Peter Townsend (golfer)

Peter Michael Paul Townsend (born 16 September 1946)[1] is an English professional golfer. After a very successful amateur career he turned professional in 1966. He had a number of wins in the early part of his professional career including the Piccadilly PGA Close Championship in 1968. He represented Great Britain twice in the Ryder Cup, in 1969 and 1971.

Peter Townsend
Personal information
Full namePeter Michael Paul Townsend
Born (1946-09-16) 16 September 1946
Cambridge, England
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Nationality England
ResidenceSt Albans, England
Career
Turned professional1966
Former tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
European Seniors Tour
Professional wins18
Number of wins by tour
Sunshine Tour1
European Senior Tour1
Other16
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament42nd: 1969
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenCUT: 1969
The Open ChampionshipT13: 1972, 1974

Amateur career

Townsend had a very successful amateur career. He won the Boys Amateur Championship in 1962 and 1964, the Carris Trophy in 1964 and the British Youths Open Amateur Championship in 1965. In 1966 he won both the Brabazon Trophy and the Lytham Trophy and made the cut in the Open Championship finishing as the second-best amateur to Ronnie Shade. He was selected for Great Britain & Ireland in the 1965 Walker Cup and the 1966 Eisenhower Trophy. He turned professional in December 1966 under the management of Mark McCormack.[2]

Professional career

Townsend won the 1967 Dutch Open in his first season as a professional.[3] In 1968 he won two British tournaments, the Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship and the Piccadilly PGA Close Championship.[4][5] He was also runner-up in the Open de France and the R.T.V. International Trophy.[6] These good performances gained him an entry to the Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship at Royal Birkdale where he finished second to Gay Brewer, winning over £6,000.[7] At the end of the year he travelled to Australia. He won The Western Australian Ten Thousand and finished runner-up at the Wills Masters (where he lost in a playoff to Gary Player) and the Dunlop International.[8][9][10]

After this promising start to his career, Townsend played a number of events on the PGA Tour in 1968, 1969, and 1970. He did not, however, enjoy the same degree of success although he did have four top-10 finishes in 1969, including a solo fourth place in the Western Open.

As well as playing in a number of PGA Tour events, Townsend was runner-up to Tony Jacklin in the 1970 W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament.[11] He had more success in 1971, winning the Walworth Aloyco Tournament in Italy and the Swiss Open and finishing 5th in the Order of Merit.[12][13]

Townsend played on the European Tour from its founding in 1972 to 1982. He never won on the tour although he came close to winning in the 1972 Lancia d'Oro. José María Cañizares led after each of the first three rounds with scores of 69, 70 and 75. However, after a final round 73 (E) he was tied with Townsend at 287 (−5). Cañizares won the playoff at the fifth extra hole with a birdie 3, after hitting a 4-iron to 2 feet from the pin.[14] Townsend was also a runner-up in the 1974 French Open and the 1979 European Open Championship. He finished in the top-10 of the Order of Merit twice: 4th in 1972 and 9th in 1974.

Townsend represented Great Britain twice in the Ryder Cup, in 1969 and 1971. He won his first three matches in 1969, playing twice with Tony Jacklin and once with Christy O'Connor Snr. However he lost in the next two sessions and was not selected for the final singles matches. In 1971 he played in all six sessions but lost each time, although four of the matches went to the final hole. He twice played for England in the World Cup, playing with Peter Butler in 1969 and Maurice Bembridge in 1974.

On turning professional, Townsend became the touring professional at Porters Park Golf Club, south of St Albans, where he had played as an amateur. In 1970 he became the touring professional at Portmarnock Golf Club where he stayed until 1990, having replaced Harry Bradshaw as the club professional. Townsend was elected Captain of the Professional Golfers' Association in 1994.

After turning 50, Townsend played on the European Senior Tour from 1996 to 2006, winning the Royal Westmoreland Barbados Open in March 2002.

Personal life

Townsend married Irish model Lorna Hogan, a niece of golfer Joe Carr, in 1969. They had three children—sons Stuart, an actor, Dylan, a writer, and daughter Chloe, a jewellery designer. His wife, Lorna, died of a brain haemorrhage in 1994. Townsend and his Swedish wife, Sofia, have two children, Hugo and Ella.[15]

Amateur wins

Professional wins (18)

Sunshine Tour wins (1)

Safari Circuit wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 26 Mar 1978 Zambia Open −14 (71-68-68-67=274) 4 strokes Brian Barnes

European circuit wins (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up Ref
1 24 Jul 1967 Dutch Open 72-69-69-72=282 1 stroke Sewsunker Sewgolum [3]
2 31 Aug 1968 Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship 70-68-66-66=270 3 strokes Bernard Gallacher [4]
3 21 Sep 1968 Piccadilly PGA Close Championship 70-70-69-66=275 1 stroke Neil Coles [5]
4 10 Apr 1971 Walworth Aloyco Tournament 72-66-68-71=277 2 strokes Maurice Bembridge [17]
5 31 Jul 1971 Swiss Open 70-69-61-70=270 1 stroke Manuel Ballesteros [13]

Caribbean Tour wins (2)

Other wins (8)

European Senior Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 16 Mar 2002 Royal Westmoreland Barbados Open −4 (71-71-70=212) 1 stroke Guillermo Encina

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1972 Lancia d'Oro José María Cañizares Lost to birdie on fifth extra hole

Results in major championships
Tournament 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Masters Tournament 42
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship T23 CUT T16 T45 T40 T13 55 T13 T57 CUT CUT CUT T19 T54

Note: Townsend never played in the PGA Championship.

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd-round cut in 1968 Open Championship)
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References
  1. "Peter Michael Paul Townsend". Companies House.
  2. "Townsend turns professional". The Glasgow Herald. 7 December 1966. p. 5.
  3. "Townsend is Dutch Open champion". The Glasgow Herald. 25 July 1967. p. 4.
  4. "Townsend not to play on American circuit during the winter". The Glasgow Herald. 2 September 1968. p. 5.
  5. "Townsend's first major triumph as professional". The Glasgow Herald. 23 September 1968. p. 7.
  6. "Golf -- Horton carries off Cork prize". The Times. 26 August 1968. p. 10.
  7. "Brewer's accuracy from tees decisive in Alcan". The Glasgow Herald. 7 October 1968. p. 7.
  8. "Townsend wins West Australian title". The Glasgow Herald. 21 October 1968. p. 5.
  9. "Gary Player wins play-off". The Canberra Times. 43 (12, 154). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 11 November 1968. p. 14. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Devlin with boosts Grout fund by $1,000". The Canberra Times. 43 (12, 160). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 18 November 1968. p. 16. Retrieved 6 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Jacklin ends recession with resounding win". The Glasgow Herald. 28 September 1970. p. 4.
  12. Alliss, Peter (1983). The Who's Who of Golf. Orbis Publishing. p. 302. ISBN 0-85613-520-8.
  13. "Swiss title for Townsend". The Glasgow Herald. 2 August 1971. p. 5.
  14. "Spaniard's spectacular birdie snuffs out Townsend's hopes". The Times. 23 October 1972. p. 7.
  15. Egan, Barry (14 February 2010). "Stuart finds his life goes on after Theron". Independent Woman. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  16. "Peter Townsend". The Glasgow Herald. 19 January 1976. p. 19.
  17. "Townsend takes Walworth". Times-News (Idaho). 11 April 1971. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Play-off to Townsend". The Canberra Times. 44 (12, 471). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 18 November 1969. p. 21. Retrieved 12 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "Townsend wins with 66 in last round". The Glasgow Herald. 21 February 1972. p. 5.
  20. "Townsend wins West Australian title". The Glasgow Herald. 21 October 1968. p. 5.
  21. Thomson, Peter (22 October 1968). "Townsend Has 2 Stroke Win". The Age. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  22. "Jacklin bows to Townsend". The Glasgow Herald. 7 March 1978. p. 22.
  23. McCormack, Mark H. (1982). Dunhill World of Professional Golf 1982. Springwood Books. p. 201. ISBN 0862541018.
  24. "Peter Townsend". The Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1981. p. 15.
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