On one Saturday the boys managed to fit in 54 holes


golf mad. In the back yard of their house the brothers even fashioned a makeshift practice area of 3 holes that included a gravel pit, long rough, and cups made from tin cans piled into what passed for greens.


Caddying also meant that Francis


got to see his heroes up close when big tournaments were played at the Country Club: men like Chandler Egan, Jerry Travers, Fred Herreshoff, Walter J. Travis, Alex Smith, and Willie Anderson. Francis was also a personable youngster and many members were fond of him. One of them, Samuel Carr, for whom Francis had caddied the day before, made him the gift of 4 unwanted clubs from his locker: a driver with a leather face, a lofter, a midiron, and a putter. The golf bug that had infected Francis now became a fever; he rose at dawn or before and practiced on the famous course until the green keepers told him to clear off. At the weekends he and a school friend would spend the whole day on the nine- hole public course at nearby Franklin Park. On one Saturday the boys managed to fit in 54 holes. Francis was becoming a fine golfer


and, looking back, there is evidence of the gathering momentum that would generate such historic results in September 1913. In 1908, when he was 15 and about to enter Brookline High school, he played in the Greater Boston Interscholastic Championship. Strictly speaking he was ineligible, because this chapter of his schooling was still to be opened.


Above: Francis Ouimet at Brookline Right: Chandler Egan pictured in 1904


But Francis argued that he should be able to represent Brookline High and, somehow, given golf’s stickling for rules, won his case. He qualified with an 85, but was eliminated in the first round by J. H. Sullivan (whose sister Francis later married). Two years later, in 1910, Francis decided to enter the National Amateur to be played over the Country Club. But, to compete he had to be a member of a recognised golf club, so he applied for junior membership at the Woodland Golf Club, borrowing from his mother the $25 it cost to join, and paying her back by earning $4 a week in a Boston shop during the summer. It was all to no avail – he failed to qualify by one stroke, and the same thing would happen in 1911 and 1912, though in that year he reached the final of the Massachusetts State Amateur only to be beaten by Heinie Schmidt, “the well dressed man”. In 1913, Francis made amends and won the State Amateur, and also qualified for the National Amateur, giving Jerry Travers a stiff challenge before succumbing on the 34th green. So Francis’ 1913 had been a good year,


and yet he had no plans to enter the US Open despite the venue being his beloved Country Club at Brookline. He had to be persuaded to enter by the President of the USGA, Robert Watson. Francis’ agreement would set in motion events that would change the nature of golf in


America and across the world, because, in the space of 3 days, Francis Ouimet would make possible the impossible. Let’s skip to September 19, 1913, the


day this report was filed to the New York Times: “An American youth, Francis Ouimet, a stripling scarcely out of his teens, carved a niche for himself in international sporting history here today when he tied with England’s famous professional golfers, Harry Vardon and Edward Ray, in the final round of the national open championship.” The anonymous reporter goes on to describe the atmosphere that descended upon the tournament. “When the gallery realised that in this home bred amateur rested America’s chance of winning the championship, the tournament ceased to be a purely golf competition and developed into an international contest between the representatives of Uncle Sam and John Bull.” In one sense, Francis had home


advantage; he knew the Country Club course well. On the other hand his caddie was a 10 year old boy called Eddie Lowery. What’s more, Francis had spent precious little time in the crucible that forges the true steel required for golf at the highest level, and could not have


ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2013 MAGAZINE


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