Fifteen minutes is an eternity to stand over a golf ball. Harry Bradshaw spent almost that long deciding whether to swing at one trapped among the shattered remains of a beer bottle. With no rules officials nearby and no clear answer to his dilemma, he eventually closed his eyes and took his chances.
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The result was a six on the par-4 fifth and a round of 77 that threatened to derail his 1949 Open Championship campaign at Royal St George’s. Bradshaw eventually finished tied with Bobby Locke on 283, only to lose the 36-hole playoff by 12 shots.
Years later, Bradshaw still wondered whether he should have left the decision to the tournament committee instead.
“Looking back on it now I feel I could have put the championship committee in a quandary,” he told Dermot Gilleece for Touching Greatness: Memorable Encounters with Golfing Legends.
The Shot Nobody Should Have Taken
The 1949 Open featured 36 holes on Thursday, followed by the final two rounds on Friday. Bradshaw made an excellent start, shooting a four-under round to finish just one shot behind overnight leader Jimmy Adams.
But during his second round that afternoon, his tee shot at the fifth found the rough and settled among the shattered remains of what appeared to be a beer bottle.
With no rules official available, Bradshaw spent nearly 15 minutes examining the lie. A photographer captured the moment, showing the Irishman leaning on his club and studying the ball surrounded by broken glass.
Eventually, he turned his head, closed his eyes, and swung. The ball travelled only about 25 yards down the fairway, leaving him to record a six on the par 4 and finish with a 77.
The Rules That Left Bradshaw With a Dilemma
The irony is that Bradshaw was entitled to relief. According to the R&A’s historical account, he could have taken a free drop away from the broken bottle, although the wording of the rules at the time was ambiguous.
Without a referee to confirm the ruling, however, taking relief on his own carried the risk of a penalty or even disqualification.
There was another option, but it was not available under the rules governing the Open. The USGA had introduced a procedure in 1949 allowing players uncertain about a ruling to complete a hole with two balls and let the committee determine the correct score afterward. The R&A did not adopt that provision until 1952.
Rules educator Cameron MacGregor later summed up the lesson in a column for Nevada Golf: “If you’re unsure how to proceed, don’t guess.”
The USGA has since used Bradshaw’s experience in its rules education, highlighting the importance of knowing the options available before making a decision.
A Playoff That Was Never Close
Despite the costly second round, Bradshaw remained in contention. He and Locke began Friday’s final 36 holes five shots behind the leaders before both carded 68 in the morning to join Max Faulkner at the top.
Faulkner dropped out with a 74 in the afternoon, while Bradshaw produced a 70 to set the clubhouse target. Locke needed a birdie at the 17th to force a playoff and delivered, sinking an 8-to-10-foot putt.
The additional 36 holes proved one-sided. Locke shot 67 and 68 for a 135 total, while Bradshaw managed 74 and 73. The 12-shot margin gave Locke his first Open Championship and made him the first South African to become Champion Golfer of the Year.
His performance drew widespread admiration. The Glasgow Herald described the contest as “a case of a skilled workman opposed to a master craftsman,” while Henry Cotton called Locke “the nearest approach to a golfing machine in the world today.”
The Bottle Was Not the Whole Story
It is tempting to suggest Bradshaw lost the championship on the fifth hole during his second round. The final leaderboard, however, tells a more complicated story.
Locke also made mistakes, including a seven at the 14th during his opening round and a 76 in the second. Even in the final round, he struggled between the 10th and 16th holes before recovering with an excellent approach to the 17th.
Bradshaw, meanwhile, had an opportunity to avoid the playoff altogether but left his final putt at the 18th short. Had it dropped, the broken-bottle incident might have become little more than a footnote in an Open victory.
Contemporary coverage also gave the episode relatively little attention compared with Locke’s triumph. British Pathé even titled its coverage of the result Bradshaw Unlucky to Lose.
Bradshaw was no journeyman. He won 10 Irish PGA Championships between 1941 and 1957, two Irish Open titles and two Dunlop Masters. He also represented Great Britain and Ireland in three Ryder Cups, including the historic 1957 team that defeated the United States for the first time in 24 years.
The 1949 Open remained his closest opportunity to win a major. Although the broken bottle did not determine the eventual result, it became the defining image of his campaign. For Bradshaw, the lasting frustration was perhaps not that he had hit the shot, but that he had never needed to make the decision alone.