On the 2 September, 1967, the American amateur golfer, Francis DeSales Ouimet, died in Newton, Massachusetts, aged 74.
Frequently referred to as the ‘father of amateur golf’, Ouimet won the US Open Championship in 1913. He was the first non-Briton to be elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Ouimet was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb southwest of Boston. The Ouimet family were relatively poor, his father was a French-Canadian immigrant, and his mother was originally from Ireland.
When Francis was four years old, his family purchased a house on Clyde Street in Brookline, directly across from the 17th hole of The Country Club. Ouimet became interested in golf at an early age and began caddying at The Country Club at the age of 11. He taught himself to play, using clubs borrowed from his brother, and golf balls he found around the course.
It wasn’t long before Ouimet was the best high school golfer in the state. In 1913, Ouimet won his first significant title, the Massachusetts Amateur, at the age 20, an event he won five more times.
Ouimet originally declined to play in the 1913 US Open Championship, which was to be played at the course Ouimet knew best, The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, having just returned to work after competing in the National Amateur Championship. However, with the cooperation of his employer, participation was soon arranged.
Eddie Lowery was his ten year old caddie in Ouimet’s first appearance in the Championship. After 72 holes of regulation play, a three-way tie between Ouimet, Harry Vardon, and Ted Ray, was decided in an 18-hole play-off the next day. Ouimet won the playoff at one-under-par and became the first amateur to win the US Open.
Ouimet’s US Open success is credited for bringing golf into the American sporting mainstream.
Ouimet never turned professional and remained an amateur for his whole career. However, in 1916, the USGA stripped Ouimet of his amateur status. The decision was greeted with uproar from Ouimet’s fellow golfers, and the USGA were compelled to quietly reinstate his amateur status after WW2.
02 September, 2019