Callers of Newcastle – The First Pro Golf Tournament I Attended

Golf Monthly, the world’s oldest golf magazine, whose first editor was none other than the peerless Harold Hilton, recently asked the following question on Twitter …

“What was the first pro golf tournament you attended?”

For me, the answer was ‘Callers of Newcastle’, a tournament on the 1977 European Tour, played at Whitley Bay Golf Club, England … just a few weeks before I left home to commence studies as an undergraduate at the University of Sheffield, England.

You will not be surprised to read that my memories of the event have faded over time. Nevertheless, I will never forget …

• watching a triumvirate of golfers who were very much at the lower slopes of their respective professional golf journeys, never thinking that in time they would all join the pantheon of the all-time golfing greats.
• the capricious nature of the British weather, especially during the third round!
• one of the most exciting finishes and congested leaderboards in the history of the European Tour (now rebranded as the DP World Tour).

To offset my faded memories, I decided to comb the archives in the hope of garnering sufficient material to write a few hundred words about this tournament … but the more I researched, the more incredible the material I uncovered, some of which perfectly illustrates how times have changed over the intervening years.

Thus, what follows exceeds a few hundred words … but hopefully, you will still enjoy.

Roy and Ian Caller

The story tees off in early 1974 when brothers and golf fanatics Roy and Ian Caller conceived the utterly ambitious idea to hold an International Open Golf Tournament in the North-East of England to commemorate the 80th anniversary of their family business which had been established in 1897.

The business evolved from cabinet making at the end of the nineteenth century to the opening of the Callers department store located on Northumberland Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Other branches of Callers opened across the North East of England as the business grew.

The Callers department store was also well known for its hugely impressive Christmas window displays.

Tragedy struck in 1969 … some of the mechanical characters in the festive window display caught fire which resulted in one of the worst fires ever witnessed in the centre of Newcastle. It was estimated that the fire which engulfed the store caused £2m worth of damage (equivalent to circa. £37m in 2022) … the damaged store was rebuilt on its original site and officially re-opened in 1971.

Hooked

In an interview, Roy Caller recalled how he became hooked on golf when in 1937 he watched Alf Perry, the Open Champion two years earlier, win a professional golf tournament at Northumberland Golf Club. From that moment on he took a very keen interest in major golf tournaments all around the world.

Along with their fellow director Ron Walton, a three-year plan was drawn up to translate the idea of an extraordinary golf tournament into reality, with the first major milestone being the (critical) selection of the venue.

Whitley Bay Golf Club

Situated close to the stunning Northumberland coastline, Whitley Bay Golf Club is about 10 miles to the North-East of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The club was founded in 1890 and is, without doubt, one of the finest courses in the area. Whilst this undulating par 72 course measures just shy of 6600 yards from the white tees, rather short by today’s professional golf tournament standards, it provides a great test of golf from tee to green, especially when the wind blows.

Roy and Ian Caller had been very impressed by the Whitley Bay Classic, a one-day event played in 1970, and thus they approached Whitley Bay Golf Club with the idea of them hosting an international 72-hole Strokeplay tournament from Thursday, 28th July to Sunday, 31st July 1977. From the outset, the golf club were very excited about the prospect of staging such an ambitious and prestigious event.

Most Famous Missed Putt

The Whitley Bay Classic was played on Sunday, 12th July 1970, the day after the final round of the Open Championship at St Andrews … back then The Open finished on a Saturday.

The 1970 Open will always be remembered as the major that Doug Sanders should have won. Requiring a par at the 72nd and final hole he reached the green in regulation and his birdie putt finished about three feet from the cup. As he was about to putt for par and the claret jug, he was distracted by something on his line and bent down to pick it up! Sanders later admitted he never re-settled over the putt and missed on the right for a bogey five. In the subsequent 18-hole playoff against Jack Nicklaus, Sanders fought valiantly to only be 1 shot down playing the last … both players birdied the hole and Nicklaus was crowned champion golfer of the year.

Classic Field

The field for the following day’s Classic comprised of invited elite amateurs and sportsmen from the area (playing 18-holes) and professionals from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia (playing 36 holes). Several of the professionals had played in The Open including Lee Trevino (T3), Peter Oosterhuis (T6), Neil Coles (T6) and Maurice Bembridge (T13) … which meant travelling late on Saturday from St Andrews to Whitley Bay (circa. 180 miles by road) for an early start on Sunday!

It looked as if the Classic would be welcoming The Open champion as after three rounds Lee Trevino held a 2 shot lead over Nicklaus, Sanders and defending champion Tony Jacklin … but he blew his chances over the opening few holes of the final round. Despite this, Lee Trevino was the main attraction … so much so that a Rolls-Royce left Newcastle upon Tyne on Friday to collect him from St Andrews and drive him to a hotel close to Whitley Bay on Saturday evening!

First Prize

The first prize was £1,000 … a substantial amount for a 1-day event when one considers that Jack Nicklaus’ prize money for winning The Open was £5,250! There was also a variety of spot prizes for any professional who could ace the par 3 3rd or record an eagle at selected par 4 holes.

Admission for spectators was £1 (fantastic value … equivalent to less than £20 in 2022), with most not surprisingly following Super Mex who entertained the galleries throughout the day with his patter and putter! Trevino struggled during the morning round and returned a 3 over par 75 but in the afternoon shot a 3 under par 69, which included a double bogey, three birdies and an eagle … for the latter he won an auto-jet dishwasher! His level par total of 144 secured second place.

The winner was Englishman Maurice Bembridge who shot 69 and 72 for a winning total of 141. Like Trevino, he also won a prize following an eagle, this time at the par 4 15th during his opening round … and the prize was a portable television! As stated in the introduction, times have most definitely changed!

Despite the challenges presented by the British weather (there was heavy rain in the morning and a strong gale in the afternoon), the Whitley Bay Classic was acknowledged by players, spectators and organisers alike as a resounding success.

Planning

Returning to the Callers of Newcastle tournament … with Whitley Bay Golf Club confirmed as the venue a full-time planning team was established from Callers staff, the Golf Club and the North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council.

Over the next three years, a myriad of tasks and activities were planned and successfully completed, including …

• Setting up the tournament headquarters in the Callers head office, before moving the operation to Whitley Bay Golf Club the week before the tournament started.
• The assimilation of the event into the British and European golf tour for 1977 (the only new event added that year) with a total prize fund of £25,000 of which the first prize was £5,000.
• The construction of spectator marquees and a tented village to accommodate an exhibition of golf equipment, a golf book shop and a display by the Northumbrian Tourist Board of local arts and crafts.
• Building spectator walkways at the ravine holes.
• Creating a Press Headquarters, including the installation of telephones for more than 100 correspondents … no internet, mobile phones or social media platforms in 1977!
• Erecting stands around the 18th green to seat 1500 spectators and stands out on the course for a further 450 spectators.
• The configuration and installation of hole-by-hole scoreboards (as used in The Open), including an inter-communication system.
• Setting up catering facilities around the course, including the provision of cold drinks for the players on six of the tees.
• The erection of over a mile of fencing to surround the course where required, combined with the roping off of all fairways and greens.
• Securing the services of 150 volunteers to act as stewards, 70 lady scorers to walk around the course with each group and a gang of local boy scouts to keep the course tidy!

George Simms, who at the time ran the entire Press arrangements for The Open and the Ryder Cup, said that “Outside of those big two events he had not seen better organisation”.

Advertising

A simply brilliant advertisement, the likes of which we will just never see repeated in today’s world, appeared in the local newspapers in the days and weeks leading up to the tournament.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to ascertain the copyright owner for the advert and so I can’t present it within this article. What I can say is that the advertising copy included salient features and messaging such as …

• You have seen the golf stars on the T.V. Now see them in action at Whitley Bay.
• Admission is £1.50 on Thursday and Friday, £2.00 on Saturday and Sunday, and Under 15s is half price.
• Enjoy a great day out at the Callers International Open Golf Tournament at Whitley Bay Golf Club, one of the last qualifying events for the Ryder Cup.
• Licensed Tavern in the Tented Village and Bars on the course, open all day.
• Free Car Parking Space, Free Spectator Stands.
• Refreshments are available all day (with a picture of what looks like a round of sandwiches and a salad garnish … I think!).

Money Back

About six weeks before the tournament, Tony Jacklin (1969 Open Champion and 1970 U.S. Open Champion) announced that he would not be playing.

He acknowledged that an appearance fee had been negotiated and that a letter of intent had been sent but that no contract had been signed and that he had not formally entered the tournament. He was quoted in the newspapers as saying “I am sorry for breaking my word to the sponsor but I must do what is right for me”. It transpired that he needed to play a further four events in the United States to retain his player’s ticket (today’s PGA Tour Card) which meant not playing at Whitley Bay.

Roy Caller responded by saying “I am taking this very bitterly” followed by “Anyone who has bought tickets for the tournament on the strength of Jacklin playing in it will be given their money back if they want it”.

A Sprinkling of Champions

The tournament attracted golfers from all corners of the globe including a sprinkling of past, current and future major champions. In no particular order …

• David Graham (Australia), who went on to win the PGA in 1979 and the U.S. Open in 1981
• Orville Moody (United States), U.S. Open champion in 1969
• Bob Charles (New Zealand), Open champion in 1963, and the first lefty to win a major
• Dave Stockton (United States), PGA champion in 1970 and 1976
• Lon Hinkle (United States), who would win the World Long Drive Championship in 1981

The home nations were represented by European Tour and Ryder Cup stalwarts such as Ken Brown, Mark James, Tommy Horton, Neil Coles, Brian Huggett and Bernard Gallacher … and many many more.

Lastly, there were three (young) professional golfers that I and hundreds of others wanted to watch … you might have heard of them!

• Seve Ballesteros (age 20) ~ announced himself on the international golfing stage when finishing runner-up to Johnny Miller in the 1976 Open. At the Callers, he was struggling with a back injury (an injury which dogged him throughout his career), but he was determined to play in the tournament and the Pro-Am.
• Nick Faldo (age 20) ~ won the English Amateur in 1975, turned professional in 1976 and later in 1977 was named European Tour rookie of the year and made his Ryder Cup debut.
• Greg Norman (age 22) ~ in 1975 he became an Assistant Professional in Australia and the following year started playing tournament golf. A few weeks before the Callers of Newcastle he won the Martini International, his first success on the European Tour.

Pre-Qualifying

Pre-Qualifying was held over 18 holes at Tynemouth and Ponteland Golf Clubs with 26 places available at both courses for the main event.

Jeff Thomsen from the United States led the qualifiers at Tynemouth with a 66, a new professional course record. Another impressive score was posted by Richard Emery … penalised 2 shots for being late on the tee he signed for a 70 and qualified!

14 players had to then playoff for the final 2 places … play continued in heavy rain until almost dusk to finally decide the final 2 qualifiers.

Conditions were equally challenging at Ponteland with only 2 players breaking 70 … American Gaylord Burrows headed the qualifies with a stunning 66, including 4 birdies and an eagle, to set a new course record. There should have been a playoff but one of the golfers had already left to play in another tournament in Scotland and thus the playoff was no longer required!

Pro-Am

The Pro-Am was played at Whitley Bay on the same day as pre-qualifying where local professional Doug McClelland won with a 68, one shot ahead of Neil Coles.

David Graham recorded a hole-in-one at the 194 yards 17th, though my research did not uncover what he won as a prize!

Course Record

Despite the blustery conditions, the course record was broken twice during the opening round.

Channel Islander Tommy Horton was one of the early starters and he posted a record-breaking 67 which included 6 birdies, the only blemish being a dropped shot at the par 3 17th where his tee shot found a greenside bunker. Not long afterwards, South African John Fourie bettered the course record with a brilliant six under par 66.

Three weeks earlier, Fourie had finished T22 in The ‘Duel in the Sun’ Open at Turnberry won by Tom Watson. At the end of the championship, he felt poorly … indeed, he started to get severe pains in his chest and thought he was having a heart attack.

A doctor diagnosed that the pains were caused by a pulled chest muscle … but Fourie was not convinced so returned home to South Africa for a holistic examination. Thankfully, it was only a muscular problem and following deep heat treatment, he returned to action at Whitley Bay.

After his record-breaking first round, he jokingly told the press “I’m a bit surprised to be in front, but I need the money after spending £600 to go home for a thorough medical check”.

Neil Coles was one of the late starters and he equalled Tommy Horton’s 67, thanks mainly to 12 single putts!

Honesty and Integrity

Maurice Bembridge, the winner of the Whitley Bay Classic, hit his second shot at the 9th just wide of the green. But when he placed his sand iron behind the ball for his third shot the ball fractionally moved. The ball movement was not noticed by either of his playing partners or any of the watching gallery.

Bembridge immediately called a penalty shot on himself and after his disappointing round of 78 he said: “the ball only moved about a quarter of an inch but that was enough for me … it was a penalty and I had to call it on myself”.

Mixed Fortunes

Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros were drawn in the mid-morning marquee 3-ball. Faldo constructed an exquisite 4 under par 68 … an approach which would become his playing trademark! After a dropped shot at the par 3 3rd, he birdied the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th with a further birdie on the back 9.

Ballesteros struggled to a 3 over par 75 but it was obvious to all that his movement was being hindered by his back injury. Having said that, some of his shots were magical, impossible, wayward … all very much Seve-esque!

At the end of the first round, the top of the leaderboard was as follows …

• 66 – John Fourie
• 67 – Tommy Horton, Neil Coles
• 68 – Nick Faldo, Orville Moody
• 69 – David Huish, Bob Risch

Making the Cut

The best score in the second round was a 5 under par 67 posted by 52-year-old Christy O’Connor Senior. Turning back the golfing clock, O’Connor mastered the tricky conditions to be the early halfway leader in the clubhouse on 138 (6 under par).

Standing on the 18th tee, Scotland’s Bernard Gallacher required a birdie to equal the course record. But he pulled his second shot into deep rough and did well to bogey the closing hole for a 4 under par 68 and a 36-hole total of 141.

John Fourie battled hard to return a 1 under par 71 and maintain his one-shot lead at the end of the second round.

Greg Norman started the second day at level par. A large gallery, including myself, watched on as he smote some unbelievable prodigious drives on the long par 4s and par 5s … and in those days with a Persimmon Driver! In the modern era, Norman set the gold standard for combining distance with accuracy. But he did not have much luck on and around the greens and finished with a one-over par 73.

At the halfway point, the top of the leaderboard was as follows …

• 137 – John Fourie
• 138 – Christy O’Connor Senior
• 139 – Neil Coles, David Graham, Bob Risch
• 140 – Nick Faldo, Angel Gallardo, Howard Clark, Orville Moody, Geoffrey Parslow

The cut was made at 147 (3 over par). Notable casualties who failed to make the cut included Ken Brown, Maurice Bembridge, Bob Charles, Brian Barnes and reigning PGA champion Dave Stockton.

Local Knowledge

21-year-old Ian Davison played off a handicap of 4 and had been a member of Whitley Bay Golf Club for a couple of years. After pacing the course a few weeks before the tournament he decided to try and offer his services as a caddie. A chance meeting before the practice round on Monday led to him caddying for … John Fourie!

In the words of John Fourie (which I have paraphrased) …

“Ian has probably saved me 3 shots so far. Being a local player he seems to know the distance into the greens. On a couple of occasions, I wanted to play a 6-iron but Ian insisted I take a 5-iron…both times I stuck with the 6-iron and came up short! He also knows the pace of the greens which are extremely fast and at times he advised me not to hit the putt too hard”

Congested Leaderboard

A stiff breeze, which got stronger throughout the day, welcomed the early starters for the third round. That did not prevent Irishman Liam Higgins, first off, starting with four consecutive birdies. He eventually signed for a 3 under par 69 and moved up the leaderboard to be T24 at the end of the day.

The best round of the day was returned by Englishman Brian Waites with a 5 under par 67 to be in a tie for ninth on 212. Brian Huggett, Doug McClelland and Manual Pinero all shot 4 under par 68s to finish the day on totals of 212, 213 and 214 respectively.

Overnight leader John Fourie dropped a couple of shots to slip into a tie for 3rd. At the end of the third round, the top of the leaderboard was rather congested as follows …

• 210 – Angel Gallardo, Christy O’Connor Senior
• 211 – John Fourie, David Graham, Tommy Horton, Howard Clark, Lon Hinkle, Simon Hobday
• 212 – Peter Butler, Brian Huggett, Brian Waites, Bill Brask, Andries Oosthuizen

What a Finish

Organisers and sponsors Roy and Ian Caller could not have wished for a more exciting finish. For the purposes of this narrative, I have focused on the mixed fortunes of Angel Gallardo, Christy O’Connor Senior, John Fourie, Tommy Horton and Peter Butler.

Peter Butler was one of the leading British golfers of his generation. By the turn, he had opened up a two-shot lead over the chasing pack following an outward half of 32. Despite a disappointing back 9, his 2 under par 70 was good enough to set the clubhouse lead on 282 (6 under par). After a slow start, John Fourie birdied the 10th and 11th to get back into contention, and an 18-foot putt on the 18th saw him join Butler as the clubhouse leader.

Christy O’Connor Senior’s chances evaporated after a disastrous triple bogey at the 10th. Tommy Horton then made his charge on the back 9 with 3 birdies from the 10th. With only the 17th and 18th to successfully navigate, Horton was in the lead at 8 under par whilst his playing partner Angel Gallardo was 4 under par. Convinced that Horton would win, Peter Butler had already changed into his suit, collar and tie!

But then … at the par 3 17th Horton dropped a shot by three-putting and Gallardo gained a shot by sinking a nine-foot birdie putt. At the par 5 18th Horton found trouble after hooking his second shot and could do no better than a bogey to also finish the tournament on 6 under par. Meanwhile, Gallardo birdied the last from five feet to incredibly set up a 4-man playoff!

Thus, after 4 rounds of brilliant tournament golf which ebbed and flowed throughout, the final leaderboard was as follows …

• 282 – Peter Butler, Tommy Horton, John Fourie, Angel Gallardo
• 283 – Bob Risch, Brian Waites, Howard Clark
• 284 – David Jagger, Bernard Gallacher, Peter Dawson, Bill Brask, David Graham

Quite remarkably Nick Faldo (68-72-76-73), Seve Ballesteros (75-71-74-69) and Greg Norman (72-73-72-72) finished T29 with a total of 289! Apart from Faldo’s opening round they were never a factor in the tournament but the experience and memories of watching them close up for the first time have hardly diminished over the years.

Playoff

The par 4 16th was nominated as the sudden death playoff where John Fourie and Angel Gallardo recorded regulation fours. Unfortunately, Tommy Horton and Peter Butler were both eliminated … Horton three-putted from 30 feet whilst Butler was unable to get down in two shots from over the back of the green.

The playoff continued at the par 3 17th. Gallardo found sand with his tee shot … then Fourie sensibly played for the middle of the green. Gallardo splashed out to 12 feet. Fourie then rolled his 30-foot putt to within inches of the hole for a guaranteed par. Gallardo knew he had to make his putt to keep his chances alive … but his putt agonisingly missed.

John Fourie had fought back valiantly after his health issues a few weeks earlier and his relatively disappointing third round to win the Callers of Newcastle and with it the first prize of £5,000.

Postscript

This tournament was John Fourie’s only victory on the European Tour. In 1992 he joined the European Seniors Tour (its debut season) and later that year won the Senior British Open by 3 strokes from Bob Charles and Neil Coles and ended the season winning the Seniors Tour Order of Merit. He played on this Tour until the early 2000s.

As we all know Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman became legends of the game … winning thirteen majors between them, a combined total of 489 weeks ranked World #1 and have all been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Despite being a phenomenal success and a huge boost for Whitley Bay Golf Club and the North-East of England, the 1977 Callers of Newcastle tournament was a one-off … and sadly the Callers department store ceased trading in the 1980s.

The Nineteenth

I hope you have enjoyed this article.

It would be brilliant if you could share details of the first professional golf tournament you attended and any associated highlights or memories … if so, please use the comment section below or via our Contact Page … I look forward to hearing from you.

Acknowledgements

And finally, a massive thanks to …

• Whitley Bay Golf Club members Rosie Belsham (England International and in 2022 ranked in the Top 100 college golfers in the United States) and her dad Chris … for kindly sharing photographs from the Callers of Newcastle tournament.
• Adam Bell, Assistant Keeper, Social History, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums … for kindly permitting me to use a photograph from 1964 of the Callers department store in Newcastle upon Tyne.

For the photograph of Greg Norman …

• Attribution to Ted Van Pelt, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.