Considered the best English golfer in the broad period between the careers of Harry Vardon and Nick Faldo, Cotton had a very attractive personality as he combined his cosmopolitan character with that of a disciplined sportsman. As had been the case with Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton brought a luxurious worldly flair to golf. “The best is always good enough for me,” was a favorite phrase of Cotton, who was well known for his taste for the good life, champagne, caviar and custom-made clothes. He was a real dandy.
It was not until he was 12 years old when Thomas Henry Cotton tried his luck with golf clubs, thus changing what until then was his favorite sport: cricket (apparently he was forbidden to practice it as a result of a punishment). The change suited him so well that only five years later, in 1924, he became a professional golfer.
Cotton, who first saw the light of the world in 1907 in Cheshire, England, in the bosom of a middle-class family and studied in a public school, however, it would take him seven more years to be internationally recognized in the sport of golf. It was when he won the 1934 British Open, a title he would win again in two more editions, in 1937 and 1948. Cotton was the only British golfer to win that tournament between 1914 and 1969.
Cotton, to whom the phrase “To be a champion, you have to act like one” is attributed, achieved thirty victories in European tournaments, played four Ryder Cups, a competition he also captained on two occasions, in 1947 and 1953.
The English player found the low status of professional golfers unacceptable and campaigned against it. He always insisted that he be made an honorary member of any club with which he had a relationship. He also helped establish the Golf Foundation, which helped thousands of children take up golf. However, it was the very way he conducted himself that helped more than anything else to earn the professionals the respect they deserved.
1937 was his best season: he won his second British Open and numerous national tournaments in Europe.
Cotton made hardly any forays into American lands and only played one U.S. Open during his prime years in the 1930s, and had no further opportunities due to World War II, during which he served in his country’s Air Force. He organized exhibition matches with other professional golfers to raise funds for the Red Cross, which earned him important distinctions.
After the war, he returned to golf and won his third British Open in 1948. He played this tournament for the last time in 1977, at the age of 70.
Despite his attachment to the good life, Cotton did not neglect his sporting preparation and in fact worked hard to get his game up to scratch, sometimes even until his hands bled. Of course, he combined that hard work with the most expensive worldly pleasures. He always traveled in Rolls Royces, lived in a five-star hotel suite and later moved to a spectacular country mansion with a butler and numerous staff to attend to his every need.
When Cotton retired from competition, he became a journalist, writer (he wrote a dozen books) and golf course designer. He designed the Penina course in the Algarve in Portugal, the country where he spent the last years of his life.
In recognition of his contribution to British golf, the Royal and Ancient awarded him in 1968 by making him an honorary member of this entity, which governs, along with its North American counterpart, the rules of golf worldwide. He was also named a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.
A few days before his death in 1987, at the age of 80, Herny Cotton was knighted.
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