Michael Bonallack

Sir
Michael Bonallack
OBE
Sir; Michael Bonallack; OBE
Personal information
Full name	Michael Francis Bonallack
Born	31 December 1934; Chigwell, Essex, England
Died	26 September 2023 (aged 88); St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Sporting nationality	England
Career
Status	Amateur
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	CUT: 1966, 1969, 1970
The Open Championship	T11: 1959
U.S. Amateur	R64: 1961
British Amateur	Won: 1961, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame
World Golf Hall of Fame	2000 (member page)
Knight Bachelor	1998
Bob Jones Award	1972
	(For a full list of awards, see here)

Sir Michael Francis Bonallack, OBE (31 December 1934 – 26 September 2023) was an English amateur golfer who was one of the leading administrators in world golf in the late 20th century.^[1]^[2]

Quick Facts SirMichael BonallackOBE, Personal information ...

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Bonallack was born in Chigwell, Essex. He learned the game of golf under the tutelage of head professional Bert Hodson at Chigwell^[3] and soon won the Boys Amateur Championship in 1952. A rare example of an outstanding golfer who remained an amateur in the era when professional domination of the sport became firmly entrenched, he went on to win the Amateur Championship and the English Amateur five times each and the Brabazon Trophy four times. He was a member of nine Walker Cup teams and played in the Eisenhower Trophy seven times. His best finish at the Open Championship was eleventh in 1959. He was the leading amateur at the Open in 1968 and 1971.

Bonallack was Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews from 1983 to 1999 and Captain from 1999 to 2000. He has also been President of the Golf Club Managers' Association (1974–84), Chairman of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (1976–81), Chairman of the Golf Foundation (1977–82), and President of the English Golf Union (1982).

Bonallack was the president of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) and also served as president of the One Armed Golfers Society, the Professional Golfers Association of Europe and as chairman of the advisory committee for the Official World Golf Rankings.^[4] He was also president of the National Association of Public and Proprietary Golf Courses (NAPGC).

Bonallack was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to golf in the 1971 New Year Honours,^[5] and was knighted in the 1998 Birthday Honours, again for services to golf.^[6]^[7] In 1972, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honour given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He was a member of Augusta National Golf Club,^[8] and has received numerous honours from golfing organisations around the world, culminating in his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.

Europe and the Asia-Pacific play for the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy every two years. The teams consist of 12 amateur golfers and no more than two players can be from the same country.

Bonallack married Angela Ward in February 1958. They were married for 64 years until her death in July 2022.^[9]

Bonallack died in St Andrews, Fife on 26 September 2023, at the age of 88.^[10]^[11]

Note: This list may be incomplete

1952 Boys Amateur Championship
1954 Essex Amateur Championship
1955 Army Championship
1957 Berkshire Trophy, Essex Amateur Championship, Hampshire Hog
1958 Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes (with Angela Bonallack)
1959 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Doug Sewell), Essex Amateur Championship
1960 Essex Amateur Championship
1961 The Amateur Championship, Berkshire Trophy, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase (tie with David Harrison), Essex Amateur Championship, Scrutton Jug
1962 English Amateur
1963 English Amateur, Essex Amateur Championship
1964 Brabazon Trophy, Essex Amateur Championship, Scrutton Jug, Antlers of Royal Mid-Surrey (with D. Marsh)
1965 The Amateur Championship, English Amateur, Lytham Trophy (tie with Clive Clark), Berkshire Trophy, Royal St. George's Grand Challenge Cup
1966 Scrutton Jug
1967 English Amateur, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase (tie with Bob Durrant lost playoff for Gold Medal), Prince of Wales Challenge Cup
1968 The Amateur Championship, English Amateur, Brabazon Trophy, Berkshire Trophy, Golf Illustrated Gold Vase, Essex Amateur Championship, Royal St. George's Grand Challenge Cup, Scrutton Jug
1969 The Amateur Championship, Brabazon Trophy (tie with Rodney Foster), Golf Illustrated Gold Vase, Essex Amateur Championship, Essex Open, Scrutton Jug
1970 The Amateur Championship, Berkshire Trophy, Essex Amateur Championship, Scrutton Jug
1971 Brabazon Trophy, Berkshire Trophy (tie with John Davies), Golf Illustrated Gold Vase, Scrutton Jug
1972 Lytham Trophy, Essex Amateur Championship
1973 East Anglian Open
1975 Golf Illustrated Gold Vase
1981 Royal St. George's Grand Challenge Cup

Sources: ^[12]^[13]

More information Tournament ...

Tournament	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament
The Open Championship				T11
U.S. Amateur		R128
The Amateur Championship	R128	R32	SF	R32

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More information Tournament ...

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament							CUT			CUT
The Open Championship		CUT		CUT	CUT	T33	T27	CUT	T21LA	T42
U.S. Amateur		R64				T53			T11	T14
The Amateur Championship	QF	1	–	–	–	1	–	–	1	1

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More information Tournament ...

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973
Masters Tournament	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	T22LA	CUT	CUT
U.S. Amateur				R32
The Amateur Championship	1	–	–	–

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Note: Bonallack did not play in the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship.

Did not play

LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1970 Open Championship)
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Sources:^[14] , Masters,^[15] U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,^[16] Open Championship,^[17] Amateur Championship (1956,^[18] 1957,^[19] 1958,^[20] 1959,^[21] 1960^[22]

1968 British Association of Golf Writers award
1971 Officer of the Order of the British Empire
1972 United States Golf Association Bob Jones Award
1991 American Society of Golf Course Architects Donald Ross award
1998 Knight Bachelor
1999 Spanish Golf Federation Golf Medal of Honour
2000 Czech Republic Golf Shield of Honour
2000 Metropolitan Golf Association Lifetime Service Award
2000 Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame

this list may be incomplete

Eisenhower Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1960, 1962, 1964 (winners), 1966, 1968 (individual leader, tie), 1970, 1972
Walker Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965 (tied), 1967, 1969 (playing captain), 1971 (winners, playing captain), 1973
Amateurs–Professionals Match (representing the Amateurs): 1957, 1958 (winners), 1959, 1960
St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1958 (winners), 1960 (winners), 1962 (winners), 1964 (winners), 1966 (winners), 1968 (winners), 1970 (winners), 1972 (winners)
Commonwealth Tournament (representing Great Britain): 1959, 1963 (joint winners), 1967 (joint winners), 1971
European Amateur Team Championship (representing England): 1963 (winners), 1965, 1969 (winners), 1971 (winners)

[1]
"On This Day in History – Sir Michael Bonallack, Former R&A Secretary, Is Born". In Golf We Trust. 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
[2]
Corrigan, James (26 September 2023). "Golf mourns death of former R&A chief Sir Michael Bonallack at the age of 88". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
[3]
Hodson, Andrew. "Bert Hodson Ryder cup". hodsongolf.com. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
[4]
Mackie, Keith. "2006 Memorial Tournament Honoree; Sir Michael Bonallack" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
[5]
United Kingdom list: "No. 45262". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1970. p. 9.
[6]
United Kingdom list: "No. 55155". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1998. p. 1.
[7]
"Sports stars share honours". BBC News. 13 June 1998. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
[8]
"Augusta National Golf Club members list". USA Today.com. 4 August 2004.
[9]
"Tributes Paid to Lady Angela Bonallack". The R&A. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
[10]
Sandomir, Richard (7 October 2023). "Michael Bonallack, Britain's Greatest Postwar Amateur Golfer, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
[11]
Huggan, John (26 September 2023). "Sir Michael Bonallack, former R&A secretary and World Golf Hall of Famer, dies at 88". Golf Digest.
[12]
Huggins, Percy, ed. (1973). The Golfer's Handbook. p. 363.
[13]
"Sir Michael Bonallack". Essex Golf Union. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
[14]
Brenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860-2008. Vol. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.
[15]
www.masters.com Archived 26 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
[16]
USGA Championship Database Archived 21 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
[17]
www.opengolf.com
[18]
The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1956, pg. 4.
[19]
The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1957, pg. 4.
[20]
The Glasgow Herald, 7 June 1958, pg. 4.
[21]
The Glasgow Herald, 28 May 1959, pg. 9.
[22]
The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1960, pg. 13.

[1] [1]
"On This Day in History – Sir Michael Bonallack, Former R&A Secretary, Is Born". In Golf We Trust. 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2009.

[2] [2]
Corrigan, James (26 September 2023). "Golf mourns death of former R&A chief Sir Michael Bonallack at the age of 88". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

[Chigwell-3] [3]
Hodson, Andrew. "Bert Hodson Ryder cup". hodsongolf.com. Retrieved 13 August 2015.

[4] [4]
Mackie, Keith. "2006 Memorial Tournament Honoree; Sir Michael Bonallack" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2009.

[5] [5]
United Kingdom list: "No. 45262". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1970. p. 9.

[6] [6]
United Kingdom list: "No. 55155". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1998. p. 1.

[7] [7]
"Sports stars share honours". BBC News. 13 June 1998. Retrieved 6 April 2009.

[8] [8]
"Augusta National Golf Club members list". USA Today.com. 4 August 2004.

[9] [9]
"Tributes Paid to Lady Angela Bonallack". The R&A. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.

[10] [10]
Sandomir, Richard (7 October 2023). "Michael Bonallack, Britain's Greatest Postwar Amateur Golfer, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2023.

[11] [11]
Huggan, John (26 September 2023). "Sir Michael Bonallack, former R&A secretary and World Golf Hall of Famer, dies at 88". Golf Digest.

[golfershandbook1973-12] [12]
Huggins, Percy, ed. (1973). The Golfer's Handbook. p. 363.

[13] [13]
"Sir Michael Bonallack". Essex Golf Union. Retrieved 10 March 2024.

[Brenner-14] [14]
Brenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860-2008. Vol. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.

[15] [15]
www.masters.com Archived 26 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine

[16] [16]
USGA Championship Database Archived 21 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine

[17] [17]
www.opengolf.com

[18] [18]
The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1956, pg. 4.

[19] [19]
The Glasgow Herald, 30 May 1957, pg. 4.

[20] [20]
The Glasgow Herald, 7 June 1958, pg. 4.

[21] [21]
The Glasgow Herald, 28 May 1959, pg. 9.

[22] [22]
The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1960, pg. 13.

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Michael Bonallack

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Michael Bonallack

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Affiliations

Honours

Legacy

Personal life and death

Tournament wins

Results in major championships

Awards and achievements

Team appearances

References

External links