Philip F. Scrutton

Philip Furse Scrutton (1923 – 30 October 1958) was an English amateur golfer. He played in the Walker Cup in 1955 and 1957. He was killed in a road traffic accident at the age of 35.

Scrutton remains one the few amateur golfers to have won the Brabazon and Berkshire Trophies in the same year, the others being Guy Wolstenholme (1960), Michael Bonallack (1968, 1971), Peter Hedges (1976), Sandy Lyle (1977) and Jeremy Robinson (1987). He is also one of the few amateurs to have won the Brabazon Trophy outright on at least three separate occasions, the others being Michael Bonallack and Ronnie Shade.

At Woodhall Spa in 1954, in a gale of wind and rain, Scrutton produced a brilliant final round to win the Brabazon Trophy. He was seven strokes behind with 9 holes to play. In a thrilling finish he birdied three of the last four holes to win by a stroke. Walton Heath professional Harry Busson, braving the weather, followed Scrutton and said afterwards that it was the greatest round of golf he ever witnessed.

Scrutton reached the semi-final of the Amateur Championship in 1955, losing 5 and 4 to the eventual winner Joe Conrad. The renowned golfing commentator Herbert Warren Wind wrote the following about Scrutton after watching his quarter final match at Royal Lytham:

“The more you see of Scrutton, the more he strikes you as a person you expect to bump into only in fiction, so much “in character” are the highly individual manners and mannerisms of this wealthy young man who owns about eight cars and, in pursuit of a first-class golf game, spent the winter of 1951 on the winter circuit in America. Scrutton’s woods, just as you would expect, are encased in leopard-skin covers. During his match with Patton he wore an off-yellow sweater with a matching beret and, in addition to his caddy, employed a retainer to carry a folding chair on which he could sit when Patton was shooting. But Scrutton, mechanical as is the delivery of his swing, can play golf, and he ran clear away from Billy Joe, losing the first and then winning eight of the next nine holes and, in due course, the match, 7 and 6.”

Scrutton was a member at several golf clubs including The Royal & Ancient, Sunningdale and The Addington.