Bannerman turned professional at the age of 23 and had a relatively short spell as a tournament professional before a back injury restricted his career. All his professional tournament wins came on the domestic Scottish circuit where he won the Scottish Professional Championship twice and the Northern Open three times. A consistent run of performances on the 1971 British PGA Circuit, with six top-10 finishes as well as 11th place in the Open Championship, left him in fourth place in the Ryder Cup points list and an automatic place in the Ryder Cup team. In his singles matches he halved his match against Arnold Palmer and beat Gardner Dickinson. He played on the European Tour from 1972 to 1977 and was twice a runner-up.
In late 1965 Bannerman won the Scottish Alliance Championship, an open event.[3] He turned professional soon afterwards, at the age of 23.[4]
Professional career
Bannerman became an assistant at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.[5] Later he was the tournament professional at Banchory and Murcar Links Golf Club and professional at Cruden Bay and at Schloss Mainsondheim in Germany.[6][7] A back injury curtailed his playing career.[8]
Six members of the Great Britain team for the 1971 Ryder Cup were selected from a points list based on a player's best 10 performances in 15 events during the 1971 season, ending with the Benson & Hedges Festival of Golf on 21 August. From June to mid-August Bannerman had a number of high finishes including tied 6th in the Daks Tournament, tied 4th in the Gallaher Ulster Open, tied 11th in the Open Championship, tied 4th in the French Open, tied 9th in the Swiss Open, tied 7th in the Classic International and reaching the semi-finals of the Piccadilly Medal.[15][16][17][18][19][20] He finished fourth in the points list to get a place in the team for St. Louis.[21] The United States won the contest by 5 points. Bannerman had two wins, two defeats and a half. His half came against Arnold Palmer in the morning singles session. In the afternoon singles he beat Gardner Dickinson 2&1.[8] Bannerman finished the season in 6th place in the Order of Merit.[22]
Bannerman later played in a number of tournaments on the European Senior Tour from 1992 to 1998.[26] His best finish was to be tied for third place in the 1992 Tunisian Seniors.[27]
Professional wins (11)
1965 Scottish Alliance Championship (as an amateur)[3]
^Brenner, 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.