…ROGER GREENWAY 1967 was the first full year in which I was a Royal Liverpool member. Somehow I was volunteered to undertake roles as scoreboard carrier and press marshal. As both were inside the paling fencing this was a very welcome way to view the golf. I was lucky enough to draw groups
involving Roberto De Vicenzo in both the first and third rounds which in that era were on Wednesday and Friday. In the first round Roberto played
…MIKE POSTLETHWAITE I was asked to do some stewarding. I was to turn up each morning and be allocated to a team under someone on an ad hoc basis. We were issued with a brown stick about a yard long with a small red flag on the end of it (to help signal), a rope we used to string between fellow stewards to keep the crowds back, and one arm badge saying STEWARD. We had no training, so special clothing, Health and Safety hadn’t been invented - we were just told to use our common sense, and it all worked very well, no dramas that I can remember. There were also miles of that dreadful
chestnut fencing, and although it bent over
I don’t recall anyone injuring
themselves on it. I was lucky enough to be stewarding about thirty yards from Roberto on the 16th when he hit that second shot with a fairway wood. The Claret Jug was presented to him by Malcolm Williams, Captain at the time. His widow, Audrey, is still a member.
…MIKE COFFEY The Open in those days ended on a Saturday. De Vicenzo’s caddie picked him up from the Club on the Sunday
ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2017 MAGAZINE
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morning in a battered Bedford van to drive to Mere to play in a pro-am! Roberto departed clutching a black box containing the Claret Jug. Incidentally, Doug Sanders was a
‘different’ golfer: drinker, smoker, and snappy dresser with an individual swing. Where he was staying I know not but on the first night of the championship he and his lady friend, Scotty, spent most of the evening in ‘Pip’ Rae’s children’s swimming pool in his Stanley Road garden drinking. I know - I was there!
…ARTHUR BYRNE I was allowed out from school and came home for the weekend to watch the Saturday and Sunday.
fine golf over the opening nine holes but then on the 10th green carelessly three putted from the proverbial nowhere. During a short wait at the Alps tee he enquired whether I was a Royal Liverpool member and if so what was my putting like. “Yes indeed” and “not too bad” were something like my replies to which he responded in words I still recall: “You must be better than me because I am stupid and you see from last green I putt like a motor bike - putt, putt, putt on every green!” For the third round I was again
inside the fencing and this was a great experience as Roberto returned a 67. It would become famous as a course record and the first round under 70 by a player at a Hoylake Open who went on to become the Champion Golfer. To my everlasting regret I did not
attend the final day - the Saturday. I had recently moved from Worcester and had secured my place as opening bat at West Wirral Cricket Club (now Caldy CC) so was keen not to be unavailable. I decided that it would not be many years before the Open returned to Hoylake and I would watch the final day again. I did but it was just 39 years later!
Left: Roberto’s player’s badge and its inscription
Above: The Jug at Hoylake
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