Declines opportunity to become president. Captains final U. Walker Cup team. Open, played at The Country Club on 50th anniversary of win. Presents trophy to winner Julius Boros right. Clinching putt is made by Justin Leonard on 17th green. Remembering Ouimet: Timeline. Remembering Ouimet. Baggs: Who was Francis? Baggs: Search for Ouimet. Tays: Anatomy of upset. Ouimet won three major championships of his day, one professional major he played as an amateur and two amateur majors.
His victory in the U. Open, discussed more below, was a huge boon to golf in the USA. Ouimet later added two wins in the U. Amateur Championship, the first in and the second 17 years later, in More of Ouimet's significant tournament wins are listed below. Francis Ouimet put American golf on the map. In the early 20th Century, golf was dominated by the English and Scots. Ouimet, a year-old amateur and former caddie, unknown on the national scene he had already won the Massachussetts Amateur, however , forced the formidable duo into a playoff.
And when Ouimet won that playoff , he became an instant folk hero in the United States — and well-known to golfers around the world. A biography of Ouimet on the website of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund says: "There were very few players in America, no public courses , and the game was confined mostly to the wealthy.
Ouimet's victory changed all of that. His victory and unlikely background combined to create an inspirational moment. Within ten years the number of players tripled. A former caddie — a "regular guy" — winning the U. America was ready to embrace golf. Says the World Golf Hall of Fame:. Ouimet's accomplishments extended beyond just that one event.
Twice Ouimet won the U. Ouimet trailed Vardon by four strokes through 36 holes, but a third-round 74 pulled him into a three-way tie. Ouimet, Vardon and Ray shot fourth-round 79s to set up the playoff.
Ouimet had enlisted the services of Jack Lowery as his caddie, but the year-old was hauled in by a truant officer. Sweet symmetry entered the Ouimet story a several years ago, when Caitlin Wallerce went on a job interview at the Boston office of Brown Brothers Harriman. It dates to , the oldest private bank in the United States. BBH is where Ouimet guarded financial investments for Ken Venturi, Lowery who became a multimillion-dollar auto dealer in San Francisco and so many other friends who had entrusted him.
Never did he fail them, but neither did he flash his achievements. Sears marveled at that about Ouimet. He knew of the legendary golf career — the epic, of course, as well as the and U. Amateur titles; the nine semifinal appearances in the national amateur; the French Amateur victory; the six Massachusetts Amateur crowns; 12 Walker Cups as player or captain; and the third-place finish in , when he played in his sixth and final U.
Jones had lost to Ouimet in , their inaugural meeting in the U. His friendships extended to the White House, too, because in the s, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Ouimet to come out to Palm Springs, California, for some golf. Harry Vardon was undoubtedly the premier golfer of his era. The Englishman, born in Jersey on the 9th May , won seven major championships in his illustrious career, and to this day is still rightly regarded as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
Although neither man knew it then, both men would meet again in altogether different circumstances just 13 years later. By another of the funny coincidences that characterizes this story, the two men would meet again for the US Open in , held at—where else—Brookline Country Club.
Vardon, on the other hand, was making his first voyage—quite literally—to the US since his successful trip in It was under this backdrop then, that Frances Ouimet took his bow in the arena of a professional event. A normal character would be understandably overawed—but Ouimet was about to prove he was no normal character. To fully do justice to the events of the 19th US Open would take many thousands of words and, even then, many intriguing aspects would still be missed out.
Barely four feet tall, the year-old had idolized Ouimet from afar and, after an unforeseeable and improbable series of events, found himself caddying for his hero in the biggest competition either man had ever seen. Returning after two days intense competition on Saturday for the now traditional hole playoff, Ouimet was the focus of a hugely supportive crowd.
Conservative estimates suggest that over 15 fans descended on Brookline for the match, and none of them were rooting for the two Englishmen. As the match got underway, the golf was of a typically high standard.
0コメント