Born Kalgoorlie WA
14 January 1944
Graham Marsh is the best golfer produced in WA, his outstanding success continuing after he joined the Senior ranks in 1994.
Marsh’s first sporting passion was cricket and he represented WA at the 1957-58 Australian Schoolboys Championship. However, when he broke an arm at the start of the following cricket season, a doctor told him he could strengthen the arm by swinging a gold club.
The challenge of golf was so great that it soon took over from cricket. As a young player he was coached by the great Norman Von Nida and, after considerable success as an amateur, he turned professional in 1968.
His maiden professional tournament win was the 1970 Swiss Open, the first of an amazing sixty-one wins to date; Twenty-five in Japan, fourteen on the European Tour; eleven in Australasia; five in Asia and one, the Heritage Classic, on the US PGA Tour. His biggest wins amongst those were the World Matchplay Championship, the European Open, the Dunlop Pheonix, the Chunichi Crowns and the Heritage Classic.
Success continued in the US Senior PGA Tour where he has had five wins to date, including the 1997 US Senior Open, Marsh’s first victory in a Major.
He has had several dramatic near missed including the 1973 World Marchplay, when he lost the thirty-six hole final to Gary Player after four extra holes. He was the clubhouse leader in both the 1975 and 1983 British Opens, before finishing sixth and fourth respectively.
In 1987 a decision to concentrate on playing in Japan led Marsh into course design. His first was Palm Meadows on Queensland’s Gold Coast, followed by WA’s Vines Resort. In all he has completed more than 40 courses.