Eric Cremin

Who was Eric Cremin?

Eric James Cremin was an Australian professional golfer who, later in his career, was instrumental in the establishment of the Asian golf circuit.

Cremin was born in Mascot, New South Wales. He played mostly in Australasia, only occasionally travelling to Europe to compete, but enjoyed great success on the Australian circuit, including victories in the 1949 Australian Open and the 1937 and 1938 Australian PGA Championship. After World War II, Cremin was runner-up in the Australian PGA Championship a further seven times, including 1946 to 1948 consecutively.

In 1959, Cremin and a Welsh international golfer, Kim Hall, had the idea of establishing a tournament in Hong Kong to provide an additional event for the Australian professionals who were travelling to play in the Philippine Open. The event was a great success, and within a few years, similar tournaments had begun in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan, and the Asian circuit had become firmly established.

Cremin died of a heart attack while playing golf in Singapore.