Ross Somerville

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Ross Somerville
Personal information
Full nameCharles Ross Somerville
NicknameSandy
Born(1903-05-04)May 4, 1903
London, Ontario, Canada
DiedMay 17, 1991(1991-05-17) (aged 88)
Sporting nationality Canada
Career
CollegeUniversity of Toronto
StatusAmateur
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT36: 1938
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenCUT: 1929
The Open ChampionshipT28: 1933
U.S. AmateurWon: 1932
British AmateurT3: 1938

Charles Ross "Sandy" Somerville (May 4, 1903 – May 17, 1991) was a Canadian golfer and all-around athlete.

Somerville was born in London, Ontario. He won six Canadian Amateur Championship golf titles between 1926 and 1937, and in 1932 became the first Canadian to win the U.S. Amateur. He was selected by the Canadian Press as Canada's athlete of the year for 1932, and in 1950 was picked as Canada's top golfer of the first half of the 20th century.

While at the University of Toronto, Somerville played for three years for the Varsity Blues football team and Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team (1921–24). He was also one of Canada's top cricket players.

Later, Somerville won three Canadian senior golf titles. and served as president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association in 1957.

Somerville was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1985), the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame (1971), the U of T Sports Hall of Fame (1987) and the London (Ontario) Sports Hall of Fame (2002). He died at age 88 in 1991.

The London Hunt Club, Somerville's home course for most of his life, has a room in its clubhouse honouring Somerville's golf achievements.

Tournament wins[]

  • 1926 Canadian Amateur
  • 1926
  • 1928 Canadian Amateur
  • 1930 Canadian Amateur
  • 1931 Canadian Amateur
  • 1932 U.S. Amateur
  • 1935 Canadian Amateur
  • 1937 Canadian Amateur
  • 1960
  • 1961
  • 1965
  • 1966

Professional and amateur majors shown in bold.

Major championships[]

Amateur wins (1)[]

Year Championship Winning score Runner-up
1932 U.S. Amateur 2 & 1 United States Johnny Goodman

Results timeline[]

Tournament 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
Masters Tournament NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF T43 T36
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship T28
U.S. Amateur DNQ DNQ R16 R32 R16 1 QF R32 R64 R128 R16 R64 QF
The Amateur Championship R16 R256 SF

Note: As an amateur, Somerville did play in the PGA Championship.

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Source for U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database

Source for 1933 British Open: www.opengolf.com

Source for 1933 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 23, 1933, pg. 20.

Source for 1934 & 1938 Masters: www.masters.com

Source for 1935 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 21, 1935, pg. 3.

Source for 1938 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1938, pg. 11.

External links[]

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