Tony Jacklin: from Scunthorpe apprentice to major-winning golfer who left the UK over taxes

A pivotal sporting moment came at 16 when Jacklin won the Lincolnshire Open by four shots in difficult conditions. That victory convinced him to pursue golf as a career rather than follow the local pattern of work in the steel industry.

# Early career and breakthrough At 16 Jacklin wrote to Golf Illustrated seeking work and secured an assistant position at Potters Bar Golf Club. He lodged there and earned about £6 a week plus teaching income. He progressed steadily, and his performance at the 1963 Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes — where he finished around 30th but beat Arnold Palmer — provided an early career boost and some prize money that encouraged him to keep going.

# Major wins and commercial success Jacklin won The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1969 and followed with the US Open in 1970. He was the first European to win the US Open in 45 years. The 1970 season was the most successful of his playing career: the US Open win brought $30,000 in prize money and a $30,000-a-year promotional deal with Pan American Airways. Jacklin later contrasted those sums with modern prize funds, observing how much larger winners' purses have become.

# Ryder Cup captaincy and later golf work

After his major wins Jacklin spent on cars and property. He bought a Rolls-Royce for about £10,000 and bought a large Cotswolds house after 1970, spending roughly £100,000 on renovations that included an indoor pool, driving range, putting green and cottages. He later sold that house at a heavy loss.

Jacklin left the UK after the Labour government, under Chancellor Denis Healey, proposed charging him 83% tax on worldwide income for residents. He felt that the policy unfairly penalised him as an English resident while foreign players were treated differently. He moved first to Jersey and later to the United States, citing practical problems living in Jersey given his playing commitments in America.

# Personal life and perspective Jacklin is a father of six and, at the time of the interview, was 82 and living with his second wife, Astrid. He says health remains his most important possession and has expressed bemusement at the scale of modern prize money compared with the sums he earned at the height of his career.