Melbourne: Five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson died at his home in Melbourne on Wednesday after a four-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Golf Australia said. He was 88.
Considered one of Australia’s greatest golfers, Thomson was the first from the country to win the British Open when he took the title in 1954. He won it again in 1955, 1956 and 1958, and was runner-up in 1957. Thomson won the fifth of his British Open titles in 1965, a record only since matched by American Tom Watson, who won the last of his five titles in 1983.
A successful golf course designer upon his retirement, Thomson was the Australian PGA President for 32 years.
