RIP Simon Hobday – the sombrero-wearing one of a kind
For the record it will tell you that Simon Hobday won the US Senior Open at Pinehurst No. 2, two European Tour titles and half a dozen wins on his home tour in South Africa. It will tell you he was a ‘colourful character’ who died of cancer at the age of 76.
And then you read a little more, and see what his peers have to say about him, and you quickly realise that he led one of the most remarkable lives ever played out on tour.
He liked to play quick, he never played drunk but he more than liked a drink and he wasn’t the greatest putter in the world. He also wasn’t a big fan of the 40-yard pitch shot, and, supposedly, he was one of the self-styled unluckiest golfers on the planet.
But he was a brilliant ball striker – Tony Johnstone explained that his sweet spot was miniscule in comparison to the rest of his peers. David Leadbetter used two swings models – Ben Hogan and Simon Hobday.
And he wasn’t the best turned out, hence the nickname ‘Scruffy’. Whatever came out of the suitcase the cleanest went on, whatever the colour combination. The story goes that he asked for money from Munsingwear not to wear their clothes.
1. The famous walking on water
Hobday was playing at the Tournament of Champions at Kensington and needed a par five to win at the last. One of his playing partners had driven it under a TV tower and was waiting for a ruling.
The South African, who grew up in Zambia, didn’t want to wait and so hit his 4-iron to a sucker pin. Despite aiming well left the ball squirted out right, skimmed across the water and came to rest 10 feet away.
The tournament was his so Hobday proceeded to take his shoes off and walk across the water, something that nearly went very badly wrong as the hazard was a lot deeper and sludgier than he thought and he had to get out sideways.
2. Mark McNulty’s putter
Nick Price tells a brilliant story about an exhibition match in the early ’80s where he and Mark McNulty were taking on Hobday and Dale Hayes.
“McNulty putted phenomenally wel, and he had used the same putter, a BullsEye with a blue grip, for years. They’d stopped making that model in the late ’70s and there was an old one in the pro shop.
So Simon bought it and replaced the putter in McNulty’s bag while he wasn’t looking. There are like 2,000 people around the first tee. Dale was the MC and as he introduced McNulty he said: “Now most of you know Mark for his incredible putting prowess…” and with that Hobday said: “Where is that bloody putter?”
He walked over to McNulty’s bag, whipped the putter out and broke it right over his knee.
“Well McNulty’s eyes almost fell out of his head and he looked in stunned silence at what Hobday had done to his favourite putter. He was about start going after Simon. There was a good 30-second period where he was in shock.”
3. Living up to his ‘Scruffy’ tag
Plenty of people tweeted this short tale:
And OMG will his stories live on or what! #Legend Washing his clothes in bath tub using his putter to stir them! "First out wins"! https://t.co/V5Q5Ybol3M
— Sir Nick Faldo (@NickFaldo006) March 2, 2017
4. Challenging for the Open
In the final round of the 1983 Open at Birkdale he was off a few hours before the leader Tom Watson. Hobday made a flying start and was something like three or four off the lead at seven under after a birdie at the short seventh.
The man working the scoreboard dropped one of the numbers which made Hobday look a bit closer at the leaderboard and set his mind whirring.
The plan was to get round to the par-5 15th and pick up a couple more birdies and get to 10 under then the weather might help his cause and blow Watson and co off course.
“It was like throwing a bucket of ice. I choked like you cannot believe. You know when you dive into an ice-cold pool? That’s how I went. Anyway I cocked up and finished 19th. That was the only sniff I had at a major.”
Watson won with a score of nine under.
5. In trouble with the law
Hobday was as quick-witted as he was good at golf…
Simon Hobday. Caught speeding in USA. Cop says "Son, I been waiting for you all day" Hobbers "I got here as quick as I f£&?£?!g could"
— ROGER CHAPMAN (@ROGERCHAPMAN1) March 2, 2017
6. The putting problems
In a fantastic interview with Dan Retief he explains how he once broke his putter over his knee after another poor performance at Wentworth. And then tied it to the back of his car before exiting the estate at high speed.
“The golf god up there? That bastard! He and I are not square. If I got holes-in-one for the next 10 holes I played we still wouldn’t be square.”
Another story found its way on to Twitter last week via caddie Kip Henley.
“Simon was on a long streak of three putting at least once every round. He decided that God was targeting him and showed up the next day to play in a sombrero in the hope that God wouldn’t recognise it could be him.
“His playing partner asked what he was doing in a sombrero and he whispered quietly and explained it away about hiding from God. Simon putted well that day and kept nodding his head to his fellow competitor.
“Finally on the last hole he three-putted, yanked off the sombrero, threw it on the ground and looked up and yelled ‘You found me!’”
7. Do I get a drop from here?
Back to Dan Retief’s fantastic interview…
“I never went on the tee drunk in my life. No, never. I might have been late in the pub and people might have seen me having a go and think I’d been there all bloody night, but it wasn’t like the legend, you know the stories got bigger and bigger that I was snot-flying all the time. That’s not true.
“People forget who the story was about and the next thing it’s me! I mean there was the one that I pissed on my ball and then asked for relief from casual water. But I can tell you dinkum that that was somebody else.”
Rest in peace Simon Forbes Newbold Hobday.
My condolences to the charismatic & sweet swinging Simon Hobday. He was so good for golf. RIP amigo pic.twitter.com/j9ZL1pVNw5
— Gary Player (@garyplayer) March 2, 2017
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Mark Townsend
Been watching and playing golf since the early 80s and generally still stuck in this period. Huge fan of all things Robert Rock, less so white belts. Handicap of 8, fragile mind and short game
