AGW Pays Tribute To Alex Sanderson – Father Of European Tour Scoring.

ALEX SANDERSON (Born June 12, 1932; Died February 19, 2018) – TRIBUTES FROM AGW MEMBERS

Alex Sanderson, who has died, aged 85, will be remembered by many AGW members as the man who transformed our work place by modernising the scoring system so that leader-boards in the media centres, and on the courses, changed shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole, and so consigned to history the days when such news was conveyed via the bush telegraph.

What is more Alex and his wife June, who became a firm favourite in the Press Centres, and their sons Alan and Mark, swiftly became part of the ‘family’ with the golf writers covering The European Tour and, indeed, indispensable to all involved in communicating the game worldwide.

It was the Daily Express who first pioneered the hole-by-hole scoring that became such an important and integral part of European Tour events. They handed the board and its operation to the Tour in 1976 from which time the development and improvement of the system was placed in the hands of one man – Alex – and his family, and the world of scoring was remodelled overnight.

Alex Sanderson

Alex Sanderson

The days of posting nine hole scores on trees had progressed to a system based on scores recorded every three holes before Alex catapulted scoring into the 21st century by providing the media with immediate hole-by-hole transmission that changed our lives and enriched the enjoyment each week of the many thousands of spectators following the fairways.

Alex’s unique team gathered the scores from the players at every hole and immediately relayed them to the main scoreboard, the press scoreboard, TV, radio and close-circuit networks, and from that time golf fans around the world could be kept up-to-date with live reports that changed while broadcasters were on the air.

Behind the scenes Alex also maintained the Tour’s full range of equipment including lorries, mobile offices, buggies, crowd control equipment and signage in addition to scoring on the PGA Regional and WPGA circuits.

In the first ten years Alex worked out that their responsibilities had taken them more than half-a-million miles by land, sea and air to operate their scoring system in over ten countries. During that time they surmounted ferry strikes, road hazards and many daunting moments including the time when an over-enthusiastic Tunisian customs impounded their car with vital scoreboard material.

Without question, Alex would be the first to sing the praises of his wife June and sons Alan and Mark for the management of the operation but they in turn acknowledge that Alex calculated the way forward from the day in 1970 that he took a week off work to travel to Portmarnock in Ireland to help on the Daily Express scoreboard at the Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship.

Alex Sandeson and his wife, June

Alex Sandeson and his wife, June

Alex’s ‘hobby’ became a year-round occupation for the Sanderson family and on his retirement in 1992 there could be no finer accolade than when at a European Tour Dinner, Tony Gray, the European Tour Tournament Director, announced: “It is now my honour to call upon the world’s Number One golfer, Nick Faldo, to make a presentation to the world’s Number One scorer, Alex Sanderson.”

Following his retirement Alex and June enjoyed living in St Augustine, Florida, Estepona, Spain and Condom, France, but he spent his final years back in the UK in Bolton.

George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour from 2004 to 2015, said: “Alex and his extended family were simply an institution who since the Daily Express scoreboard sponsored days made the whole complicated operation seamless and apparently simple. The only European Tour UK tournament where he was not present was the Open Championship, and it’s wonderful that today Lee Wilkinson and his team at The European Tour carry Alex’s legacy forward.”

Alex’s funeral will be on Wednesday February 28 (11.15) at Overdale Crematorium (East Chapel), Chorley New Road, Bolton BL1 5BU) and afterwards nearby at The Retreat (BL1 5BP)  …. MITCHELL PLATTS

——————————————

So sorry to hear about Alex, a dear friend to us all in the press centre. He was a kind and thoughtful man, an avuncular figure to me in the days when scoreboards were the lifeblood of our working lives.

Without the tireless work of Alex, June, Alan and Mark and their industrious teams, we would have found life difficult indeed.

We, literally, couldn’t have done it without them and Alex ran the show  … NORMAN DABELL 

————————————–

Alex Sanderson and his family transformed the Media Centre, or Press Centre as it was known in the 1970s.
 
The Daily Express had pioneered the hole-by-hole scoring system, and it was Alex who took it over in 1976 and developed it into one of the great facilities on the European Tour.
 
Not only was he superb at his job, he was also the most friendly person you could possible meet, and his wife, June, and sons, Alan and Mark, were exactly the same.
Technology has taken over these days, but those of us who worked in the Media Centres in the 70s, 80s and 90s will always feel that the Sanderson era remains the best … JOCK MACVICAR 
———————————–
I can only echo what has been said about Alex and all his family and team – they made our job 100 times easier than it would otherwise have been and were a joy to work alongside. Not only did they provide the basic scores, they also quickly came up with the details if anything unusual had happened out on the course.
I remember one early incident on a pro-am day for something like the Lawrence Batley tournament or Car Care Plan International in Yorkshire. Word came through on one of their radios that a caddie had collapsed by a green, but instead of it being a request for medical help it was to ask if the body could be treated as an immovable object so play could continue. It seemed funny at the time, but sad to report that the caddie died.
They also let us know if there was a query over a player’s scorecard before it could be confirmed and that saved us from going early with a story and then having to file corrections or even a total rewrite if somebody had been disqualified or penalised. Particularly vital if the Tour didn’t want to let us in straightaway on what had happened!  … MARK GARROD