Passings of 2007

Michael Lunt, 72, May 22: Won the 1963 British Amateur and played in four Walker Cups for Great Britain & Ireland. Named captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in May 2006.

H. Harold MacNeill, 99, Jan. 5: Founder of the MacNeill Engineering/CHAMP company, makers of spikes and cleats.

Kathy Martin, 62, March 18: A former LPGA Tour player, she most recently was in its Teaching and Club professional division, working in the Eugene, Ore., area.

Don Massengale, 69, Jan. 2: The Texan won twice on the PGA Tour and lost the 1967 PGA Championship in a playoff with Don January.

Ken Mills, 65, May 3: President of the Irrigation Association in 2005-'06 and 43-year employee at Rain Bird.

John Mineck, 54, May 24, the co-founder of the Boston Golf Club in Hingham, Mass., died in a construction accident at the club.

John D. Montgomery Sr., 80, Sept. 12: Founded Executive Sports International, the largest tournament-management company in the world.

Rod Myers, 67, March 30: Men's golf coach at Duke since 1973 and seven-year coach at Ohio State.

Maureen Orcutt, 99, Jan. 9: Won more than 65 amateur events and competed in the first four Curtis Cups ever played, in the 1930s. Orcutt was good enough to beat Babe Zaharias in an exhibition (she said Babe didn't pay off the bet).

Russell Palmer, 81, March 16: Served 10 years as Connecticut State Golf Association executive director.

James Pernice, 95, May 4: The iconic club caddie at Oakmont, he looped for 84 years, starting in 1921.

Conrad Rehling, 87, April 3: A member of the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame (he coached Florida and Alabama from 1956-'88).

Ron Rhoads, 65, April 12: Rhoads played for the University of Southern California in the 1960s, was the USC coach from 1979-'83 and had head-professional jobs in California and Washington.

Stu Schneider, 52, May 29: Golf writer who was a close friend to his coworkers at Golf World and Golf Digest. He worked in public relations, online and editorial for the magazines; his latest assignment was as TV critic/columnist at Golf World.

Ed Seay, 69, Aug. 14: President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1976-'77, Seay worked with Arnold Palmer in 1971 on a Japanese course and did joint ventures with him before they opened the Palmer Course Design Company in 1979.

Andy Sidaris, 76, March 7: An award-winning director for ABC Sports.

Douglas LaRue Smith, 89, June 16: Author of the club history, Winged Foot Story.

Taylor Smith, 40, July 21: Disqualified from the 1996 Walt Disney World Classic for using a putter with a nonconforming grip; died of acute toxicity.

Paul Stevenson, 78, Jan. 6: Former president of the Northeastern Wisconsin Golf Association.

Thomas Stouthamer, 78, April 22: Former collegiate player at Wisconsin won numerous state titles.

Eileen Stulb, 83, Feb. 26: Organized numerous women's golf events in her native Augusta, Ga., including the Titleholders.

Daniel Sullivan, 79, May 18: Played a major role in developing Sahalee Country Club in 1967, later the site of the 1998 PGA.

Albert (Duck) Swann Jr., 81, Jan. 28: The first American to win the British Senior Amateur (1983 at Walton Heath).

Richard Valentine, 78, June 1: Merion Golf Club superintendent from 1963-'90. Valentine succeeded his father, Joseph, who had been Merion's super for 45 years.

Jim Veno, 64, Feb. 21: Veno won a trifecta in 1962 never repeated: Maine's Amateur, Open and Schoolboy (Junior) titles in the same year.

Norman Von Nida, 93, May 20: Considered "the godfather of Australian golf," Von Nida was a pioneer with more than 80 titles around the world.

Dale Welker, 55, Sept. 11: A player at Columbus (Ga.) College and on the PGA Tour, Welker worked for 30 years as a sales rep for La Mode and Mizuno.

Nick Weslock, 89, Oct. 27: Won the Canadian Amateur four times and was the low amateur at the Canadian Open 16 times. Off the course he was a close friend of Canadian legend Moe Norman.

Louis Willie Jr., 84, Sept. 16: African-American businessman who was thrust into the spotlight as an honorary member of Shoal Creek, which was under fire for its restrictive membership policy prior to the 1990 PGA.

Ernie Wright, 67, March 20: Founded San Diego's Pro Kids Golf Academy & Learning Center.

Leo Zampedro, 66, Jan. 27: Teaching pro whose pupils included Barb Mucha and Salimah Mussani.

John Zoller, 82, Jan. 30: Vice chairman of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the sponsoring association behind the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

AND IN CLOSING . . .

We cite Maurice Flitcroft (77, March 24), one of the most notorious names in golf. The journeyman crane operator who played to a 30-handicap tried several times to hoodwink the R&A into letting him enter qualifying for the Open Championship. One year, 1976, he did get onto the qualifying course, shooting 121, becoming an inspiration to hackers worldwide.

In an attempt to screen Flitcroft, an expert on forged signatures was used in the championship office and was able to recognize his handwriting. Flitcroft tried pseudonyms to fool the committee (he used Gerard Hoppy, a "Swiss pro," in 1983) and on a few occasions got at least nine holes in before officials yanked him off the course.

In the case of Maurice Flitcroft, the king of golf imposters was one in a million.


Additional reporting by Tara Fucale

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November 22, 2009

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