London Professional Foursomes Tournament
| Location | England |
|---|---|
| Established | 1907 |
| Final year | 1911 |
| Tom Ball and Fred Robson | |
The London Professional Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played annually from 1907 to 1911. In 1909 the southern section of the PGA took over the organisation of the event which was called the Southern Professional Foursomes Tournament. The winners received the "Dewar Shields" donated by Sir Thomas Dewar.
The Sphere and Tatler Foursomes Tournament started in 1911 and the Southern Professional Foursomes was not played again.
In late 1906 Sir Thomas Dewar presented a 50-guinea challenge cup for a London Professional Foursomes Tournament. The tournament was a knock-out event. In the early rounds the first named couple in the draw had the choice of course. The semi-finals and final were to be played at a neutral venue. Each round had to be completed by a specific date with the final to be completed by the end of February 1907. Matches were over 36 holes with a sudden-death playoff in the event of a tie. Initially 7 first-round matches were played but, through some oversight, this only reduced the number of pairs to 18 and two further first-round matches were needed to reduce the number of pairs from the initial 25 to 16. The final was between Rowland Jones/Alfred Toogood and Ralph Smith/Albert Tingey, Sr. and was arranged for 27 February. However, Jones had arranged to play in Grand Duke Michael's Tournament in Cannes on 26 and 27 February and so could not play on the pre-arranged date. It was suggested that the final be postponed but it was argued that Jones should not have entered unless he was available and so Smith and Tingey claimed the final. A fill-in match involving Smith and Tingey was arranged. The chief prizes were a pair of shields to be held for one year and gold medals presented by Mr F A Johnson.
In late August a 108-hole match was arranged on the Isle of Wight between the finalists. 36 holes were played on three successive days on three different courses, at St Helens, the Needles and Sandown. Jones and Toogood, both of whom were from the Isle of Wight, won comfortably 12&10.
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