Ronald David Bell Mitchell Shade, MBE (18 October 1938 – 10 September 1986) was a Scottish professional golfer.

Life and career

Shade was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and grew up playing golf at Duddingston Golf Club in that city. He enjoyed unrivalled success as an amateur player in the 1960s, winning five consecutive Scottish Amateur Championships from 1963 to 1967 (Shade had also lost in the final in 1962). In 1966, he also finished as leading individual player at the

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 ...

, as leading amateur 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 ...

, and reached the final of the British Amateur Championship, losing to Bobby Cole. He represented Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup on four occasions (1961 to 1967 inclusive), and was three times winner of the English Amateur Open Strokeplay Championship (the Brabazon Trophy). Shade's amateur golf success was all the more noteworthy, since he came from a working-class background, and during that era British amateur golf was the preserve of the well-to-do. Shade was awarded the MBE as an amateur, and decided to turn professional at the relatively late age of 30. Often referred to by fellow players as "Right Down the Bloody Middle", a nickname based on his initials and his exceptional accuracy, he did not enjoy as many victories as a professional that his amateur record might have foretold, although he won the Ben Sayers–Sunderland Tournament and the Carroll's International in 1969, in his rookie season, and represented Scotland at the World Cup in 1970, 1971 and 1972. His strength at

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

golf remained proven, however; he was runner-up at the British PGA Matchplay Championship in 1970, and was a semi-finalist on two further occasions. Shade died in Edinburgh after a long illness.

Amateur wins

*1954 British Youths Open Championship (under-18 section) *1956 Scottish Boys Amateur *1961 Brabazon Trophy *1963 Scottish Amateur Championship, Brabazon Trophy *1964 Scottish Amateur Championship *1965 Scottish Amateur Championship *1966 Scottish Amateur Championship *1967 Scottish Amateur Championship, Brabazon Trophy *1968 Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship

Professional wins (7)

*1969 Ben Sayers–Sunderland Tournament, Carroll's International *1970 Scottish Professional Championship *1972 Skol Tournament *1973 Skol Tournament *1975 Mufulira Open, Skol Tournament

Results in major championships

''Note: Shade only played in The Open Championship.''
LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1977 Open Championships)
"T" = tied

Team appearances

''this list may be incomplete'' Amateur * Walker Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1961,

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 ...

(tied), 1967 *

(representing Great Britain and Ireland):

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 (winners),

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

(individual leader), 1968 * St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1962 (winners), 1964 (winners), 1966 (winners), 1968 (winners) * Commonwealth Tournament (representing Great Britain): 1963 (joint winners), 1967 (joint winners) * European Amateur Team Championship (representing Scotland):

, 1967 *

Men's Home Internationals The Men's Home Internationals were an amateur team golf championship for men between the four Home Nations. Ireland was represented by the whole island of Ireland.The event was organised by The R&A. The inaugural event was held in 1932 and the ve ...

(representing Scotland): 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 Professional * World Cup (representing Scotland): 1970,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

* Double Diamond International (representing Scotland): 1971, 1972, 1973 (winners), 1974, 1975

References

*Alliss, Peter: "The Who's Who of Golf" (1983), Orbis Publishing Ltd. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Shade, Ronnie Scottish male golfers Members of the Order of the British Empire Golfers from Edinburgh 1938 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Scottish sportsmen