Given the limitations – and expense – of international travel in the 1960s, the vast number of Australian golfers had to wait until the world’s best arrived on our shores to get a complete measure of their game.

When they did, Bruce Devlin and Frank Phillips had no hesitation in showing them just how strong Australian golf was.

Born in Adelaide, Devlin delivered one of the most spectacular entries to professional golf the game has ever seen in this country.

Victorious at the 1959 Australian Amateur and a member of the 1958 Australian team that won the Eisenhower Trophy, Devlin claimed the 1960 Australian Open ahead of fellow amateur Ted Ball at Lake Karrinyup, Devlin and Ball members of the Australian team that finished second behind a Jack Nicklaus-led US team at the 1960 Eisenhower trophy.

Soon enough the lure of America proved too great and Devlin would win eight times and miss out in playoffs on three separate occasions.

His first win came by four strokes at the 1964 St Petersburg Open Invitational and he won two times in a season three times in 1966, 1970 and 1972.

Ten years after his shock Australian Open win, Devlin teamed up with great mate David Graham to spank the rest of the world at the 1970 World Cup in Argentina, finishing 10 shots clear of local favourites Roberto De Vicenzo and Vicente Fernández and 19 ahead of third-placed South Africa.

In addition to his Australian Open win Devlin was winner of the Australian PGA Championship in consecutive years in 1969-70 and in 1963 alone triumphed at the New Zealand Open, Queensland Open, Victorian Open, Adelaide Advertiser Tournament (in a tie with Phillips), Wills Classic and Caltex Tournament.

From 1964 until 1976 Devlin finished in the top 10 at The Masters five times and was top 20 on five further occasions and in 1965 – where he was tied for 15th at Augusta – Devlin finished no worse than a tie for eighth in the other three majors.

Tied for 18th in 1962 and 12th in 1963 at The Open Championship, Phillips was not a regular fixture in golf’s grandest events, preferring to dominate the Australasian and Asian circuits.

Hailing from the Southern Highlands south of Sydney, Phillips broke through to win the 1955 New Zealand PGA Championship a year after joining the professional ranks but came to prominence with his victory at the 1957 Australian Open at Kingston Heath.

A year earlier Phillips had spent three months travelling Europe with Norman von Nida and it helped to solidify the lanky Phillips’ play, holding off South African legend Gary Player both in 1957 and in his second Australian Open victory in 1961 at Victoria Golf Club.

Winner of the New South Wales Open four times, Phillips accrued an impressive list of national open titles throughout Asia, twice winning the Singapore Open and Hong Kong Open crowns as well as victories in the Philippines and Malaysia.

Match 16 | Australia’s Greatest Golfer ?️

They won the first two Australian Opens of the 1960s and were giants of Australian golf for a decade; Bruce Devlin faces Frank Phillips in the latest match in the search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) April 23, 2020

Bruce Devlin
Career wins: 31
PGA TOUR wins: 8
Australasian Tour wins: 19
Australian Open: Won (1960)
Australian PGA: Won (1969, 1970)

Frank Phillips
Career wins: 32
Australasian Tour wins: 23
Asian Golf Circuit wins: 7
Australian Open: Won (1957, 1961)
Australian PGA: 2nd (1961, 1965)