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Charles Whitcombe
Personal information
Full name	Charles Albert Whitcombe
Born	(1895-09-21)21 September 1895 Berrow, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England
Died	13 February 1978(1978-02-13) (aged 82) Winchmore Hill, Enfield, London, England
Sporting nationality	England
Career
Status	Professional
Professional wins	17
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT: 1927
The Open Championship	3rd: 1935
Achievements and awards
Harry Vardon Trophy 1937

Charles Albert Whitcombe (21 September 1895 – 13 February 1978) was an English golfer. He was born in Berrow, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, the second of the three Whitcombe brothers who were all successful English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s and – despite never winning The Open Championship like his younger brother Reg – could be considered the most prominent of the three, winning the British PGA Matchplay Championship twice and captaining the Ryder Cup side four times.

Whitcombe finished fifth in The Open Championship in 1922, three shots behind the winner and beaten only by Walter Hagen, Jim Barnes, George Duncan and Jock Hutchison – the players who between them had won 8 of the previous 9 major championships. Whitcombe would enjoy several other high finishes in the Championship, beaten by players including Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Henry Cotton, but only once again came as close to winning, in 1935, when he finished third, three shots behind Alf Perry at Muirfield.

Whitcombe won the British PGA Matchplay Championship in 1928 and 1930, and also won the Irish Open in 1930. Both of his Matchplay championship victories came in finals against a young Henry Cotton, by 12 years Whitcombe's junior. In 1931, 1935, and 1937 Whitcombe was selected as playing captain of the Great Britain and Ireland Ryder Cup side, having also played in every side from 1927 to 1933, and was then non-playing captain in 1949.

In 1937 Whitcombe was the first winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy, which was presented to the player with the best average in the major stroke play events.

Tournament wins

• 1921 West of England Professional Championship
• 1924 Daily Mail Tournament, West of England Professional Championship
• 1926 Yorkshire Evening News Tournament
• 1927 Daily Dispatch Northern Professional Championship, Glasgow Herald Tournament, Porters Park Invitational Tournament
• 1928 News of the World Match Play, Yorkshire Evening News Tournament
• 1929 West of England Professional Championship
• 1930 News of the World Match Play, Irish Open
• 1933 Addington Foursomes (with Cameron Anderson)
• 1935 Dunlop-Southport Tournament
• 1937 Southend Tournament
• 1938 Silver King Tournament
• 1939 Penfold Professional Golf League (tie with Henry Cotton)

Results in major championships

Note: Whitcombe never played in the Masters Tournament nor the PGA Championship.

NT = No tournament
WD = withdrew
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

• Ryder Cup (representing Great Britain): 1927, 1929 (winners), 1931 (captain), 1933 (winners), 1935 (captain), 1937 (captain), 1949 (non-playing captain)
• France–Great Britain Professional Match (representing Great Britain): 1929 (winners)
• England–Scotland Professional Match (representing England): 1932 (winners), 1933 (winners), 1934 (winners), 1935 (winners), 1936 (winners), 1937 (winners), 1938 (winners)
• England–Ireland Professional Match (representing England): 1933 (winners)
• Coronation Match (representing the Ladies and Professionals): 1937

References

• Alliss, Peter: "The Who's Who of Golf" (1983), Orbis Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-85613-520-8

Further reading

• Fry, Peter (15 January 1994). The Whitcombes: A Golfing Legend. Grant Books. ISBN 978-0907186403.

Charles Whitcombe in the Ryder Cup

v t e European Ryder Cup captains Great Britain 1927 Ted Ray 1929 George Duncan 1931 Charles Whitcombe 1933 John Henry Taylor 1935 Charles Whitcombe 1937 Charles Whitcombe 1947 Henry Cotton 1949 Charles Whitcombe 1951 Arthur Lacey 1953 Henry Cotton 1955 Dai Rees 1957 Dai Rees 1959 Dai Rees 1961 Dai Rees 1963 John Fallon 1965 Harry Weetman 1967 Dai Rees 1969 Eric Brown 1971 Eric Brown Great Britain & Ireland 1973 Bernard Hunt 1975 Bernard Hunt 1977 Brian Huggett Europe 1979 John Jacobs 1981 John Jacobs 1983 Tony Jacklin 1985 Tony Jacklin 1987 Tony Jacklin 1989 Tony Jacklin 1991 Bernard Gallacher 1993 Bernard Gallacher 1995 Bernard Gallacher 1997 Seve Ballesteros 1999 Mark James 2002 Sam Torrance 2004 Bernhard Langer 2006 Ian Woosnam 2008 Nick Faldo 2010 Colin Montgomerie 2012 José María Olazábal 2014 Paul McGinley 2016 Darren Clarke 2018 Thomas Bjørn 2021 Pádraig Harrington 2023 Luke Donald v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1927 Aubrey Boomer Archie Compston George Duncan George Gadd Arthur Havers Herbert Jolly Fred Robson Charles Whitcombe Ted Ray (playing captain) Lost: 2.5 – 9.5 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1929 Percy Alliss Aubrey Boomer Stewart Burns Archie Compston Henry Cotton Abe Mitchell Fred Robson Charles Whitcombe Ernest Whitcombe George Duncan (playing captain) Won: 7 – 5 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1931 Archie Compston Bill Davies George Duncan Syd Easterbrook Arthur Havers Bert Hodson Abe Mitchell Fred Robson Ernest Whitcombe Charles Whitcombe (playing captain) Lost: 3 – 9 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1933 Percy Alliss Allan Dailey Bill Davies Syd Easterbrook Arthur Havers Arthur Lacey Abe Mitchell Alf Padgham Alf Perry Charles Whitcombe J.H. Taylor (non-playing captain) Won: 6.5 – 5.5 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1935 Percy Alliss Dick Burton Jack Busson Bill Cox Ted Jarman Alf Padgham Alf Perry Ernest Whitcombe Reg Whitcombe Charles Whitcombe (playing captain) Lost: 3 – 9 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1937 Percy Alliss Dick Burton Henry Cotton Bill Cox Sam King Arthur Lacey Dai Rees Alf Padgham Alf Perry Charles Whitcombe (playing captain) Lost: 4 – 8 v t e Great Britain Ryder Cup team – 1949 Jimmy Adams Laurie Ayton Jnr Ken Bousfield Dick Burton Fred Daly Max Faulkner Sam King Arthur Lees Dai Rees Charlie Ward Charles Whitcombe (non-playing captain) Lost: 5 – 7

• English male golfers
• Ryder Cup competitors for Europe
• People from Burnham-on-Sea
• 1895 births
• 1978 deaths
• 20th-century English sportsmen