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DREAM AN AMERICAN


MARK GORTON LOOKS BACK TO 1913 AND THE US OPEN VICTORY OF FRANCIS OUIMET


JUST WEEKS AFTER OUR COVER PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN AT HOYLAKE, J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray – the Great Triumvirate – were in Brookline, Massachusetts, preparing for the 1913 US Open. Little did they suspect that golfing history was about to be made, and by such an unlikely character. Among the field that competed over


the Country Club course was a lanky, 20 year-old lad called Francis Ouimet. He stood 6 foot 2, weighed 12 and a half stone, and was the son of Arthur Ouimet, a French-Canadian immigrant, and Mary Ellen Burke, who had come to America from Ireland. When Francis was 4 his family bought a house on Clyde Street in Brookline, just a wedge from the Country Club’s 17th hole. Despite this proximity the Ouimets were from the wrong side of the tracks, while Brookline was sited firmly and luxuriously on the right side. A century ago, US amateur golf was the


preserve of the wealthy, while professional golf offered competition and a modest living for former caddies, who were obliged by the USGA to give up their amateur status if they continued caddying beyond the age of 16. Amateurs drawn from the ranks of the elite were the giants of the sport; professionals were regarded with the sort of disdain reserved for mercenaries, and not allowed inside the clubhouses of private clubs. Nevertheless, Francis developed an interest in the game and took to caddying at the Country Club aged 11 – which not only got him closer to golf but also brought in a few extra and well received dollars. His brother Wilfred, also a caddie, had


Francis, Eddie with new fans 46 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2013


an old club, and both boys found balls as they patrolled the course with their employers. With these Francis began to teach himself the game, for which he had a more instinctive feel than Wilfred, also


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