A respected writer and true friend of golf
Colin Mark Wilson (Born July 13 1927; died April 27 2018)
MARK WILSON, who has died aged 90 after a long illness, was a revered golf writer for the Daily Express who counted the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin, Bernard Gallacher and Christy O’Connor snr as good friends.
At the 1963 World Cup of Golf in Saint Nom la Breteche, near Paris, O’Connor arrived on the first tee slightly the worse for wear from the night before. He asked Mark to take a black coffee to a place in the woods some 265 yards down the fairway.
Mark duly obliged and minutes later O’Connor’s ball landed nearby. The spectators did not realise they had witnessed one of the greatest precision shots in the history of the game. O’Connor arrived, uttered not one word to Mark, downed his caffeine and finished three under par.
That same year Mark was having breakfast with New Zealander Bob Charles during the Open Championship at Lytham when Charles asked: “Would you unscrew this sauce bottle for me? I don’t want to strain my fingers in case it affects my putting.”
Mark was duly proud of the part he played in Charles winning the Open that year.
Born in Gosport, he first worked in a munitions factory before starting an apprenticeship as a trainee reporter with the Salisbury Times. That was interrupted when he was commissioned into the Army.
After three years Mark returned to complete his apprenticeship in Salisbury before joining the Manchester Evening News and then the Birmingham Gazette.
He moved to the London Evening Standard, where he became war correspondent. During the Suez Crisis he learnt British troops were going in to protect the canal but could not file his story because of a telephone black-out in the area. The everinnovative reporter noticed, however, there was a British Naval ship just off Alexandria. He hired a rowing boat, made it to the ship and made his call from there.
After helping out with the coverage of the 1957 Ryder Cup, Mark became the Standard’s golf correspondent before moving on to the Daily Express, where he served in the position for 13 years.
In 1986 he became head of communications for the European Tour. Mark was an accomplished golfer himself, winning the Association of Golf Writers Championship in 1964, 1966 and 1985 and was Association chairman from 1982 to 1984.
His funeral takes place at Woking Crematorium next Wednesday at 1.15pm.