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Peter Benka - 1946-2008
Ashdown House Pupil 1955-60
The world of golf and all his many friends were stunned at the news of
Peter Benka's death at the age of 61 after a short and sudden illness.
Peter will be fondly remembered for his cheerful and friendly
disposition: this made his competitive streak on the golf course all
the more formidable as the Americans found in the Walker Cup match in
Milwaukee in 1969. In this contest, although GB&I lost narrowly 10-8,
Peter lost only one of his four matches. His England record is also
impressive wtih only seven defeats in 29 matches between 1967 and 1970.
He started the game at an early age at Addington Golf Club. A winner of
the British Youth Championship in 1967 and '68 he also won the Surrey
County Championship twice (1967 and '68) and represented the county
between 1965 and 1984. He was capped at England Boy and Youth level
then became a full international. He was a member of England's winning
side in the European Mens' Team Championship in 1969 and, as well as the
Walker Cup, represented Great Britain and Ireland in the St Andrew's
Trophy in 1970.
Peter was a superbly stylish golfer on the course and an amusing and
agreeable companion off it. He played int he Halford Hewitt team for
Charterhouse from 1965 to 2001, during which time Charterhouse won the
Hewitt seven times. In all he played in 107 matches and won 70 of
them.
As a golfing administrator, in 1997 Peter was elected to the R & A's
Selection Committee, taking over as chairman in 1999 until 2002. Peter
had chaired the R & A's Amateur Status Committee and served on the
General Committee.
Peter was a successful schoolboy at Ashdown too. He played in all the
first teams (captained the golf team of course) and was always well
above average academically. Then, as throughout his life, he wore his
great talent and achievement lightly. MVCW
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