Hezlet, Charles Owen (1891–1965), golfer and golf administrator, was born in May 1891 in Portrush, Co. Antrim, the youngest child of Richard Jackson Hezlet, a lieutenant colonel in the British army, and his wife Emily Mary Linzee (née Owen). He came from a distinguished golfing family: his father and mother were captains of the Royal Portrush men's and ladies’ clubs respectively; and his four sisters, May Hezlet (qv), Florence, Violet and Emmie, were amateur golfers of note. In 1914 he was runner-up in the British amateur open championship; however, his early promise was interrupted by the first world war, and he failed to win, or contest, a final of a major amateur championship until 1920, when he won the Irish amateur close championship. In 1923 he was defeated in the final of the Irish amateur open championship by his clubmate and rival Captain Noel Martin, and was again runner-up in 1925. However, he recorded victories in 1926 and 1929. He was the losing finalist in the Welsh amateur open championship in 1923. In 1927 and 1929 he was the leading amateur in the open championship of Ireland, playing with and aiding the eventual winner, George Duncan, in 1927. He won the Surrey amateur open in 1928, and a host of other minor amateur competitions, including the Adair cup ten times between 1908 and 1936.
In 1923 Hezlet achieved the unique honour of dual international representation when he was picked as an Irish international, having played for Wales, where he was working, the previous year against the midlands at Harlech. In 1923 he was elected captain of the Irish side, an honour he won a further nine times before 1932, and again from 1948 to 1953. Hezlet became the first Irish player to be selected for the Walker cup when he played in Garden City, New York, in 1924. Further Walker cup recognition followed in 1926 and 1928, recording five defeats, and one half, from his six matches. He also toured South Africa, Kenya and Rhodesia as captain of a British team in 1952.
Hezlet became heavily involved in the administration of the game, and was a member of the central council of the Golfing Union of Ireland from 1946 until his death in 1965. From 1948 to 1954 he was Ireland's representative on the Joint Advisory Council (now the Council of National Golf Unions). In 1952 he was appointed chairman of the championship committee of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, having served as deputy chairman the previous year, and on the general committee since 1948. From 1949 to 1955 he was a member of the Royal and Ancient rules of golf committee, of which he was chairman from 1953 to 1955, and was also an associate member of the United States Golfing Association rules committee. In 1951 he persuaded the Royal and Ancient to give the eightieth open championship to Royal Portrush, the only time this prestigious tournament was held in Ireland.
Hezlet served with distinction in two world wars, for which he was awarded the DSO and MC; he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He married Anne (known as Nancy) Maitland Stuart, of Coleraine, Co. Derry, in February 1920. They had two children, before his wife died suddenly in 1931. He died in November 1965 in Sussex, and was buried at Aghadowey, Co. Derry.