Having commenced live transmission of football the previous year, in
1938 BBC television covered golf for the first time, in a general
sports feature from my old club – Roehampton, but coverage of
tournaments was still some way off. [In April Bert and Dick Burton
beat Jimmy Adams and Bill Davies 5&4 in a 36-hole exhibition match
at West Cheshire]. The season opened in May with heavy rain and a
cold northeasterly gale testing the competitors in a qualifying
round for the Dunlop Southport Tournament at Hesketh. I was having a
bad driving day and this was most likely the scene of the other
cartoons I was featured in, which I mentioned earlier. I was usually
pretty accurate off the tee, but on this occasion I was spraying
them to all points of the compass and on one hole I hit a
particularly wild one and was lucky to find the ball, but was so far
off line that I couldn’t see the green. I had nearly reached the
club access road, which is noted for its fine old lampposts, and I
shinned up one of these to get a sight of the green before playing
my shot. Afterwards the usual inquests were taking place over a
drink and I remarked that I had been hitting my drives into the next
county and joked with my companions about climbing the lamppost.
Unknown to us a cartoonist from one of the local papers overheard
our conversation and the next day I was depicted at the top of the
lamppost wearing a sailor hat and peering through a telescope. In
another cartoon I was seen in an asparagus field at nearby Formby,
on the edge of which was a finger post pointing to Southport. I was
consulting a guidebook of Southport and the caption read: “Well I
know it’s about here somewhere”. You never know who’s listening do
you! I didn’t keep a copy at the time and neither cartoon has been
traced, but we did find an amusing one depicting my brother George
and some other ‘characters’ of the day, playing in the Tournament in
1931, probably by the same cartoonist. (Maybe the ones I was in will
turn up someday). I had a 78 and fared even worse at Southport and
Ainsdale. Needless to say I did not qualify. The champion in 1931
and 1932 was not there in 1938. Henry Cotton had decided that
36-hole qualifying was a waste of time and effort and he declined
the invitation to play, preferring to attend the Walker Cup trials
at St Andrews. “It is really a waste of time coming here
qualifying”, he told reporters, adding that it was two good rounds
thrown away and pointing out that it didn’t happen in America. “If I
win the Open this year I very much doubt if I will ever play in a
tournament in which there are qualifying rounds again”, said Henry.
He didn’t win at Sandwich, but it was not for the want of trying, as
you will hear.
Percy Alliss arrived at Hesketh to discover that he should have been
at Southport and Ainsdale. He jumped back into his car and raced to
the other side of Southport, arriving on the tee with minutes to
spare. It is just as well that the speed cameras now on that road
were not there back then. Not surprisingly Percy started with a
bogie but settled down to score 74, which was only two shots behind
the leader Alf Bignall, the pro from nearby Ormskirk. The defending
champion, Alf Padgham, had driven the green at the 363 yard third
and was obviously putting
Having commenced live transmission of football the previous year, in
1938 BBC television covered golf for the first time, in a general
sports feature from my old club – Roehampton, but coverage of
tournaments was still some way off. [In April Bert and Dick Burton
beat Jimmy Adams and Bill Davies 5&4 in a 36-hole exhibition match
at West Cheshire]. The season opened in May with heavy rain and a
cold northeasterly gale testing the competitors in a qualifying
round for the Dunlop Southport Tournament at Hesketh. I was having a
bad driving day and this was most likely the scene of the other
cartoons I was featured in, which I mentioned earlier. I was usually
pretty accurate off the tee, but on this occasion I was spraying
them to all points of the compass and on one hole I hit a
particularly wild one and was lucky to find the ball, but was so far
off line that I couldn’t see the green. I had nearly reached the
club access road, which is noted for its fine old lampposts, and I
shinned up one of these to get a sight of the green before playing
my shot. Afterwards the usual inquests were taking place over a
drink and I remarked that I had been hitting my drives into the next
county and joked with my companions about climbing the lamppost.
Unknown to us a cartoonist from one of the local papers overheard
our conversation and the next day I was depicted at the top of the
lamppost wearing a sailor hat and peering through a telescope. In
another cartoon I was seen in an asparagus field at nearby Formby,
on the edge of which was a finger post pointing to Southport. I was
consulting a guidebook of Southport and the caption read: “Well I
know it’s about here somewhere”. You never know who’s listening do
you! I didn’t keep a copy at the time and neither cartoon has been
traced, but we did find an amusing one depicting my brother George
and some other ‘characters’ of the day, playing in the Tournament in
1931, probably by the same cartoonist. (Maybe the ones I was in will
turn up someday). I had a 78 and fared even worse at Southport and
Ainsdale. Needless to say I did not qualify. The champion in 1931
and 1932 was not there in 1938. Henry Cotton had decided that
36-hole qualifying was a waste of time and effort and he declined
the invitation to play, preferring to attend the Walker Cup trials
at St Andrews. “It is really a waste of time coming here
qualifying”, he told reporters, adding that it was two good rounds
thrown away and pointing out that it didn’t happen in America. “If I
win the Open this year I very much doubt if I will ever play in a
tournament in which there are qualifying rounds again”, said Henry.
He didn’t win at Sandwich, but it was not for the want of trying, as
you will hear. 
Percy Alliss arrived at Hesketh to discover that he should have been
at Southport and Ainsdale. He jumped back into his car and raced to
the other side of Southport, arriving on the tee with minutes to
spare. It is just as well that the speed cameras now on that road
were not there back then. Not surprisingly Percy started with a
bogie but settled down to score 74, which was only two shots behind
the leader Alf Bignall, the pro from nearby Ormskirk. The defending
champion, Alf Padgham, had driven the green at the 363 yard third
and was obviously putting