Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament

Last updated
Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament
Tournament information
Location Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
Established 1959
Course(s) Sherwood Forest Golf Club
Month played August
Final year 1959
Final champion
Dai Rees
and
Dennis Smalldon

The Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played at Sherwood Forest Golf Club near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in England. The event was held just once, on 28 and 29 August 1959, and had total prize money of £2,100. The event was sponsored by Sir Stuart Goodwin, a Yorkshire steel industrialist. [1]

Mansfield town in Nottinghamshire, England

Mansfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, the main town in the District of Mansfield and Mansfield Urban Area. Nestling in the Maun Valley and surrounded by hills, it is some 12 miles (19 km) north of Nottingham, in a largely urban district, most of whose 106,556 population live in Mansfield itself, with Market Warsop a secondary centre. It is adjacent to the urban area of Sutton-in-Ashfield. Mansfield is the only major sub-regional centre in the county, covering an area of 30 square miles. It is the county's one local authority area directly to elect its Mayor. The district has been influenced by its industrial past of coal mining and textiles, which thrived into the 1990s. Today's Mansfield has 20.2 per cent (12,890) of its working-age population seeking key out-of-work benefits. The population has fallen over the last century along with this industrial base, despite some diversification.

Nottinghamshire County of England

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditional county town is Nottingham, though the county council is based in West Bridgford in the borough of Rushcliffe, at a site facing Nottingham over the River Trent.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

A total of 48 players qualified for the final stage through a regional system of 36-hole individual stroke-play. These 48 were drawn into 24 pairs for the final stage. There were four rounds of stroke-play.

Dennis Smalldon, one of the winning pair, died two weeks later after being injured in a road-traffic accident on 6 September. [2] [3]

Dennis Frederick George Smalldon was a Welsh professional golfer. He was killed in a road traffic accident at the age of 33. Smalldon won the Welsh Professional Championship in 1953, 1956 and 1959 and had won the Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament, partnered by Dai Rees, a week before the accident. He had excellent starts to both the 1955 and 1956 Open Championships but faded on both occasions. He twice represented Wales in the Canada Cup.

Winners

Year Winners Country Score Margin
of victory
Runner-up Winner's
share (£)
Ref
1959 Dai Rees &
Dennis Smalldon
Flag of Wales 2.svg  Wales
Flag of Wales 2.svg  Wales
285 3 strokes Flag of Ireland.svg Christy O'Connor Snr &
Flag of England.svg Alan Poulton
150
(each)
[4]

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References

  1. "New tournament". The Times. 27 August 1958. p. 3.
  2. "Six sportsmen injured in road accidents". The Glasgow Herald. 7 September 1959. p. 1.
  3. "Professional golfer". The Glasgow Herald. 14 September 1959. p. 11.
  4. "Rees advice pays off". The Glasgow Herald . 31 August 1959. p. 4.