Michael Lunt, the Birmingham-born amateur golf star who died suddenly aged 72, was one of the greatest players of his generation.
At the time of his death he was Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and a former Amateur Champion as well as a popular and influential golf administrator.
He was born in 1935 into a prosperous family of Birmingham textile merchants. His father Stanley was a passionate golfer who won the English Amateur Championship in 1934 sparked Michael's interest from childhood, even allowing him to practise putting while standing on the billiard table at the family home in Wellington Road, Edgbaston.
Michael was educated at West House in Edgbaston and Uppingham School and joined the Moseley and Edgbaston golf clubs where he honed the stylish swing and immaculate short game that brought him so much subsequent success. He became a junior international at the age of 14, representing England Boys for the next four years.
After leaving school, he was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and served in Egypt during his National Service. He then joined the family wholesale textile firm of Richard Lunt and Co in their Victorian premises at Old Square in Birmingham city centre, as a buyer, later becoming a director. His father's glamorous secretary Vicki Macdonald from Barnt Green, a keen golfer and tennis player, caught his eye and by the time he reached the final of the 1963 Amateur Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews, the pair were engaged.
To the amazement of his more chauvinist contemporaries, Vicki caddied for him, with spectacular results. In the final he defeated John Blackwell 2 and 1 thanks to his imperturbable match temperament. Michael again reached the final of the Amateur the following year, at Ganton, against Gordon J. Clark.
The match was all-square after 36 holes and went into a play-off which Clark eventually won at the 39th, making it the longest final on record.
The young couple moved from Moseley to Barnt Green and in 1966, Lunt followed in his father's footsteps when he won the English Amateur Championship, making them the first father and son to take the title.
He played in the Walker Cup, the amateur team championship, four times in the 50s and 60s and won most of the major amateur events, including the Leicestershire Fox and the Winchelsea Foursomes with David Kelley, himself a finalist in the Amateur Championship. The pair also staged a series of Challenges, publicised in The Birmingham Post, to widen the appeal of golf, wagering £100 that they could beat any partnership who would take them on, including women and professionals. They took on all-comers at scores of Midland clubs and rarely lost.
After the family firm was taken over by Courtaulds, Michael Lunt moved first to work as European golf sales manager for Slazenger and then to the Royal Mid-Surrey Club as secretary and manager.
He was a natural choice to serve on several of the R and A's committees and his election as Captain of the Royal and Ancient crowned a distinguished career.
He died from an aneurysm on May 22. He is survived by his wife and their son and daughter.
