Sandwich Spread - Henry Cotton's 1934 Open Victory

When Henry Cotton’s prized possessions were auctioned at Sotheby’s in the summer of 1996, the highlight of the sale – the gold medal from his 1934 Open triumph – was dramatically withdrawn at the eleventh hour. As the room hushed for Lot 176, the auctioneer announced: ‘Sold by private treaty to the R&A for an undisclosed sum’.

Whether the R&A forked out the £20,000 estimated at the time they’re not saying, but they weren’t going to let the ultimate memento of such a landmark moment in British golfing history slip through their fingers (even if Cotton’s two other Open medals, Carnoustie 1937 and Muirfield 1948, went to other bidders for £9,200 and £12,600, respectively).

Meanwhile, other items of ‘Maestro Memorabilia’ under the hammer that day included a bronze bust (£7,130); a silver trophy modelling his textbook grip (£11, 500); a presentation box of Dunlop 65 golf balls (£2,185); his 1953 Ryder Cup Team Captain badge (£1,610); and Cotton’s own personal album of newspaper cuttings documenting every detail of the drama of the 1934 Open.

The album was bought by Golf International writer, Dominic Pedler, who recounts the extraordinary events at Sandwich that summer.

Henry Cotton’s Victory at the 1934 open at Royal St George’s not only confirmed the promise of Britain’s 27-year-old major hope at the very highest level, it was a landmark in British golfing history that also saw the claret jug recaptured after a decade of American domination dating back to Arthur Havers at Troon, in 1923. Walter hagen, Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones had been among the all-conquering heroes during that time; causing the home game to wallow in a deep inferiority complex – reinforced in early 1934 by Us success in the Walker Cup and British amateur.

But over the course of five days that summer, Cotton not merely broke the spell but transformed British golf, astonishing the world with his technique and tenacity while comprehensively rewriting the record books.

he smashed the 18-, 36- and 54-hole open records in a performance which, in the words of Golfing Magazine at the time, “eclipsed anything that has ever been done since golf began”. Gene Sarazen, the pre-tournament favourite and champion two years previously at princes, acclaimed it “as near perfect golf as man can hope to play,” while even Bobby Jones, who had previously epitomised the concept of golfing perfection, volunteered: “it is difficult to conceive of the superb play by which he achieved his victory.”

However, Cotton’s victory would only be secured after a near collapse in the final round that turned what should have been a procession into a rollercoaster finale. the newspaper reports in Cotton’s scrapbook capture the drama as well as the euphoria and sense of awe that greeted his golf that week, starting with his qualifying rounds which were mandatory in those days.

66: 1st qualifying round (Monday June 25, 1934)

Ironically, for all the achievements in the championship proper, Cotton would always nominate the 66 he shot in qualifying as his finest round of the week.

The Royal St George’s course record of 68 (held by amateurs E. Merton Smith and Douglas Grant) had stood for 20 years, with George Duncan’s 69 at the 1922 Open being the lowest professional score. But Cotton beat both these scores three times in three days (and on a newly lengthened layout), starting with a display of shot-making which the Daily Telegraph described the following day as “Flawless to the point of tedium”.

On a course measuring almost 6,800 yards, Cotton was out in 31 and back in 35, without a five – or a single dropped shot – on his card. He was twelve under the official ‘bogey’ of 78 and six under the ‘strict’ par.

Most incredibly, he achieved it with a positively generous 33 putts, the longest being a 15-footer for birdie on the 3rd which helped him play the first six holes in 20 shots. Elsewhere, he lipped-out three times and often tapped-in nonchalantly with the back of his hickory-shafted Braid Mills putter.

Cotton’s extraordinary length off the tee was well documented: George Greenwood of the Daily Telegraph reported drives well past 300-yards “on several occasions”, most notably at the 370-yard 2nd hole, where a “tiny chip” secured his first birdie of the day; and at the 520-yard 14th, ‘Suez’, where he was “pin-high with a driver and spoon” before lipping out for eagle.

Sceptics who assume that course and wind conditions must have been favourable, should note that Sandwich suffered torrential rain the previous night, making the greens receptive but the fairways slow, while several accounts describe how Cotton played Suez against a light wind.

Admittedly, the smaller 1.62 ball was in operation in those days but it still makes sobering reading for those who believe that modern equipment has made such a ruinous impact on the game.

Cotton was never in a bunker and only once in the rough with his only bad shot of the day – a hooked approach to the 13th from which he recovered instantly with a chip and a 7-foot, parsaving putt.

‘A record smashing achievement immaculate in its execution,’ said the Daily Telegraph; ‘One of the greatest rounds ever played,’ claimed many others ranging from the Yorkshire Observer to the great Henry Longhurst.

75: 2nd qualifying round – at Deal (tuesday June 26)

In the excitement it was easy to forget that Cotton’s 66 was ‘merely’ a qualifying round. Indeed, when the 8-1 hot favourite, Gene Sarazen, who had started his 36-hole qualifying at neighbouring Deal that day, was greeted with the news of Cotton’s score he teased that “while it is spectacular, it is wholly unnecessary” and would be soon “wiped from the slate” as the championship proper began.

As if heeding Sarazen’s words, Cotton turned up at Deal for the second qualifying round the following day and matched the modest 75 that Sarazen himself had happily posted 24 hours earlier.

The Times saw this as a welcome calm before the storm. “It was rather to be hoped that Cotton would not play too well and waste too much sweetness on the desert air, so it was rather cheering to hear that he had taken sixes at the 9th and 10th holes.”

The bookies, too, were not fooled – slashing Cotton’s odds to 8-1 joint-favourite after his 36-hole qualifying aggregate of 141 was only beaten by 25-year-old Bert Gadd.

Two other Englishman, Percy Alliss and James Adams also posted 141, while the highest American, MacDonald Smith, was placed 28th. The Daily Express captured the sense of British destiny that evening, “The Union Jack Floats over The Royal St George’s clubhouse. For the first time in 11 years we are unashamedly proud to look at it.”

67: 1st round (Wednesday June 27)

Sarazen had indeed tempted fate. Cotton took up where he had left off at St George’s, striding to a three-shot lead over the field and eight clear of Sarazen himself.

This time his 67 matched the lowest 18-hole score ever recorded in the championship proper, set by Walter Hagen at Muirfield five years previously. Cotton was again out in 31, again almost driving the 2nd green before holing putts of three yards at the 4th and 10 yards at the 5th. He was back in 36 making only one error despite the stiff south-westerly breeze: at the 11th (then a par-4) where a bunker cost him a five.

With Open title-holder, Densmore Shute, the only American in the top-22 at the end of the day, the writing was on the wall.

65: 2nd round (thursday June 28)

Not only did Cotton lower the course record for the second time in three days, his 132 beat the 36-hole Open score set by Sarazen at Prince’s by a full seven shots. It eclipsed Hagen’s (and his own) 67 as the single lowest round in Open history – moreover it was the lowest round ever recorded in the history of any national championship.

While his scorecard boasted all threes and fours, his golf was by no means blemish-free, making five obvious errors in contrast to the single loose shot in each of the previous two rounds at St George’s. One of the most striking images of the day is Cotton extricating himself from the Hades bunker (the old 8th) where his ball was lodged almost at head height. From there he nearly found sand on the other side, some 18 yards from the flag, before getting down in two more en route to an outward half of 33.

The amazing inward 32 also featured some brilliant recovery play. Another fine bunker shot at the 12th saved his par; he almost three-putted Suez after leaving his first putt 10 feet short; and needed a five-yard putt on the 15th after a badly pushed approach into long grass.

No one had ever finished with three threes at St. George’s before. But Cotton managed it, holing from ten feet and six feet for closing birdies in a round in which he had taken 28 putts. His 65 was not bettered in any Open until 1977, while his 36-hole total of 132 stood until Nick Faldo’s 66-64 at Muirfield in 1992. And his nine-shot lead prompted some superlative-strewn eulogies.

“I have seen the wonder round of golf,” began the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent George Greenwood (who, incidentally, had given the young Cotton his first golf lesson at Alleyn’s, in Dulwich). “The one of which I have been dreaming ever since I began to play many years ago.” More prosaically, the Daily Sketch wrote: “Such perfection almost bordered on monotony”.

Eleven shots behind, Densmore Shute – still the closest American challenger – was eloquently lost for words. “What have I to say of Cotton’s golf? Just nothing! It is so phenomenal that it does not admit of speech.”

72: 3rd round (Friday June 29)

Not surprisingly the papers on the final morning were full of ‘The One-Man Tournament’, with the number-crunchers calculating that a modest pair of 75s would see Cotton beat the 72- hole aggregate of 283 set by Gene Sarazen at Princes in 1932. Only the Daily Express, having similarly proclaimed “The Greatest Round Of Golf Ever Played”, managed a “nothing is certain in golf” disclaimer that would almost prove prophetic.

The final 36 holes were scheduled over one day and yet there was little in Cotton’s morning round of 72 to suggest any alarm. While the scoring was not up to his earlier heroics, the mild wind of the previous days had turned into a stiff northwesterly.

Without a five at St George’s all week, he finally succumbed at the 4th when compiling an outward 35 in which he was bunkered twice. A topped shot at the 13th, and a shanked chip (almost sideways when disturbed by a female photographer) at the last, contributed to an inward 37, but Cotton remained in control with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th for a record 54-hole total of 204.

Nevertheless, in its first edition (filed at lunchtime that day) the Evening News wrote ominously: “The only criticism one can make of Cotton’s round was that he was rather timid with some of his approach shots.”

It was to get much worse…

79: 4th round (Friday June 29)

The Times captured the drama of the final afternoon. “All’s well that ends well….but there were moments of agony in the last round that no tongue can tell, and no man ever came nearer to cracking completely. Neither did any man ever pull himself together more bravely when he was nearly gone.”

By all accounts it was a different Henry Cotton who teed off for his final round at 2.45 pm. Gone was the robotic shotmaking machine to be replaced by a tentative, irritable, fallible human. Things began to go immediately wrong: a mishit approach at the 1st brought an early bogey while only a five-yard putt saved par at the 2nd after a badly hooked drive and a hack in the rough. He then took six at the 5th after trying to cut the corner, and missed a tiddler for par at the Maiden hole.

Later that day Trevor Wignall of the Daily Express asked Cotton: “What happened to you this afternoon – was it the wind or what?” Cotton replied: “Foolishly, I took far more luncheon that I should have taken. People in their kindly way were bringing me ice creams and the rest of it. The result was that before I got to the 9th green I was almost sick three times.”

By then he was out in 40, before the wheels really started to come off with three consecutive fives. Without a five on his card for his first 57 holes at Sandwich that week, Cotton was now ‘seven-over- fours’ for the last 12 holes!

But having heard that his closest challenger, Sid Brews, had now finished, and that an 83 would win it, Cotton dug deep into his reserves and somehow arrested the downward spiral with ruthless fours at the tough 13th and again at Suez (his fourth birdie of the week at this long par-five).

After narrowly missing birdies at the 16th and 17th, he had finally righted the ship and victory was now a formality. But he still needed a four at the last to beat Sarazen’s 72-hole record. Sadly, after bunkering his approach he missed the 10-footer and had to be content with a matching the four-round aggregate of 283.

As an early blueprint for modern-day golf perfection, Cotton was not content. “I have only one regret…. I wanted to win by the length of Oxford Street and I believe I would but for the attack of sickness,” he explained.

But Cotton’s sickness was not purely down to the ice cream – or spaghetti, as he would later blame for “the screw that worked loose in the robot golfer”, as the Glasgow News put it. In his pursuit of excellence – and the Open title in particular – Cotton’s health had suffered over several years. In 1931 he had been diagnosed with an ulcerated stomach from nervous exhaustion, gone abroad and given up golf altogether for four months.

When Henry Longhurst asked for the secret of his success in an exclusive interview at his hotel that evening, Cotton immediately paid tribute to the French specialist without whose help he felt he would never have contended.

The image of Cotton being chaired off the 18th green remains a lasting image in the history of the Open. “Cotton has killed the American bogey” ran the Field; while the runners-up, Sid Brews and Alf Padgham (five and seven shots behind), also eclipsed the US pair of Denny Shute and Gene Sarazen (who incidentally shot final rounds of 78 and 80, respectively).

Before we leave the statistics, here is some more trivia: Cotton’s best nines at St George’s during that week were a previously unimaginable 31 out, and 32 back while, taking the best score for each hole, he compiled an eclectic of 60 (twice 30). At the time, the Field pointed out that his first four rounds at Sandwich amounted to 270. “18 under fours! That is a record that will probably stand for all time.” Well, not quite. But it would be 59 years before Greg Norman (267) and Nick Faldo (269) raised the bar once again.

The Dunlop company famously named their next ball the ‘65’ in honour of Cotton’s record round while, half a century later, the gesture lived on as the Maxfli 65 following a corporate relaunch in the mid-1990s.

In the aftermath of the 1934 championship, talk turned inevitably to Cotton’s status in the game and comparisons were made not merely with contemporaries such as Gene Sarazen, but with six-time Open Harry Vardon – and even the great Bobby Jones, to whom we give the last word as quoted in the Daily Telegraph that week.

“I well remember the Sandwich course. I could never break 70. I wish I had been there – but against that kind of golf maybe it is just as well I am safely at home!”