By the time McDougall had turned 21 he had already achieved everything there was to achieve in amateur golf in NZ. He had won the NZ Amateur title in 1957, led Auckland to its first win in the interprovincial tournament, won three consecutive Steward Gold Cups at the Grange Golf Club in Auckland and won the Tauranga Invitational Professional Tournament as an amateur. He then represented NZ at the very first Eisenhower played at St Andrews Scotland.
McDougall, born in 1937 Dundee, Scotland learnt to play golf at the Pitlochry Golf Cub and was heavily influenced by the Scottish legend John Panton and his brother Neil. In 1951 McDougall won the Scottish Midland Boys Championship before moving to New Zealand where he attended Pukekohe High School.
McDougall was Head Prefect at Pukekohe High and was mentored by the great Dan Bryant, the headmaster, who caddied for Ted in the 1955 NZ Open at Royal Auckland where he shot a second round 70 being the low round after 36 holes.
After returning from the Eisenhower in Scotland, McDougall turned professional and married Leonie Pikett. They moved to Whangarei where he worked for Wiseman’s Sports Company as their golf representative.
He had a very successful year in 1959 winning the three ‘big tournaments’, outside of the NZ Open & Caltex, on the NZ professional circuit. He won the Taranaki Open, the Tauranga Invitational and the Auckland Open. His final round 66 at Royal Auckland was described as the best round played by any golfer that year in New Zealand.
Unfortunately, at the end of 1959 Wiseman’s went into receivership and McDougall lost his role as a golf representative. He unsuccessfully applied for assistant club professional roles and hence he reluctantly applied for his amateur status to be re-instated which meant two years in the wilderness where he could neither play professional or amateur golf.
The turning point for McDougall, after returning to the amateur ranks, was winning the 1964 North Island Stroke Play Championship. This feat earnt his selection for the NZ team to compete at the Eisenhower played in Rome.
He and Ross Murray would lead New Zealand to 3rd place, their first ever podium finish. The Great Britain & Ireland team, which included the late Sir Michael Bonallack & Ronnie Shade, won the event with none of their four players breaking 300. McDougall scored 299 and Murray 297.
Soon after returning to New Zealand from Rome McDougall played Stuart Jones, the Emperor of New Zealand Golf, in the final of the NZ Amateur in an epic match eventually losing on the 37th.
McDougall would then play a leading role in New Zealand having a rare victory over the Australian team played in 1965 at the Christchurch Golf Club. He beat the Australian Captain Phillip Billings 4&2.
In 1966 McDougall was controversially dropped from the New Zealand team to compete in the Eisenhower when the convenor of selectors made the unusual late decision to bring forward the playing of the NZ Amateur from its traditional November date to September and make it the final compulsory trial before selecting the team to play in the Eisenhower which is always played in October.
McDougall, along with several other leading contenders were unable to afford the expense of travelling to the South Island to compete and hence were not considered for selection!!
McDougall was plagued by back injuries throughout his career and in 1967 he collapsed at home and was admitted to Waikato Hospital. He had several months away from the game to recover.
When he returned to competition in the summer of 1967/68 he would play arguable the best golf of his career. During that summer he played 84 rounds of golf at an average of 69.82. He saved his best performance for the NZ Open when a final round 67 would prompt Peter Thomson, his playing partner, to comment ‘he is the best golfer in New Zealand at present, amateur or professional’.
Norman von Nida, the Australian legend and the then NZ coach commented in his column for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, ‘E.J. McDougall is playing about as well, if not better, than any amateur in the world today’.
McDougall was now back in the New Zealand team however they would finish a disappointing 7th at the 1968 Eisenhower in Melbourne. It would be in 1970 that McDougall would lead New Zealand to a 2nd place finish in Spain. He then won his second NZ Amateur title and was once again the leading amateur in the NZ Open.
By this time his family had moved to Tokoroa in the Waikato. He enjoyed great success and comradery with his Waikato team mates as he led them to victories in the interprovincial tournament in 1968,71,72 and 74.
At age 39 he and Geoff Clarke were still the leading amateurs in NZ golf when he retired to take up the role as secretary/manager for the Peninsula Golf Club in Orewa.
He came out of retirement in 1982 and won two NZ foresome titles with Terry Pulman and made the final of the 1983 NZ Amateur going down to Colin Taylor in another epic battle where they shared 9 birdies each in front of over 1000 spectators.
During this time-period he also won the Northland Match Play, The Stewart Gold Cup for a fourth time and the Auckland Anniversary tournament however his best result at age 49 was winning the 1986 Auckland Stroke Play by 9 stokes. The field included two NZ representatives who soon after competed in the latest instalment of the Eisenhower.
At age 54 he won the 1991 NZ Senior Amateur before under-going major back surgery to clear up scar tissue from his operation in 1971. It was around this time that he also assisted with the formation of the North Harbour Golf Association and was also a selector.
He rounded out his career as the club professional at the Mangawhai Golf Club.
He passed away around the same time as Kazuma Kobori was chipping in on the final hole to be the leading individual at the recently completed Eisenhower. Ted would have been looking down on Kazuma and he would have been proud of his achievement however he would have also been thinking ‘Kazuma, you forgot to take the pin out’.