The sad story of North Devon's Dennis Smalldon

The latest in our series of Past Heroes is the tragic story of golfer Dennis Smalldon, who sadly lost his life in a road traffic accident at the age of just 33.

Born in North Devon, Dennis was the son of professional golfer Bill Smalldon and made his own mark on the game with a second-place finish in the 1950 PGA Assistants’ Championship. He lost out to Harry Weetman, who won it with a hole-in-one at the final hole.

Smalldon won his first Welsh Professional Championship in 1953 at Tenby and went on to represent Wales in the Canada Cup in Washington DC in 1955.

Later that summer, his career reached a high point when he qualified for the Open Championship at St Andrews. He was one shot off the lead after the first round and tied at the top after round two. A disappointing third round saw him eventually finish 17th.

He played again in the Open in 1956 at Royal Liverpool and won his third Welsh Championship in 1959. In September of that year, Smalldon was involved in a car crash in Herefordshire and died a week later after failing to regain consciousness.