World famous in Whanganui: Bryan Silk

Bryan Silk in 1933. Taken by photographer Mark Lampe and are part of the Tesla Negative Collection held at the Whanganui Regional Museum, purchased with the assistance of the photographer's family.

Whanganui people have consistently punched above their weight to become famous in their fields ... inventors, politicians, editors, sports people, chefs and more.

Reporter JOHN MASLIN profiles them in our World Famous in Whanganui summer series.

It was legendary American golfer Gene Sarazen suggested Bryan Silk to try his luck and join him on the rich US professional circuit.

But while flattered, the Whanganui accountant passed up the invitation and instead became an amateur golfing legend in his homeland.

Silk, who died in 1995, was posthumously inducted into the Wanganui Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, a fitting tribute to a giant in amateur ranks.

Born in Wanganui he lived most of his life in the city. As a golfer he won every major national golfing title in the country apart from the NZ Open.

Silk won three NZ amateur titles over a 13-year span (1934-37-47), was the leading amateur in the NZ Open (Bledisloe Cup) championship four times over a 29-year span, was NZ open foursomes champion twice (1950 and 1954) and won four NZ amateur foursomes titles (1938-49-50-54).

He represented his country eight times between 1932 and 1956 and managed the winning Commonwealth Cup team in 1967. And in 1957 he became the first Kiwi amateur to win a professional tournament - the Caltex pro-am at Paraparaumu Beach.

He was a member of four winning Whanganui amateur teams at the NZ Open, won 10 Whanganui open titles between 1933 and 1972, claimed 17 Belmont club championships over 33 years and was in champion Manawatu-Wanganui Freyberg Rosebowl men's inter-provincial teams.

In 1945 Silk won the Inter-Allied open tournament in Rome in 1945 by 20 strokes and using borrowed clubs.

A fellow Wanganui Collegiate School mate John Hornabrook, with whom he won the national foursomes title, claimed that Silk could have become one of the greatest players in the world if he had played the American pro circuit.

And Sir Bob Charles, NZ's most successful professional golfer backed up that claim, saying that if Silk had gone to America he could have become "part of New Zealand's rich (pro) golfing history".

Silk, who joined the Wanganui Golf Club at the age of 12 in 1922, founded the NZ Golfing Society in 1971 and was a NZ Golf Council member between 1965 and 1977, serving as president in 1980.

He was renowned for his extreme concentration on the golf course, his knowledge of the sport, his impeccable dress, and his perfect manners.