Those were the days Eric ‘Bomber’ Brown, 1962 and 1971
Selections from
The Herald Picture Store
“HE was one of the nicest guys in golf. He would sign autographs all day long and it wasn’t uncommon for us to have total strangers spot us in a restaurant, approach us and then be invited to sit down and join us for a glass of wine by my father”.
The speaker is David Brown, son of Eric Brown, the great Scottish golfer, who both played in and captained Britain’s Ryder
Cup team. Brown Jnr was giving an interview in 2010, on the 24th anniversary of his father’s death.
Eric is seen here, main image, with a young David in 1962, after he finished runner-up to Australia’s Peter Thomson in the Martini 72-hole International Tournament over the Old Course at St Andrews.
Thomson, who had won the Open four times up until that point, took the Martini with an aggregate score of 275 -- “the lowest ever recorded for four rounds on the Old course;”, noted the Glasgow Herald, adding: “E.C. Brown (unattached), as worthy a runner-up as Thomson was champion, was only one stroke outside the previous record, the 278 of [Ken] Nagle (Australia) in the Centenary Open Championship in 1960”.
The Scottish Golf Museum recalls that Brown topped the European Tour of Merit in 1957; won the Scottish PGA Championship seven times between 1956 and 1968; and represented Great Britain in the Ryder Cup in 1953, 1955, 1957 and 1959. He also finished third in the Open in 1957 and 1958.
When Brown died in March 1986, his obituary in the then Glasgow Herald said: “Brown, who with John Panton dominated postwar golf in Scotland, is best remembered for his singles achievements in the Ryder Cup, winning all four of his outings against American opponents in 1953, 1955, 1957 and 1959.
“The 1957 win against Tommy Bolt contributed to the rare distinction of a British win at Lindrick [South Yorkshire].
“In 1969 Brown, a former railway engineer and one of golf’s most controversial figures in his time, was captain of the Ryder Cup side which tied with the Americans at Royal Birkdale. Two years later, again under ‘Bomber’ command, the British lost narrowly in the United States”.
The Herald described him as a prolific winner during his career.
John Panton paid tribute, saying: “Eric was a great competitor, probably one of the best matchplay players ever. He was very determined and a great holer-out and chipper”.
Fellow golfer Ronnie Shade added: “Eric Brown helped so many people in the game. He put so much more into the game than he ever took out”.
Eric Brown is pictured above, with Bernard Gallacher, at the Scottish Professional Championships at Linden Links in May, 1971. Gallacher beat Brown in the play-off; indeed, he admitted he owed much for the recent improvement in his play to none other than Eric.