Maurice Bembridge,who has died aged 79,was one of the best British golfers of the 1970s and a winner of six European Tour events during that decade. He also won 14 other noteworthy tournaments around the world and played in four Ryder Cups.
Maurice Bembridge at Augusta in 1975,the course where he engaged a venomous water moccasin snake a year ealier.Getty
Although never in the very top rank of his profession,Bembridge’s career had some significant highlights,including victories in the Dunlop Masters (1971),the Martini International (1973) and the Viyella PGA championship (1974),all high-profile and lucrative events.
Another highlight was the time when he encountered a venomous snake at the US Masters Tournament in 1974 at the Augusta National Golf Club.
It was during his rewarding period that he produced his outstanding eight-under-par final round of 64 in the US Masters,despite the attentions of some dangerous local wildlife.
Walking up to his drive on the 13th fairway,he discovered that the ball was resting next to a venomous water moccasin snake.
A cottonmouth or water moccasin snake pictured in Florida.Getty
As his caddie scuttled away to the safety of the trees,Bembridge,determined not to interrupt his serene progress,calmly selected the longest club in his bag (a two-iron),sidled up to the snake,hit it on the top of the head and tossed it,still wriggling,into the nearby Rae’s Creek. He then used the same club to knock his ball on to the green,where he two-putted for a birdie four.
In the majors his best performances were fifth in the 1968 Open and ninth in the 1974 US Masters,in which he posted a remarkable fourth-day 64 that still stands as the joint lowest score in the final round of that competition.
A gutsy competitor in matchplay despite a quiet,pipe-smoking disposition,Bembridge made his Ryder Cup debut in 1969 and then played in the next three iterations in 1971,1973 and 1975.
After winding down in the late 1980s he claimed two tournaments on the European Senior Tour and continued to play competitively into his 70s,entering his last notable event,the Swiss Seniors Open,in 2016. In all he made 283 appearances on the European Tour and 282 on the Senior Tour.
Maurice Bembridge was born on February 21,1945 in Worksop,Nottinghamshire,where he learned to play at Worksop golf club,becoming an assistant pro there after turning professional in 1960 at the age of 15.
By 1967 he had moved to Little Aston golf club in Sutton Coldfield,a base from which he notched up his first significant win,at the 1968 Kenya Open,and then,in the same year,came fifth in the Open at Carnoustie,where he was the highest placed British competitor.
In 1969,after retaining the Kenya Open title and winning the prestigious News of the World Matchplay event,he was selected to play in the Ryder Cup against the USA at Royal Birkdale,winning two and halving one of his five matches as Great Britain and Ireland tied overall,a rare feat in those days of American dominance. In the 1973 Ryder Cup at Muirfield he and Brian Huggett beat the fabled pairing of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer 3&1.
The advent of an official European Tour in 1972 had coincided with Bembridge’s peak,and he won five tournaments on the new circuit during a purple patch between 1973 and 1975,including the Piccadilly Medal (1974) and the German Open (1975).
Much slimmer pickings followed the riches of the early to mid-1970s,until a final tour victory in 1979 at the Benson&Hedges International Open at Mellion in Cornwall,where he held off Ken Brown by two shots with rounds of 67,67,69 and 69.
Retiring from the fray in 1987,he later joined the European Senior Tour,with wins in Jersey (1996) and Sweden (1998). He also served for nine years on the tour’s committee,before becoming its chairman from 2007 to 2011. In his final years he lived and played in St Gallen in Switzerland,joking that he was still searching for the perfect round of golf.
The Telegraph,London
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