Bamford began his professional career as an assistant at Burhill Golf Club before moving to Wentworth.[1] While an assistant at Wentworth, Bamford won the Schweppes PGA Close Championship in April 1961, by 3 strokes from Peter Alliss and Christy O'Connor Snr, and took the first prize of £1,000.[2] Because of the possibility of flooding at the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club, a composite course was used for the championship, including seven consecutive holes of the Ladies' course, measuring just 5,755 yards. Each competitor played one of their opening two rounds at Richmond Golf Club.[3] His winning score of 266 remains the lowest in the Championship's history.[1] As a result of his win he was selected for the English Canada Cup team, with Peter Alliss. The Canada Cup was played in Puerto Rico in early June with England finished in 15th place, Bamford scoring 311 for the four rounds.[4] The week after the Canada Cup he was third in the Daks Tournament at Wentworth, two strokes behind Bernard Hunt.[5]
After his win in the Schweppes PGA Close Championship, Bamford became the professional at Tavistock Golf Club, and was later professional at a number of other clubs, including West Sussex, Newquay, Isle of Purbeck and Worthing.[1] Bamford played in The Open Championship each year from 1961 to 1965, making the cut twice, in 1962 and 1965.[6] He was tied for 6th place after the first round of the 1965 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and eventually finished tied for 21st place, his best finish in the Open.[7][8] Bamford was joint leader after the first round of the 1967 Schweppes PGA Close Championship but was then disqualified, following an inquiry, for taking more than the allowed five minutes to look for his ball in the rough at the 5th hole.[9]
^ abBrenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860-2008. Vol. 1. McFarland. ISBN978-0-7864-3360-5.
