Ernest Whitcombe and Alf Padgham
East Brighton Golf Club, Sussex
August 25th, 1937
In a sport that saw the 100th best player on the PGA Tour earn over $1.6m million this year, it’s easy to think that golf, as a professional sport, has always been awash with cash.
It’s certainly been the case since the arrival of Tiger Woods in 1997, which, almost overnight, elevated golf into a global sport whose top players could start to earn the kind of sums that even professional footballers would take notice of.
But it has gone to a whole new level again following the injection of Saudi money into the game over the last three years, which has served to bump up prize funds across the board to levels verging on the obscene.
SMALL PRIZE MONEY
While the likes of Palmer, Nicklaus and Player did very nicely out of the game during the 1960s and 70s, their bulging bank balances owe more to their off-course business acumen than any great accumulation of prize money.
But rewind a hundred years or so and you’ll find a world where club pros taking part in the Open Championship used to squeeze in two rounds on the final day just so that they could rush back to attend the needs of their members over the weekend.
At the turn of the 20th century, the winner of The Open received just £90, and it took a near-strike by the players the following year for the top prize to be raised to the princely sum of £115.
The paucity of prize money on offer through the main tournament channels led the game’s top players taking part in a number of special events backed by private sponsorship, which brought together a select group of top players in a modern version of Pro-Celebrity Golf, where local businessmen stumped up large sums to see the game’s greats play on local courses.
EXHIBITION MATCH
Such was the case with East Brighton Golf Club in East Sussex, which hosted a number of high-profile tournaments during the inter-war period. In 1933, the great Walter Hagen teamed up with fellow American Densmore Shute to beat Alf Padgham and Charlie Parsons 6&5 in an exhibition match which saw huge crowds turn out to watch their heroes in action in such unfamiliar surroundings.
The club also staged the News Chronicle Tournament between the great and wars for several years after, with the £1,000 prize pot – equivalent to over £45,000 in today’s money, and twice what was being offered to that year’s winner of the Claret Jug – not surprisingly attracting some of the game’s leading stars, including Padhgam, and other Open champions.
These included Henry Cotton and the brothers Reg and Ernest Whitcombe. Padgham was serving as head professional at Sundridge Park Golf Club in Kent at the time, and was the reigning Open champion when this picture was taken, having won at Hoylake in 1936.
Like many top players of the era, Padgham lost what might have been some of his best competitive years due to World War II, so had to play in events like these in order to supplement his income. He eventually succeeded in winning the News Chronicle Tournament in 1939.
FAMOUS FACES
In addition to famous players, East Brighton, which was founded in 1893, boasts an impressive cast list of high-profile connections, with the Downs-based club enjoying many celebrity and royal members during its 130-year history.
One of its first vice-presidents was Billy Butlin, founder of the eponymous holiday chain, while the Duke of Norfolk was president for more than 30 years.
Among famous former members include Prime Minister Lloyd George, who joined in 1911, along with foreign secretary Arthur Balfour, and Field Marshall Earl Haig, who lived in Brighton during the 1920s.
While East Brighton’s heyday might well be behind it as far as famous members are concerned, its picturesque 6,402-yard downland layout remains one of the finest tests in the county and, the club continues to enjoy a healthy patronage from local golfers who no doubt gain as much enjoyment from the historic venue as their illustrious predecessors once did.
