golf courses: the Old Course, de ...

, losing 5&4 to

George Gadd Francis George Gadd (1890 – 25 September 1957) was an English professional golfer. He was on the 1927 Ryder Cup team but did not play in any matches. Gadd was Welsh Professional Champion in 1913, won the 1922 News of the World Match Play, wo ...

Results in major championships

NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
? = finish unknown
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Fred English male golfers People from Baildon Golfers from Yorkshire Sportspeople from the City of Bradford 1885 births Year of death missing