Name: Tony Jacklin

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Age: 69

Twitter: @jacklin_tony

Famous why? Jacklin is the most successful British golfer of all time. A golfing legend, Jacklin’s name hangs in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“I’m at the time of my life when I thought why not! I love music and I do think I’ve got a sense of rhythm. Now it’s very close I just want to get stuck into it.”

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Bio: Ryder Cup Captain four times, Tony has won the PGA Tour, the European Tour and Senior PGA Tour. He’s hailed as the man who changed the Ryder Cup, helping take the European team to its first victory in 28 years in 1985.

Now retired from the sport, Tony designs golf courses including the 9-hole par 3 course of The St Pierre Park Hotel in Guernsey.

He wears a hearing aid in both ears, having been hearing impaired for more than twenty five years and is a patron of the English Deaf Golf Association.

Tony's hoping his return to the UK will help introduce him to some new fans: “There’s a generation probably who don’t know who I am or what I did. So there’s a bit of a challenge there. Maybe they will remember that actually I was quite good at what I used to do. So this is an opportunity to reintroduce myself.”

And it looks as if he’s already feeling quite loyal to his as-yet-unknown partner, saying “I’m here to do as well as I can and I don’t want to let my partner down in particular. She’ll be a professional and it’ll mean a lot to her. I just want her to know it means a lot to me, too.”

Not that he’s getting ahead of himself. “It’ll all be new territory,” says Tony, “I know posture is important and how I present my dance partner. I’m assuming those issues are an important aspect to the overall judging.”

Here Tony talks golf and, er, haggis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llZpxOfyBGI

Strictly Come Dancing starts this Saturday at 6:50pm, BBC1


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