For four seasons - from 1969 to 1972 - there was no brighter star in golf's firmament than Tony Jacklin. He accomplished a great deal. The only regret is that it could have been so much more. Aged 25, he won the Open at Lytham in 1969, the first British champion for 18 years. Watching from the grandstands was a young boy called Sandy Lyle, who would succeed Jacklin as the next home winner. Within a year, Jacklin had added the US Open with no less than seven shots to spare, thus becoming the first Briton for 50 years to win America's national title.

Jacklin revitalized British, and ultimately European, golf with these exploits, but in the ensuing two years he was to suffer cruelly. A month after his US Open triumph he opened his defense of the Open at St Andrews in such blistering fashion that he stood eight under par after 13 holes. Suddenly, a torrential storm halted play. The spell was broken and ultimately he finished fifth. Two summers on, Lee Trevino wickedly chipped him into forlorn submission at Muirfield. Jacklin the golfer was never the same again. But in 1985, Jacklin was the inspirational non-playing European captain as the United States were beaten in the Ryder Cup for the first time in 28 years. His opposite number on the American side was Trevino. Vengeance was sweet indeed. Two years later, Jacklin skippered Europe to victory again, this time - for the first time - on American soil.

In 1969, Tony Jacklin became the first home winner of the British Open for 18 years.

Jacklin's rise to the top was coincided approperiately with the "Swinging Sixties".