Lionel Munn
Lionel Oulton Moore
Munn was born in Londonderry in 4 May 1887 educated at St. Columba's
College, a boarding school in Rathfarnham and Trinity College
Dublin where he played three quarter back for the Trinity XV in
the 1909-1910 season. His father Afred Moore Munn worked for the
City and County of Londonderry, his birthplace while his mother
Blanche was born in Dublin City.
Munn was a careful,
methodical player who weighed up each shot before playing it and
his strengths lay in his long drives and deadly putting. By 1939
when JP Rooney's Blue Book appeared he was an honorary member
of Portrush, Castlerock, Lahinch, Island, Portmarnock and North
West golf clubs.
British Amateur Championship
(25-29 May 1908, Sandwich, Royal St. George's)
The Championship was
played at Sandwich, Royal St. George's with only a small Irish
contingent, all but one of which made it through the first round
but by the third round all were packing their bags. However, Lionel
Munn's third round match was a humdinger, when it broke all previous
records by going for ten extra holes, finishing on the 28th. Munn
was playing C A Palmer from Handsworth, the previous year's losing
finalist.
British Amateur Championship
(25-29 May 1909, Muirfield)
At the time the Amateur
Championship was in the hands of the clubs on the rota (Hoylake,
St. Andrews, Prestwick, Sandwich and Muirfield). Munn's
win over James Robb the 1906 champion gave some hope of an Irish
victory. Munn was now playing out of Londonderry rather than the
usual Dublin University affiliation. Munn went out in the next
(fourth) round to Captain C.K. Hutchison on his home turf and
this together with Dickson's exit ended Irish involvement in the
Championship.
Irish Open Championship
1909 Dollymount 31
August - 3 September
Lionel Munn had made
the last eight in the championship by beating his brother by 6
and 4. Munn then played Herbert E Taylor of Richmond beating him
by 6 and 5 in the fifth round with a enviable display of near
faultless golf it was figured that the first bad shot he hit was
on the sixth. He had reached the turn three up after playing 37
shots but Taylor wasn't playing that badly and had kept pace with
Munn after losing 3 of the first four holes. Munn's card read
[Out] 4,4,4,4,4,5,4,4,4 [In] 4,4,3,4 when he closed the match
out on the thirteenth. Munn met Mr R Garson of Troon in the final
of a championship which had only one Irish winner since it started
back in 1892 the year following the foundation of the Golfing
Union of Ireland. Initially the match looked like it would be
won by Munn by a substantial margin but Carson dug deep and showed
his grit in the afternoon as he clawed his way back into it and
the result wasn't finally decided until the eighteenth where Munn
held on for a two hole victory.
Mr Justice Barton presented
the trophy together with miniatures of an old Irish cup know as
the Mother Cup. Hugh Kelly Hon.Treasurer of the GUI acted as official
referree for the match. In the match Garson drew first blood at
the first but at the fourth Munn had retrieved this and was three
up by the turn, going out in 37 the match see-sawed for the next
few holes and eventually by the end Munn was four up going into
the final eighteen. As they reached tthe final nine holes Munn
was still four up both having had 39s on the outward journey.
Munn immediately lost the first two holes when he uncharacteristically
missed shortish putts to half them. On the sixteenth three putts
saw his lead reduce to one. Garson should have squared the match
at the next hole as Munn missed another putt within two yards
of the hole but Garson also missed from inside this range and
left the match one down going into the last. However two good
shots on the last together with Garson hitting the hazard where
he needed two to get out and the match was conceding when Munn
slid his ball close to the hole.
Munn would play an exhibition
match against Harold Hilton on the 26 June to celebrate Ormeau's
new nine-hole course. Lionel Munn won the thirty-six-hole competition.
Hilton, the chain smoking golfer with the "piccolo"
grip had two Amateur and Open Championships to his name and while
he experience a lull in his golf since 1901 when many thought
he was a spent force until 1909 when he began showing some of
his old form. It was a significant scalp for Munn but he was unable
to translate it into a win in either of the events that stand
testament to your legacy in the golfing firnament.
| Name\Hole |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Total |
| Munn |
3 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
38 |
| Hilton |
4 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Munn |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
35 |
| Hilton |
4 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
38 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Munn |
5 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
35 |
| Hilton |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
37 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Munn |
5 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
39 |
| Hilton |
5 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
35 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Munn |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
147 |
| Hilton |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
150 |
1910 Portrush 29
August - 2 September [160 entrants 60 Scotsmen]
The course was set out
as follows:
|
Name |
Yards |
|
Name
|
Yards |
| 1 |
Glenmanus |
393 |
10 |
Paddock |
335 |
| 2 |
Brook
Kedron |
569 |
11 |
Rushes |
379 |
| 3 |
Cameron's |
176 |
12 |
Patrick's |
378 |
| 4 |
Dunluce |
469 |
13 |
Bunker
Hill |
201 |
| 5 |
Tramway |
407 |
14 |
Valley
|
465 |
| 6 |
Skerries |
502 |
15 |
Purgatory |
422 |
| 7 |
White
Rock |
168 |
16 |
Himalayas |
308 |
| 8 |
Giant's
Grave |
410 |
17 |
Gasworks |
185 |
| 9 |
Causeway |
389 |
18 |
Home |
452 |
| |
|
|
|
Total |
6,608 |
In the strokeplay event
on Monday Lionel Munn playing with J.F. Mitchell produced the
lowest score (77) in the qualifying round while rain had hampered
the early starters it was just beginning to clear up when this
pairing took to the golf course. At the time Munn was playing
off a handicap of plus 4 so Mr A Babington of Royal Dublin took
the handicap score with a 79 playing off scratch.
After a bye in the first
round of the championship Munn beat J.D Gardner from West Lanc,
playing off a handicap of plus 1, by 7 and 6 and went on to beat
Rev. Potter from Headingley by 4 and 3. By the fourth round the
field had been whittled down to thirty-two. Munn defeated Morton
by 4 and 3 and faced Medrington i n the afternoon and despite
halving the first hole with a six he managed to win every other
hole on an outward leg of 39 strokes; eventually closing out the
match by 8 and 6. In the sixth round Munn beat W. Crawford by
5 and 4 and continued is good form when playing George Wilkie
beating him by a margin of 3 and 2. Munn would have shot a 73
if you gave him "bogey" for the last two holes of the
semi-final match.
Munn was again crowned
Irish Open Champion when he defeated Gordon Lockhart of Prestwick
St. Nicholas by 9 and 7.
1911 Pormarnock 28
August - 1 September [123 entrants]
Munn took his third
consecutive title by beating the Hon. Michael Scott in the final
by 7 and 6.
Munn played in the Open
Championship twice, twenty-one years apart, and his results are
provided below but despite this he was inside the top twenty-five
players after two rounds.
| Year |
Venue |
Pos |
r1 |
r2 |
r3 |
r4 |
total |
| 1911 |
Royal St. George's
Golf Club |
41 |
78 |
76 |
83 |
83 |
320 |
| 1932 |
Prince's Golf
Club, Sandwich |
29 |
74 |
75 |
78 |
76 |
303 |
Munn also won the Irish
Close Championship in 1908, 1911, 1913 and 1914. Munn gave up
the game completely between 1914 and 1930, he joined as a lieutenant
in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers during World War I.
British Amateur Championship
(1930, St. Andrews)
Munn entered but appears
to have scratched before his first match, at the time he was playing
out of Royal Cinque Ports (Deal).
British Amateur Championship
(1931, Westward Ho!)
Munn lost in second
round by 1 hole.
British Amateur Championship
(1932, Muirfield)
Munn made it to the
semi-finals losing only to John De Forest by one hole.
British Amateur Championship
(1933, Royal Liverpool, Hoylake)
Lionel lost in third
round to JB Nash by 4 and 2.
British Amateur Championship
(1934, Prestwick)
Munn made it through
to the fourth round before being beaten by the eventual winner
Lawson Little from the Presidio Club in the USA by 3 and 2.
British Amateur Championship
(1935, Royal Lytham St. Anne's)
Munn got knocked out
in the first round by T A Torrance
British Amateur Championship
(1936, St Andrews)
After a first round
bye he met JL Mitchell, the Prestwick player and another titanic
match ensued but he eventually succumbed at the 26th hole. At
this stage Munn was playing out of Royal St. George's, Sandwich.
British Amateur Championship
(1937, Royal St. George's Sandwich)
Now in his fiftieth
year Munn finally realised a dream to play in the final of the
Amateur Championship an honour which had alluded him in the past
but nobody deserved more but alas Robert Sweeny jnr. foiled his
only chance to take the Amateur title home with him. Munn had
all but given up the game until the late twenties when a move
to Kent facilitated him joined the host club and despite not being
as active in the game as he was in his heyday he used to local
knowledge to great effect according to the late John Behrend in
his book, The Amateur. There was only one stroke in the morning
round and by the fifth hole Munn had taken the lead but managed
to lose the next two and never quite recovered losing by a margin
of 3 and 3 in the end.
On his return he won
the Belgian Amateur Championship in 1931 and 1932 and in Kent
where he then resided he was near invincible winning Borough of
Deal Cup, Lord Warden Cup (three years in succession) and the
Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at Sandwich.
Munn died on 25 October
1958 at his home in Killarney at 71 years of age.
Sources:
Michael Halliday &
Gavin Caldwell: From College Courses to Lasting Links - A History
of Dublin University Golfing Society 1909-2009.
J.P. Rooney :
Irish Golfer' Blue Book (incorporating "Irish Golfer's Guide)
1939-40
