Golf Central

                                               Cyril Walker (far right): "Straight to the 19th, chaps?"

Today is a day for the lightweights of this world, for on this day in 1924, a 118 pound Cyril Walker defeated Bobby Jones in the US Open at Oakland Hills Country Club. Born in Manchester in 1892, Walker emigrated to the USA in 1914, and beat defending champ Jones by three strokes after posting a total of 272 strokes for 72 holes. Things went downhill for Walker after his momentous victory, however; an alcohol addiction resulted in a downward spiral that saw him end up as a dishwasher and near destitute.

He died of pleural pneumonia whilst taking shelter in a New Jersey, but on the bright said, not many people can go to the grave and boast about beating one of the greatest golfers of all time in a major. Things weren’t too rosy for reigning Masters champion Jimmy Demaret, who, despite being heavily-tipped for the US Open, shot a first round 81 at Cantebury Golf Club on this day in 1940. He didn’t even bother to hand his score card in.

Elsewhere in the USA, on this day in 1968, Brooklyn/Los Angeles pitcher, Don Drysdale pitched his 58^th consecutive scoreless – or ‘shutout’ – innings. A beast of a pitcher, he used his speed to intimidate batters and his record of 141 hit batsmen is still a National League standard. And on the same night in the same city, Senator Robert F. Kennedy died after being shot the previous day. An opponent of the Death Penalty and vital counsel to his brother, John, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, ‘Bobby’ was shot after defeating Eugene McCarthy in the California Primary, and a day of mourning was declared in America such was the outpouring of grief.

In 1985, on this day in Embu, Brazil, the grave of Wolfgang Gerhard was exhumed. The remains were proved to be that of Auschwitz’s ‘Angel of Death’, Josef Mengele.

And we roar Chapchai Neerat! as they do in Thailand to LPGA member Elaine Crsoby (50), tennic icon Bjorn Borg (52), radical journalist Alexander Cockburn (67), former Home Secretary David Blunkett (61), and Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs (72).