.....................................................FINLAY S MORRIS (1945-1967)

Finlay Morris, the boy

wonder, whose career

was cut short at 22

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
The tragic death of Welsh Walker Cup team candidate Ben Enoch in a car accident on his way to last weekend's Lytham Trophy brought back memories of Finlay Morris, the rising young Scottish professional star, whose life was cut short in similar circumstances, at the age of 22, in November 1967.
Former Ryder Cup player Harry Bannerman was himself coming up to his peak as a player round about that time.
Harry recalls that it was the saddest funeral he had ever attended. Finlay had not only been a very fine young golfer but also a very popular young sportsman.
It is difficult to convey to the modern generation just what Finlay Morris's place was in golf when his career was so abruptly ended.
In my opinion, Finlay was the "Rory McIlroy" of his time, arguably an even better, more successful boy golfer than Rory was.
As Harry Bannerman's wife Hazel sums it up so well:
"Finlay was the reigning Scottish 'wunderkind' in that he had already won the Scottish boys' match-play championship at North Berwick, aged only 14, and then followed that up by winning the British boys’ championship, aged 16, in 1963 (picture above of Finlay with the trophy and also the larger image above, by courtesy of Cawder Golf Club).
"Finlay was certainly runner-up in the Scottish professional championship at Montrose in 1967 to none other than Harry Bannerman, shooting 281 to Harry's 279.
"Harry recollects that Finlay was tragically killed on the Beattock Summit, having played in a winter league competition at Mere, Cheshire, in November 1967.
"His father was driving them home in thick fog and smashed into a stationary lorry. Finlay was the front-seat passenger. His caddy was very lucky in that he was in the rear seat sleeping but was lying in such a position that he had severe leg injuries rather than head injuries."
So if the caddy had been the front-seat passenger and Finlay sleeping in the backseat ...
OK, you might say, but Rory McIlroy played in a Walker Cup match which Finlay Morris didn't. But Walker Cup selectors did not pick teenagers in the GB&I teams of the 1960s and Morris could not hang around. Having become the youngest ever player - at that time - to be capped for Scotland in the men's home internationals, later that month turned professional after his 18th birthday in September 1963.
Cawder Golf Club’s general manager and secretary Fraser Gemmell has very kindly co-operated in my desire to recall the highlights of the short life of Finlay Morris. He sent me the above picture of Finlay from the Cawder Golf Club collection and also an extract about Finlay from the “History of Cawder Golf Club,” compiled by John Cubbage, past club captain and champion.
Here it is:

Brilliant career as a boy golfer from 1960 to 1963

Finlay S Morris, son of Cawder clubmaster Finlay Morris, had a brilliant career as a boy golfer when, between 1960 and 1963, he won practically all the available major boy golf competitions plus several major adult stroke competitions, which culminated in a men’s international cap for Scotland at 18 years of age in the Home Internationals.
He turned professional after this but his professional golfing career tragically came to an end in November 1967 as a result of a car accident. His achievements as a professional did not reach the same heights as his amateur successes but those Cawder members who were privileged to watch and play with Finlay had no doubt that, given time, he would have become one of the leading golfers in Britain.
In 1958, when Finlay senior forsook his ordinary membership for the onerous duties of clubmaster at Cawder Golf Club, his strapping 12-year-old son was already showing great potential as a future first-class golfer. He was coached as a junior member by our professional, Ken Pate, and it was obvious from an early age that golf would become his profession.
An ideal golfing physique of broad shoulders, powerful arms and wrists with the height to match guaranteed length to his game and this, coupled with his unerring accuracy, enabled him at 14 years of age to hit the ball with the precision and length of top-class amateurs and professionals many years his senior.
In 1960, still 14 years old, he won for the second time the Glasgow boys’ championship for his age group, the West of Scotland boys’ championship and reached the semi-final of the British boys’ championship.
At an early age he was also competing successfully with the adults in the 36-hole open stroke-play tournaments and in 1961 he won the Richmond Cup at Dalmahoy against many prominent East of Scotland amateurs.
Dalmahoy was to prove his happy hunting round for it was there that in the same year he also reached the final of the 1961 British boys’ championship and beat C A Clark (Clive Clark who became a Walker Cup player and later a Ryder Cup team member).
Finlay’s selection for the boys international, Scotland v England, and Great Britain v Europe (Jacques Leglise Trophy) matches were automatic and he won all his games. The highly successful year of 1961 culminated in the presentation to Finlay of a watch by Cawder Golf Club in recognition of his tremendous golfing performances to date.
By comparison to the previous year, 1962 was a quiet one with only one major victory, in the Carris Trophy at Moor Park, which he won with an aggregate of 145. Again he performed with credit in the boys’ international against England.
1963 was Finlay’s last year as a junior and his most successful todate. After several years of comparative failure in the tournament, the Scottish boys’ championship finally came his way when he defeated Iain Clark by 9 and 8 in the final at North Berwick. He was honoured by being chosen to captain Scotland against England in the boys’ international (in those days Scotland boys did not play Wales or Ireland).
In men’s golf, Finlay won the Scottish Alliance championship, the Edward Trophy at Glasgow Gailes and the West of Scotland close amateur championship which was played in a gale at Bogside and Morris won with a total of 299, which fully reflected the conditions. He left a strong field of prominent West amateurs trailing by 10 shots or more.
These excellent performances in 1963 earned Finlay a deserved cap in the Scotland team for the men’s home internationals in the distinguished company of Charlie Green, Ronnie Shade and Sandy Saddler. At that time, he was 17, the youngest player to have represented Scotland at this level.
Morris’s departure to the professional ranks after his 18th birthday in September 1963 was marked by Cawder Golf Club with the presentation of a set of golf cuff links.
Finlay’s professional career began as an assistant at Crews Hill Golf Club, London, but he stayed there only four months before returning to take up a post at Littlehill, the Glasgow municipal course.
In his first year as a professional, Finlay’s victories were confined to Alliance events, the Alliance pro-am tournament in partnership with M McIntosh (Cawder) and the Scottish Alliance professional title.
The next two years (1964-65) were distinctly quiet and lacking in success. Although full-time on the British Tour, Finlay, like so many amateurs before him, was finding his transgression from full-time amateur to full-time professional golf not particularly easy. His survival to the last days of tournaments was occurring infrequently until 1967 when the tide appeared to have started to turn in the 21-year-old’s favour.
Finlay was runner-up to Harry Bannerman in the Scottish professional championship at Montrose and produced his best pro performance in winning the Coca-Cola professional tournament at Haggs Castle. His first round 66 was followed by a course record of 63 for a 129 total which left trailing the established stars of David Huish (140), Eric Brown (141) and John Panotn (142).
Morris continued his relentless sub-par golf with rounds of 67, then 66 which gave him an almost unbelievable record low total of 262. Huish was second, 15 strokes behind on 277, with Brown on 278 and Panton 283.
Atlhough this took place on the shorter Haggs Castle course prior to its reconstruction and lengthening, his total of 262 was quoted by the Press at the time as beating the previous British professional record for 72 holes by four shots.
Irrespective of where it sands in the aggregate charts and even although it was not a major British tournament, Finlay’s performances in that tournament were magnificent for a 21-year-old and could have represented the turning point in his professional career towards greater goals.
Towards the end of the 1967 golfing calendar, he had started to qualify regularly for the final day in events on the British Tour. His first final day appearance for a year was the Gallagher Ulster tournament at Shandon Park where he finished 10 shots behind the winner, Bernard Hunt (267).
In the Carrols International Tournament at Woodbrook, Morris’s rounds of 71, 72, 72 and 72 for a total of 287 was 11 shots behind the winner, Christy O’Connor.
I appeared at last as if Finlay, still only just turned 22, was starting to fulfil his early promise.
Then the golf world was shattered by the news of his death in a car accident in fog on the notorious A74 when returning from a tournament in England.
A fitting conclusion to this article are the following extracts from an obituary article written by Raymond Jacobs, golf correspondent of the Glasgow Herald.
“Finlay Morris – 22 last September – was almost unbelievably young for he had been prominent in golf for so long. He first came to national attention in 1960 when, at the age of 14, he was a semi-finalist in the British boys’; championship. From then until 1963 when he turned professional he compiled a magnificent record.”
After listing Finlay’s achievements, Raymond Jacobs wrote:
“Finlay did not produce all that was expected of him as a professional. He hit the ball as instinctively as others wield a knife and fork yet, as a professional he was less consistently successful than players with half his aptitude.
“Much was expected of him and so his comparative failures were the more striking. But he suffered his disappointments cheerfully and perhaps the years would have matured and hardened his approach to a demanding game. It is sad to realise that we shall never know that now.”
In memory of Finlay, his family very generously presented to Cawder Golf Club the putter with which he had achieved his record 262 total at Haggs Castle. On the occasion of the McKinnon Wood competition, it is presented to the Cawder member returning the lowest gross aggregate.

FOOTNOTE BY COLIN FARQUHARSON. There will be some readers who might ask why I have bothered in writing an article about a person who died more than 41 years ago. But I feel that we should remember a Scottish golfer who, but for a tragic accident, would surely have gone on to gain Ryder Cup honours and, who knows, might have won an Open or two. I am shocked that so few people younger than I am remember Finlay Morris. I have been unable to find a golf reference book that gives him even the smallest of mentions ... even "Google" comes up with nothing when you key in his name. Well, it may well do so now on the strength of this article. Here's hoping.

Lest we forget.