Former Ryder Cup captain Brian Huggett, who finished second in the 1965 Open Championship, has died at the age of 87.
A statement issued on behalf of Huggett’s family said he died in the early hours of Sunday morning after a short illness. His daughter Sandra also shared the news on X, formerly Twitter, describing herself as his “No 1 fan”.
Huggett, who was born in Porthcawl on November 18, 1936, played in the Ryder Cup six times, including the 1969 contest at Royal Birkdale which ended in a 16-16 tie after Jack Nicklaus famously conceded a vital putt to Tony Jacklin in the final singles match.
Brian Huggett (far left) with the other 11 members of Great Britain and Ireland’s 1969 Ryder Cup team (PA Archive)
Huggett halved the penultimate singles against Billy Casper.
Eight years later, Huggett was a non-playing captain of the Great Britain and Ireland team at Royal Lytham, the last contest before it was expanded to include players from continental Europe.
Huggett turned professional in 1951 and won a total of 16 times in Europe, including two after the European Tour was formed in 1972.
He missed the cut in his sole appearance in the Masters in 1969 but was third in the 1962 Open at Troon and second to Australia’s Peter Thomson at Royal Birkdale in 1965.
An inaugural member of the European Seniors Tour, Huggett won 10 times on the circuit and was later an ambassador the 2010 Ryder Cup, which saw the contest played in Wales for the first time.
Huggett was made an MBE in 1978 and was inducted to the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
My darling Dad passed away at 1am this morning. A part of my heart went with him. It was such a blessing to be with him and hold his hand for those last few hours. Love you Dad, from your No 1 fan 💔#myhero #BrianHuggett @RyderCupEurope #golf pic.twitter.com/WgrAICUffy
— sandra huggett (@sandra_huggett) September 22, 2024
Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald led the tributes to Huggett.
“It is desperately sad news and my thoughts are obviously with his wife Winnie, his daughters Sandra and Yvonne and his many friends,” Donald said.
“The Ryder Cup is all about history and tradition and no-one summed that up better than Brian Huggett. He was also a formidable competitor as his record showed and a truly inspirational figure both inside and outside the ropes.
“I got an understanding of that first hand when I was vice-captain to Thomas Bjorn in Paris in 2018 and Brian was an integral part of a motivational video we played for the team on the eve of the contest.
“Even though he was softly spoken, you could see the steely determination in his eyes when he stared down the camera lens – I will never forget that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here