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Peter ThomsonPrint Page Print this page

The sculpture commemorates Australian Golfer, Peter Thomson (1929-2018).

Melbourne sculptor Louis Laumen took six months to produce the work, drawing his subject in charcoal and using Thomson family scrapbooks to capture the swing and accurately portray the clothes and equipment of the era.

The statue is 1.1 times (110%) life size, sculpted in clay and cast in silicon bronze at the Fundere Fine Art Foundry in West Footscray. The unveiling was attended by Thomson, wife Mary, daughter Deirdre, members celebrating the club’s Foundation Day, MPs Andrew Robb and Murray Thomson, Bayside Mayor James Long, and the CEOs of Golf Australia and the PGA, respectively Stephen Pitt and Max Garske.

Peter William Thomson AO, CBE (1929 – 2018) was an Australian professional golfer. Thomson’s five British Open wins between 1954 and 1965 rank him second to Harry Vardon who won the title six times between 1896 and 1914.  Such was his dominance of the title in the 1950s that in the years that he did not win between 1952 and 1958 he was runner-up.

Thomson’s first victory of note was his club championship at Royal Park in Melbourne at the age of 16 in 1946.

His last win came in the 1988 Seniors British PGA Championship and he won somewhere in the world at least once every year from 1950 until 1973. In 1985 he dominated the US PGA Senior Tour with an unprecedented nine victories.

His brilliant playing career, with victories spanning five decades, was capped in 1998 when he led the International Team to its only success against the might of United States in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.

Along the way he found time to design and build more than 100 golf courses around the world, serve as chairman of the Australian Professional Golfers Association for 32 years, run for Parliament in Victoria and pioneer the professional golf circuit in Asia.


 

Location

Address:Park Road, Victoria Golf Club, Cheltenham, 3192
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.966829
Long: 145.045394
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Sculpture
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Sport
Artist:Louis Laumen (Yarraville, VIC)
Monument Manufacturer:Fundere Fine Art Foundry (WA)

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:March -2010
Front Inscription
Peter Thomson
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au