The 145th Open: We look at the remarkable story of Barclay Howard
Last Updated: 17/07/16 4:37pm
We look back at the remarkable life of Barclay Howard, an amateur golfer who won the silver medal at The Open at Royal Troon 19 years ago.
In finishing as the top amateur in 1997, Howard him became the oldest player to achieve the feat in half a century and it was made all the more special as it came towards the end of an incredible journey.
Howard's talent had never been in doubt and as a 15-year-old he won the county boys' championship by 14 strokes and picked up almost 100 amateur titles playing out of Cochrane Castle Golf Club - just half an hour's drive from Troon.
"He worked in a factory on a production line," said childhood friend and Sky Sports presenter David Livingstone. "He was like one of these comic book heroes who did his job and then went to play with the rich boys on the weekend and competed against them. I think people saw him as one of them."
However, struggles with an alcohol problem saw Howard banned from every pub in town and thrown out of Cochrane Castle for bad behaviour.
After quitting drinking at the age of 38, Howard gave golf his full attention and the results were outstanding as he twice made the Walker Cup team and also enjoyed a magnificent week at Royal Troon in The Open.
Not long after the Walker Cup in 1997, Howard was diagnosed with leukaemia and eventually died of pneumonia in 2008. He is though still revered at Cochrane Castle and remembered fondly at Royal Troon.
