David Marsh: GP and l{-}{-}eading golfer who won a “small chunk of immortality”

bmj;378/sep28_23/o2342/FAF1faCredit: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images.The acclaimed golf writer Herbert Warren Wind reported in the New Yorker: “Dr David Marsh, a general practitioner of great personal charm, earned himself a small chunk of immortality when he hit the shot [in 1971] that won the Walker Cup for Britain—a picture-postcard 3-iron to the 17th green that covered the flag every yard of the way.”Two putts gave the modest Marsh a winning par four. He clinched the match on the 18th, giving Great Britain and Ireland a 13-11 victory and only their second Walker Cup win since the inaugural championship in 1922.Wind’s commentary stands out because it is rare for a sportswriter describing the thrilling climax of a sporting triumph to focus on an athlete’s charm. But this was perhaps appropriate. As a doctor, Marsh was (to quote Michael Balint, a student of the dynamics of doctor-patient relationships) “a therapeutic instrument in his own…
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