His moniker of ‘Five Times’ only goes part of the way to describing the extraordinary accomplishments and contribution that Peter Thomson made to the game of golf in this country.

Winner of the British Open Championship in three straight years from 1954, Thomson added a fourth in 1958 and fifth in 1965 but it was his sustained mastery of British links that remains unparalleled.

Starting with his tie for sixth in his Open Championship debut in 1951, Thomson finished outside the top 10 on just three occasions in the subsequent 21 years, either on top of the leaderboard or just one spot behind every year from 1952 until 1958.

Perhaps even more remarkable was that for many of those championships he would pen a column for The Age newspaper in Melbourne at the completion of the day’s play.

His accomplishments on the golf course included 10 national Open wins – including the Australian Open on three occasions – and the 1967 Australian PGA Championship but he was just as prolific off it.

Thomson was an acclaimed golf course architect, imprinting his design philosophy on more than 250 courses in some 30 countries, pot bunkers that are so often a feature of golf in Britain transferred to all corners of the globe.

President of the PGA of Australia from 1962 until 1994, Thomson’s influence on generations of players was profound, his legacy one of excellence and humility.

Peter McWhinney’s resume shows just one Australian tour win – the 1983 Queensland PGA Championship – and the 1996 Tsuruya Open on the Japan Golf Tour yet in a golden era for Australian golf his name was a regular feature on Aussie leaderboards.

In 1992 alone McWhinney was on the verge of completing one of the great performances in Australian tournament history yet on three separate occasions went home without the trophy.

At the Australian PGA Championship he finished three shots behind Craig Parry at Concord Golf Club, was runner-up to Steve Elkington at the Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club and was then defeated by Mike Clayton in the final of the Australian Matchplay Championship, all in the space of just a few months.

McWhinney would finish runner-up in the Australian Open again in 1995 in dramatic fashion, Greg Norman draining a monster birdie putt at the 71st hole on his way to a two-shot victory.

Popular amongst fans for his knockabout nature, perhaps McWhinney’s greatest contribution to professional golf in Australia was leading the campaign to allow the provision of short socks to be worn during pro-am tournaments.

Peter Thomson                                                                            
Career wins: 95                                                                            
Major wins: 5 (British Open 1954-56, 1958, 1965)
Australasian Tour wins: 44                                                        
Australian Open: Won (1951, 1967, 1972)                             
Australian PGA:  Won (1967)                                                     

Peter McWhinney
Career wins: 2
Major wins: Nil
Australasian Tour wins: 1 (1983 Qld PGA)
Australian Open: Runner-up (1992, 1995)
Australian PGA: Runner-up (1992)