Bob Glading

Bob Glading
Personal information
Full nameRobert Henry Glading
Born(1920-03-10)10 March 1920
Died19 August 2014(2014-08-19) (aged 94)
Sporting nationality New Zealand
Career
Turned professional1949
Professional wins3
Achievements and awards
Distinguished Service Cross1945
Member of the New Zealand
Order of Merit		2007

Robert Henry Glading MNZM DSC (10 March 1920 – 19 August 2014) was a New Zealand golfer. He won consecutive New Zealand Open championships in 1946 and 1947.

Biography

Growing up in Lower Hutt, Glading earned pocket money as a golf caddy, and he caddied at the 1932 New Zealand Open at the Wellington Golf Club at Heretaunga.[1]

As a 17-year-old amateur player, he entered the 1937 New Zealand Open in Hamilton, where he tied for 28th place.[2] In the national amateur match-play championship that year he lost in the first round to Australian Harry Hattersley 4 and 3.[3] The next year, Glading contested the 1938 New Zealand Open at Balmacewen in Dunedin, carding a 72-hole aggregate of 298, to finish 10 shots behind the champion, Bobby Locke,[4] and reached the third round of the amateur match-play contest.[5]

After finishing second in the 1939 North Island championship, losing on the second extra hole,[6] Glading finished seventh in that year's New Zealand Open at Miramar,[7] having been tied for the lead after the first round.[8] He then once again reached the third round of the national amateur match-play.[9]

In 1940, Glading won the North Island amateur championships,[10] and in October that year he set a course record of 65, 9 under par, at the Hamilton Golf Club.[11] He won the New Zealand amateur championship in 1942.[12]

During World War II, Glading was an officer in the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve and served with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, flying missions in Corsairs over Norway and in the Pacific.[1] In November 1945 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, for outstanding skill and courage while serving in air operations against the Japanese during July and August 1945.[13]

In 1946, he played as an amateur in the New Zealand Open at the Manawatu Golf Club, using clubs that he had made himself, and won the event in a play-off after a four-round total of 306. He repeated the win the following year at New Plymouth with a three-shot victory over Alex Murray, carding rounds of 70, 68, 77 and 76.[14]

At the Australian Open at Kingston Heath in 1948, Glading finished tied for eighth with Kel Nagle.[15]

In 1949, Glading won the New Zealand PGA Championship at Hastings, defeating 1948 New Zealand Open champion Jim Galloway, 2 up.[16]

Glading went to England in 1951 to follow a flying career.[17] He entered The Open Championship in 1952, but was posted to HMS Indomitable and was unable to compete.[1]

Partnered with D.L. Woon, Glading won the 1955 New Zealand amateur foursomes championship.[18]

Glading and his family moved to South Africa in the early 1960s after he was offered a job while playing in the Commonwealth Tournament there in 1959.[19][20] They later returned to New Zealand.

In 1999 Glading made his only hole-in-one, on the eighth hole at Muriwai.[1] In the 2007 New Year Honours he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to golf.[21]

As well as being a caddy, player and club maker, Glading wrote a column for golf magazine The Cut, did television commentary work and served on the board of The First Tee of New Zealand, a golfing charity.[22]

Glading died at his home in the Auckland suburb of Northcross in 2014.[23] At the time of his death he was the oldest surviving New Zealand Open champion.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rattue, Chris (5 January 2007). "Golf: the indomitable spirit of Bob Glading". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Amateur wins". New Zealand Herald. 4 October 1937. p. 15. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Amateurs excel". New Zealand Herald. 6 October 1937. p. 17. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Locke predicted score in New Zealand title win". referee. 24 November 1938. p. 18. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  5. ^ "Amateur title". New Zealand Herald. 17 November 1938. p. 16. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Youths' final". Auckland Star. 11 April 1939. p. 15. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Golf champion". New Zealand Herald. 13 November 1939. p. 9. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Glading and McIntosh 74". Auckland Star. 10 November 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Golf at Miramar". Evening Post. 15 November 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  10. ^ "North Island final". Evening Post. 26 March 1940. p. 14. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Remarkable golf". New Zealand Herald. 7 October 1940. p. 9. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Tournament details". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 24 March 1950. p. 10. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  13. ^ "No. 37358". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 November 1945. p. 5656.
  14. ^ "Glading wins N.Z. Open". The Mercury. 10 November 1947. p. 19. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  15. ^ "Thrilling finish to Open golf". The Examiner. 25 October 1948. p. 10. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  16. ^ "Young golfer wins NZ amateur". The Argus. 19 September 1949. p. 16. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  17. ^ "Air career for golfer". The Mercury. 15 August 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  18. ^ "It is Peter again in NZ". The Argus. 10 October 1955. p. 18. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  19. ^ Maddaford, Terry (8 July 2008). "Soccer: From own goals to scoring the top job". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  20. ^ "Nostalgic round for Eisenhower greats". The Press. 27 November 2009. p. 8.
  21. ^ "New Year honours list 2007". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  22. ^ "Bob Glading did it all on golf links". Manawatu Standard. 20 August 2014. p. 19.
  23. ^ "Robert Henry (Bob) Glading obituary". New Zealand Herald. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  24. ^ "Golf: Glading a winner again". New Zealand Herald. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2014.