Alex Caygill
Alex Caygill | |||
---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||
Full name | Gordon Alexander Caygill | ||
Born | Appleby-in-Westmorland, England | 24 April 1940||
Sporting nationality | England | ||
Career | |||
Status | Professional | ||
Former tour(s) | European Tour | ||
Professional wins | 20 | ||
Best results in major championships | |||
Masters Tournament | DNP | ||
PGA Championship | DNP | ||
U.S. Open | DNP | ||
The Open Championship | T16: 1966 | ||
Achievements and awards | |||
|
Gordon Alexander Caygill (born 24 April 1940) is an English professional golfer. He had considerable early success as a young professional from 1960 to 1963 but then had a lean period, partly due to a stomach ulcer. He made a comeback in the late 1960s, winning two tournaments in early 1969, and gained a place in the 1969 Ryder Cup team.
Professional career
[edit]Caygill turned professional at an early age, becoming an assistant professional at West Bowling Golf Club near Bradford.[1] He was briefly an assistant at Sunningdale, during which time he won the 1960 British Youths Open Championship at Pannal Golf Club by 7 strokes.[2] He became an assistant at Pannal in 1961 and was chosen that year by Henry Cotton as his Rookie of the Year.[3] In 1962 he won the British Youths Open Championship, which was again played at Pannal, for a second time, winning this time by 12 strokes.[4] He had more success in 1963, winning the Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament and the Rediffusion Tournament in the same week.[5][6] In the 1964 Swallow-Penfold Tournament Caygill led Peter Alliss by 3 strokes with 5 holes to play but finished badly to drop into a tie for second place.[7]
After his early successes he did not win again on the circuit until 1969 having suffered with stomach ulcers.[8] That year he won twice, first at the Penfold Tournament,[9] and then again at the Martini International, where he tied with South African Graham Henning.[10] Caygill finished 8th in the points list for the Great Britain and Ireland 1969 Ryder Cup team.[11] The leading six were chosen automatically and Caygill was one of the remaining six selected by a committee a few days later.[12] He only played one match, partnering Brian Huggett in Friday's foursomes. They halved their match against the American pair of Raymond Floyd and Miller Barber.[13] He finished the season 9th in the Order of Merit.[14]
In 1970 Caygill had his only foreign win, the Lusaka Dunlop Open on the Safari Circuit, finishing two strokes of Craig Defoy.[15] He played a limited number of events during the early years of the European Tour, from 1972 to 1977. His best finish was to reach the semi-final of the 1975 Piccadilly Medal.[16] Caygill finished third in the 1974 PGA Club Professionals' Championship to qualify for the Diamondhead Cup, the forerunner of the PGA Cup.[17] Caygill made 14 appearances in the Open Championship between 1962 and 1977, making the cut six times.[18]
Caygill became the professional at Cleckheaton Golf Club in the mid-1960s, leaving in 1973 to join the Pleasington club in Lancashire.[19] He later moved to the Crimple Valley club, near Harrogate and later to Branshaw.[20][21] In 1981 Caygill was fined £500 and suspended by the PGA following an incident the previous October at the Wansbeck Classic, a pro-am event.[21]
Professional wins (20)
[edit]Great Britain and Ireland wins (6)
[edit]Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 Aug 1960 | British Youths Open Championship | 66-71-71-71=279 | 7 strokes | Campbell Brownlee (a) | [2] |
10 Aug 1962 | British Youths Open Championship | 74-73-72-68=287 | 12 strokes | Cliff Bowman (a) | [22] |
26 Sep 1963 | Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament | 71-76-69=216 | 2 strokes | Malcolm Gregson, Tony Jacklin | [5] |
29 Sep 1963 | Rediffusion Tournament | 70-68-66-67=271 | Playoff | David Snell, Flory Van Donck | [6] |
3 May 1969 | Penfold Tournament | 67-70-70-71=278 | 2 strokes | Christy O'Connor Snr | [9] |
14 Jun 1969 | Martini International | 70-66-77-69=282 | Tie | Graham Henning | [10] |
Safari circuit wins (1)
[edit]Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 Mar 1970 | Lusaka Dunlop Open | −7 (70-68-73-74=285) | 2 strokes | Craig Defoy | [15] |
Other wins (13)
[edit]- 1961 Yorkshire Professional Championship[23]
- 1963 Northern Professional Championship (incorporating the Leeds Cup)[24][25]
- 1964 Yorkshire Professional Championship,[26] Ryder Cup Reunion Foursomes Tournament (with Ken Bousfield)[27]
- 1966 Yorkshire Professional Championship,[28] Gleneagles Hotel Foursomes Tournament (with Bernard Cawthray)[29]
- 1967 Leeds Cup[30]
- 1971 Yorkshire Open[31]
- 1973 Leeds Cup,[19] Lancashire Open[32]
- 1974 Northern Professional Championship[33]
- 1978 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Julia Greenhalgh),[34] Yorkshire Professional Championship[20]
Results in major championships
[edit]Tournament | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Open Championship | CUT | CUT | T17 | CUT | T16 | CUT | T24 | T25 |
Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Open Championship | T41 | CUT | CUT | CUT | T63 | CUT |
Note: Caygill only played in The Open Championship.
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Source:[18]
Team appearances
[edit]- Ryder Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1969 (tie)[35]
- Diamondhead Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1974[36]
References
[edit]- ^ "Conditions perfect at Pannal". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 26 September 1956. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Caygill's record aggregate". The Glasgow Herald. 6 August 1960. p. 5.
- ^ "Cdr. Roe awarded writers' trophy". The Daily Telegraph. 20 December 1961. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Caygill youths' champion for a second time". Glasgow Herald. 11 August 1962.
- ^ a b "G A Caygill's victory at Selsdon Park". The Glasgow Herald. 27 September 1963. p. 6.
- ^ a b "Victory for Caygill in play-off". The Glasgow Herald. 30 September 1963. p. 4.
- ^ "Penfold and Swallow win for Alliss". The Glasgow Herald. 11 May 1964. p. 5.
- ^ "Record 66 puts Caygill three ahead". Glasgow Herald. 14 June 1969.
- ^ a b "Caygill wins after dispute with rival". The Glasgow Herald. 5 May 1969. p. 15.
- ^ a b "Caygill and Henning tie for Martini". The Glasgow Herald. 16 June 1969. p. 5.
- ^ "Gallacher nosed out by 1/2 point". The Daily Telegraph. 16 July 1969. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ward-Thomas, Pat (21 July 1969). "Gallacher wins Ryder place". The Guardian. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Alliss, Peter (1983). The Who's Who of Golf. Orbis Publishing. p. 222. ISBN 0-85613-520-8.
- ^ "Gallacher top". The Daily Telegraph. 3 October 1969. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Caygill leads British sweep". The Glasgow Herald. 24 March 1970. p. 7.
- ^ "British golf prestige takes another knock". The Glasgow Herald. 12 May 1975. p. 19.
- ^ "'Wild' Bill is champion". The Glasgow Herald. 3 June 1974. p. 5.
- ^ a b Brenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860-2008. Vol. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.
- ^ a b "Caygill leaves Yorks in style". The Guardian. 5 May 1973. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Cockin, Geoff (10 May 1978). "Bickerdike does his first hole in one". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Alex Caygill is suspended". Evening Times. 7 January 1981.
- ^ "Caygill youths' champion for a second time". The Glasgow Herald. 11 August 1962. p. 5.
- ^ "Caygill's double success". The Guardian. 20 May 1961. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Northern title for Caygill". Birmingham Post. 3 August 1963. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mr. Arthur Hill". Liverpool Echo. 18 July 1963. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Caygill wins title by Muscroft sets new record". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 13 August 1964. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bousfield and Caygill win by two strokes". The Guardian. 14 September 1964. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "'Steady golf' earns Alex Caygill third pro. title". Hull Daily Mail. 16 June 1966. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cotton's challenge ends gallantly". The Glasgow Herald. 29 October 1966. p. 11.
- ^ "Caygill does it". The Guardian. 29 July 1967. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Caygill's title at last". The Guardian. 15 July 1971. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Johnson, Bill (8 September 1973). "Caygill completes double". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Caygill beats Platts in play-off". The Guardian. 19 June 1974. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Second chance for Sandy?". The Glasgow Herald. 24 March 1978.
- ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Jamieson only British winner". The Glasgow Herald. 1 November 1974. p. 4.
External links
[edit]- Alex Caygill at the European Tour official site