Max Faulkner
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Herbert Gustavus Max Faulkner, OBE (29 July 1916 – 26 February 2005) was an English professional golfer.
Faulkner was born in Bexhill. He was the son of a golf professional who owned a course at Selsey.
Faulkner's tournament career began in 1946, shortly after World War II. He won 16 regular tournaments in Europe, the last of them the Portuguese Open at the age of 52, and two senior tournaments. His greatest achievement was his victory in The Open Championship, with a score of 3 under par at Royal Portrush in 1951. He said later, "It was all I ever wanted. The Open meant everything to me."
He was also famous for wearing colourful clothes such as salmon pink plus fours.
Faulkner played in the Ryder Cup Matches on five occasions, including the historic 1957 contest at Lindrick when the Great Britain team defeated a powerful United States contingent.
He was believed to have over 300 putters, searching for the perfect putter. It is also believed that he used a conventional set of 14 clubs very rarely.
Faulkner had a good feel for shots and could make the ball curve on short lofted shots, a rare ability at that time.
In 2001, Faulkner was honored with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Faulkner died in 2005 at the age of 88.
Faulkner is accredited with the arguably apocryphal witty golfing acceptance speech, while presented with a first prize at some small local tournament he said "Ladies and Gentlemen Big Prize Big Speech, small prize small speech, thank you" and left the stage.[citation needed]
[edit] Tournament wins
this list is incomplete
Regular career
- 1949 Penfold Tournament (with John Burton)
- 1951 The Open Championship, British Masters
- 1952 Spanish Open
- 1953 Spanish Open, News of the World Match Play
- 1957 Spanish Open
- 1968 Portuguese Open
Senior
[edit] Results in major championships
Of the four majors, Faulkner only played The Open Championship.
| 1947 | 1948 | 1949 |
|---|---|---|
| T32 | T15 | T6 |
| 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T5 | 1 | T17 | 12 | T20 | T35 | DNP | T9 | T16 | CUT |
| 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNP | DNP | CUT | T20 | T38 | T10 | CUT | CUT | CUT | T30 |
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
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