As for practice swings, he regarded them as totally unnecessary and barely legal – close to practising on the course.

After shooting 80 in his first two rounds, Duncan was thirteen shots behind the leader, Abe Mitchell, before the final two rounds were played, but made up the deficit to win by two shots from Sandy Herd.

He just failed to win the 1922 Open, eventually losing to Walter Hagen by a margin of one stroke.

The scene of his demise was a dip in the fairway in front of the 18th green from which he fluffed a chip shot to a position five yards short of the pin.

He eventually missed the crucial putt for a tie with Hagen, which led to the short position in front of the 18th being ironically named "Duncan's Hollow."