Author(s): June Senyard

Biography

Harry Williams burst on the scene in 1931 at the age of 16, the most scintillating talent ever seen in Australian golf. Australian Amateur Champion several times and constantly Victorian Amateur Champion through the decade, Harry Williams was offered and rejected a fortune to join Gene Sarazen on the lucrative US professional tour. Yet within a few years the hopes held forhim had disappeared. Had his father belted him once too often? Or his mother too constantly indulged him? Or was it that Harry was swept away by the establishment and changes in the organisation of the sport? Like two other Australian sporting champions of the era, Phar Lap and Les D'arcy, the enigmatic Harry Williams departed the sporting arena and left us with poignant memories of a brilliant career that ended in tragedy. About the Author Jume senyard is a senior lecturer in the history department at the University of Melbourne and coordinates studies in Australian sporting culture. June plays golf, has a mother who was a lefthanded golfer and is a doting mother herself. She alos had an Uncle Harry who was born in the same year as the subject of the biography.
June has published several monographs and a range of articles on Australian sporting history.