Golfer Banned After Putting Up Unthinkable Scores at Tournament
There is one golfer that once received a lifelong ban for being from competing in the sport because he was 'simply too good'.
When people ask the age-old question of who is the greatest golfer of all time, there are only a few names that come to mind.
For most golf fans, it's hard to look past the the legendary Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, who hold the most and second-most major titles respectively and are among just six male golfers to complete a career grand slam of all four modern major championships.
Closely behind Nicklaus and Woods, many would consider the likes of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, but there's one other player that is often neglected despite the fact that he beat both Hogan and Snead on several occasions.
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That is likely because, after an impressive career, he was later banned from golf for being too good.
For 20 years, South African golfer Bobby Locke remained completely unbeaten over 72 holes in his home country, catching the attention of fans and players across the world.
His talents eventually led him to America, where he won six times in 1947 and another four times in 1948 and 1949 against the likes of Hogan and Snead.
Across the 59 tournaments that he competed in, Locke placed in the to four in 34 of them, making him one of the best in the world.
One of his best wins came in 1948, when he won the Chicago Victory National by 16 strokes a score that remains a PGA Tour record for margin of victory.
However, his career came to a sudden halt a year later when he was banned by the Tour, with 1948 Masters champion Claude Harmon, father of Tiger Woods' former coach Butch, explaining the real reason for the ban.
"Locke was simply too good. They had to ban him," admitted Harmon.
Although he was later reinstated in 1951, Locke rarely returned to the US, instead playing across the world in South Africa, England, Scotland, France, Mexico, Egypt. Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
Notably, Locke was the first man to secure back-to-back wins in The Open since Walter Hagen won his third and fourth titles in the late 1920s, having won in 1949 and 1950 consecutively, later winning again in 1952 and 1957.
Speaking about his rival, Hogan said: "Everyone examines greens, but only he knows what he's looking for."
Meanwhile seven-time major winner Snead admitted: "He was the greatest putter I have ever seen. He'd hit a 20-footer, and before the ball got halfway, he'd be tipping his hat to the crowd. He wore out his hats tipping them."
However, Locke's life completely changed in 1960 as he travelled to the hospital to visit his wife Mary after she had given birth to a baby girl, Carolyn.
On his way to meet his daughter, the car that Locke was in stopped at a level crossing to let a train go by, then pulled out, unaware that there was another train coming.
The train collided with the car, sending it 30 yards through the air and down a bank and causing Locke to go through the back window, leaving him unconcisous in a hospital bed for two days.
Locke's injuries completely changed him both physically and mentally and at 43-years-old, it's safe to say that the golfer he had once been was now gone.
In 1969 Locke was arrested for drink-driving and shortly after he shot painter Big Boy Ndlovu in the shoulder following a tense exchange.
Eventually, Locked was admitted to a nursing home in Johannesburg in March 1987 at the age of 69.
He was diagnosed with meningitis, fell into a coma and died the following day.
Tragically, both Mary, 80, and Carolyn, 40, died shortly after as it was revealed the pair had planned a suicide pact.
The pair were discovered dead together in bed, holding hands after drinking champagne to wash down tablets that they had been gathering for months.
Topics: Golf, Tiger Woods, South Africa
Ben McCrum