America's first golf hero: Francis Ouimet and the 1913 U.S. Open.

• Author: Hardin, Robin

Introduction

Golf is currently riding a crest of popularity in the United States. In 2006, 28.7 million golfers played the game on nearly 16,000 courses across the country. (1) The golf economy in 2005 was $76 billion, including $6 billion spent on equipment and supplies. The total economic impact of golf on the U.S. economy that year was $195 billion. (2) In addition, television ratings for golf have soared over the last dozen years. That trend shows little sign of changing anytime soon when one takes note of the television ratings for the Monday playoff round of the 2008 U.S. Open, which were the highest ever for golf on cable television) As a consequence, golf's Tiger Woods now ranks as America's favorite athlete. (4) This growth in both interest and participation in golf is quite significant since the sport only took hold in the United States just over a century ago. To be sure, a few golf clubs were formed in the United States as early as the 1780s, but none survived. Then, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, three events led to golf's firm entrenchment in the pantheon of American sports. In 1888, the first permanent golf club was established. This was accompanied by the formation of the first governing body of golf in the United States. (5) The biggest boost to the sport, however, came when Francis Ouimet, a young Bostonian, won the 1913 U.S. Open. Ouimet's accomplishment gave America its first golf hero. This study examines how the media celebrated Ouimet's feat by portraying the former caddy as a national icon which, in turn, boosted the popularity of golf in the United States.

The Apple Tree Gang

John Reid, a transplanted Scotsman living in Yonkers, New York, spent his leisure time participating in field sports such as hunting and shooting. Reid, however, grew tired of such pursuits and wanted to try something different. He had seen golf played in Scotland and decided to try his hand at the game. So, when Robert Lockhart, a friend of Reid's, returned to Great Britain on business in 1887, Reid asked him to send back some golf equipment. Lockhart travelled to the St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland and purchased from Old Tom Morris, the most celebrated professional golfer of the day, several golf clubs and balls, which he then sent to Reid. (6)

In February 1888, Reid set out to test his skill at golf. He set up a three-hole course in a pasture across from his home and invited some friends to participate in a game. Reid and John Upham played against one another since there were not enough clubs for everyone to participate. Score was not kept but the game generated enough interest and enjoyment to cause Reid to order additional clubs and balls. (7)

Eventually, Reid expanded his golf course to six holes, and throughout the summer of 1888 golf became a regular event for Reid and his friends. In mid-November, they formed the St. Andrew's Golf Club, which marked the official beginning of golf in the United States. (8) Reid and his friends formed the club to ensure that they could continue to enjoy their outings on the golf course. The club allowed them to share expenses, and it served as a means to promote interest in the game. (9)

In April 1892, the course was moved to an apple orchard where a six-hole course was constructed, and the golfers from Yonkers became known as the "Apple Tree Gang." As club membership increased, expansion of the course became an issue. Some members believed that an apple orchard was hardly the best location for a golf course, which paled in comparison to two other courses in the New York area and two eighteen-hole courses in Chicago. Many of the club's new members believed that St. Andrew's should set the standard for building golf courses. (10)

The club responded to these concerns in May 1894 by constructing a new golf course, complete with a clubhouse and locker room, at Grey Oaks in Yonkers, New York. The course was easily accessible by train, and many New York businessmen traveled to it in search of relaxation. The club made its final move three years later to Mount Hope, in Westchester County, New York, where there was sufficient room for an eighteen-hole course. (11)

The Formation of the United States Golf Association

During the construction of Grey Oaks, the Newport (Rhode Island) Golf Club opened a nine-hole golf course at Rocky Farm where stone walls made their way through the course. Members of the club liked the stone walls and claimed that they served as one of the chief distinctive merits of the course. Willie Davis, the club professional, increased the level of difficulty of play on the course by adding mounds and pot bunkers. Such artificial hazards made for a hard course rather than a good test of skill. (12)

At the instigation of its members, the Newport Golf Club invited golfers from other clubs to Rhode Island in September 1894 to participate in a tournament to determine the top American golfer. (13) Chicago's Charlie Macdonald, who initiated the building of the first eighteen-hole golf course in the United States, was a heavy favorite to win the event. On the first day of the tournament, he shot an eighty-nine, which gave him a four-stroke lead over his nearest competitor. On the second day of medal play competition, however, Macdonald carded a 100, which enabled Newport's William G. Lawrence to win the tournament by one stroke. (14)

Macdonald did not accept his defeat well. His ultimate downfall came when he topped a shot and the ball rolled into a stone wall. He was forced to take a two-stroke penalty in order to move the ball. Afterwards, Macdonald complained that the stone wall was not a legitimate golf hazard. By such logic, the two-stroke penalty was not a legitimate penalty. Macdonald also believed that the only true way to determine a champion was through match play, not medal play. In response to Macdonald's complaints, St. Andrew's Club announced that it would hold a match-play tournament in October 1894 to determine the American amateur golf champion. Twenty-seven golfers from eight clubs would meet at Grey Oaks to determine the champion. (15)

Macdonald made it to the championship match at Grey Oaks and was pitted against Laurence Stoddard. Stoddard did not succumb to the pressure of playing against Macdonald, and the two were tied after eighteen holes. On the first playoff hole, Macdonald hit his tee shot into a ploughed field. It took him three shots to get the ball back onto the fairway. Macdonald lost the hole and the championship, but he again refused to accept defeat gracefully. This time he claimed to be ill, which prevented him from playing his best golf. More importantly, Macdonald refused to recognize Stoddard as the national champion, arguing that his opponent had won a tournament sponsored by only one club. How could one club speak for the entire nation? According to MacDonald, before a tournament could be labeled a national championship, it would have to meet the approval of all clubs, and those clubs would have to be joined in an official organization. (16)

Some of the more prominent golfers in the United States feared that such controversy would do damage to the sport. To avoid this, they called for the formation of a recognized authority to establish rules for the game and to settle disputes. Henry Tallmadge, the secretary and one of the founders of the St. Andrew's Club, invited two members from the five most prominent clubs in the country to New York in an effort to organize a governing body of golf in the United States. Subsequently, in December 1894, a group of ten men met and formed the Amateur Golf Association of the United States. The organization sought "to promote the interests in the game of golf, to promulgate a code of rules for the game, and to hold annual meetings at which competitions would be conducted for the amateur and open championships of the United States." (17)

As it turned out, the original name of the governing body was not suitable because it would deal with professional golf, so it was changed to the American Golf Association. But there were problems with using that name as well because the organization lacked any authority over Canadian golf. The third and final name change resulted in the formation of the United States Golf Association (USGA), which would sponsor the first official United States Amateur Championship held at Newport in October 1895, and won by Charlie Macdonald. (18)

Ouimet and the 1913 U.S. Open

Ouimet's victory at the 1913 U.S. Open is considered one of the most significant events in the history of golf. (19) News of his victory made the front-page of many New York newspapers and raised the level of interest in golf throughout the United States. The tension leading up to the 1913 U.S. Open had been building for several months because of the presence of Harry Vardon, the great English golfer, and Ted Ray, his playing partner. Vardon had already won five British Opens as well as a U.S. Open in 1900. He was making his second playing tour of the United States, and together with Ray, they had won all forty of their exhibition matches leading up to the 1913 U.S. Open. (20) Vardon and Ray competed as a team against American golfers, and wherever they played record crowds turned out to see them. As they...