The 1913 US Open: The Birth Of Modern Golf

L-R Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and Ted Ray

One hundred years ago, the 1913 US Open changed the sport of golf, with a game described as ‘the birth of the modern game’. The tournament culminated in an 18-hole playoff between Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, the top two professional players of the day, and Francis Ouimet, a twenty-year-old unknown amateur. As the title of Mark Frost’s book covering the event portrays, these three men would play a part in ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’.

The US Open is a major championship in golf, and one of the most coveted tournaments of those playing the game; from the top touring professionals, to the aspiring young players hacking around courses all over the world. Northern Irish sensation, Rory McIlroy cemented his place as the top golfer in the world when he won the event in 2011 with a record-breaking score. McIlroy is considered one of the most influential people in the sport, with his success at a young age inspiring more and more young people to take up golf. But long before the Holywood ace, Francis Ouimet had polarized interest in the sport to a level never to be emulated by one single player.

Francis Ouimet was born in May 1893 to an Irish mother and French father, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He grew up in 246 Clyde Street, directly across the road from the 17^th green of Brookline Country Club, the course that would host the 1913 US Open. His parents were poor immigrants, and golf at the time was seen as an elitist sport played ‘by gentlemen’, and not by the sons of said poor immigrants. Ouimet began caddying for club members at Brookline as a boy, and on his travels up and down the fairways of the famous course, he collected stray balls, brought them home, and playing with old hand-me-down clubs, taught himself the complex game of golf in his modest backyard. He won his first championship in 1909, and soon became one of the finest high school golfers in his state. John G. Anderson, a Boston golfer and writer at the time, witnessed Ouimet during his high school years, and during the week of the 1913 Open, he wrote: “If there ever was a born golfer, it is this boy.”

Ouimet initially declined a personal invitation to play in the Open from the President of the United States Golf Association, Robert Watson, as he was not in a position to jeopardise his job at Wright & Ditson sporting goods store in Boston. Soon after, it was arranged with his employer for him to get time off, and so he was included in the field for the 1913 Open. The championship had been moved from its usual June date to September in order to facilitate the participation of the seasoned British pros, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. Vardon and Ray were considered the two finest golfers in the world, and famous golf writer, Bernard Darwin, wrote of the foreseen probability of this British threat: “I cannot in my mind’s eye see any man in this field, save only McDermott, beating Ray or Vardon over four rounds.” Johnny McDermott was the reigning champion, the first American to win the US Open, and was heralded as the home country’s only hope of a challenger.

Brookline Country Club

On September 18, the much anticipated renewal of the Open got underway at Brookline, in earshot of Francis Ouimet’s family home on Clyde Street. Adding to the innocence of this story was the presence of Ouimet’s caddy, a straight-talking, rambunctious ten-year-old boy named Eddie Lowery. The newspapers focussed their headlines on Ray and Vardon, and they shot an opening round of 79 and 75 respectively. Ouimet went unseen with a respectable 77 in the first round, and an improved 74 in the second round. Despite his solid play, he still went unnoticed, while Vardon and Ray were both in the top three after two rounds. However, after the third round of the four-round tournament, the murmurs on the course were building, carrying the name of Francis Ouimet into the same breath of the British mainstays.  After these three rounds, there was a three-way tie for the lead: Harry Vardon, Ted Ray, and Francis Ouimet. This three-way tie would remain after the final round of regulation play, and that meant there would be an 18-hole playoff the following day to decide a winner.

Ouimet with his young caddy

People in higher echelons of the game tried to replace Ouimet’s unorthodox young caddy for a more experienced bagman in the playoff, but Francis wanted to stick with Eddie, and so he did. Lowery offered Ouimet simple words of advice: “you’ve just got to beat those fellows”, he said. The playoff day was dull and damp like the previous rounds, and Darwin described the course as a “rolling meadow land, thickly and prettily wooded, with every now and then a formidable rock that adds a touch of wildness and romance.” That wildness was emanating throughout the swells of people that provided the event with the biggest crowd a game of golf had ever attracted, and the three men teed off together. Ted Ray played poorly, and soon it was evident he would not be winning the playoff, but Vardon and Ouimet remained close on the card. Despite some mistakes, Ouimet stepped onto the 17^th tee with a one shot lead from his more experienced rival, and it was at this hole, on the green adjacent to his home, that Francis Ouimet would all but win the tournament. He birdied as Vardon bogeyed, giving the young pretender a lead that he would not relinquish, going on to win by five strokes from his childhood idol. The New York Tribune wrote of how “a roar went up”, and “Ouimet was hoisted into the air”, while women “tore bunches of flowers from their bodices, and hurled them at the youthful winner.” This moment was captured in headlines across the world, and the defeated Vardon spoke of how “Mr Ouimet played the most wonderful golf” he had ever witnessed.” He was the first amateur to win the US Open.

The Fresh Faced Champion

Francis Ouimet’s victory in the Open one hundred years ago is credited with spawning a new culture of golf in America. Up to 1913, golf had been dominated by Britons and Scots, but in just ten years, the number of golfers in the US had increased from 350,000 to approximately 2.1 million. The number of courses, especially public ones, also grew from 700 in 1910 to over 5,600 in 1929. Never had, and never since, has one player, and one victory, changed any sport in the way in which Francis Ouimet changed golf. American golfer and golf writer, Herbert Warren Wind, once commented on the legacy of Ouimet: “The luckiest thing, however, that happened to American golf was that its first great hero was a person like Francis Ouimet.”

Francis Ouimet died in 1967, but his memory lives on far beyond the 17^th green at Brookline and 246 Clyde Street. The Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund still bears his name, having been set up by a group of his friends in 1949, and it provides “significant need-based college scholarships to students who have given service to golf by working at a Massachusetts golf course.” It has awarded scholarships totalling over $25 million to date, and they are as proud to be associated with Francis Ouimet, as he was of the fund. Speaking to me recently, Executive Director of the Fund, Bob Donovan said: “Mr. Ouimet often said that of all his honours, the one that pleased him the most was the creation of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. Mr. Ouimet was always kind to young people, and that started with Eddie Lowery in 1913.”

Eddie Lowery went on to become a self-made multi-millionaire, and he and Francis Ouimet remained lifelong friends. When Francis died in 1967, Eddie Lowery was one of the men to carry his coffin. The iconic photograph of Lowery and Ouimet walking down the fairway together is one of the most memorable in golf’s history, and was used as the logo for the United States Golf Association's centennial celebrations.

One of the players Ouimet helped to inspire, Bobby Jones once said of his friends’ contribution to golf: “There have been many great golfers since Ouimet, but none who gave more to the game. There have been few who played it so well; none who played it so gallantly.”

I sum up in the words of legendary English commentator, Henry Longhurst who once remarked, “Ouimet is a champion for all time.” 

Irish Lads Launch New Hybrid Sport

A group of Irish lads have combined their interest in golf and football to create a brand new sport. Footee takes all the rules of golf, with each hole having a par, and blends it with football. They say it is a "skillful and addictive game that mixes the passion and strength of football with the elegance and tradition of golf." 

Ireland's only Footee course is located at Dublin City Golf Club, Ballinascorney, Firhouse, Dublin 24, and is just five minutes from Exit 12 of the M50. The course is due to open this Saturday, May 4, and judging by the response online, they will be inundated with players wanting to test their skills. It will also be more affordable than a traditional game of golf where green fees can be anything above €30. A round of Footee is played over twelve holes, will take just over two hours to complete, and has a standard price of just €10. That price will even be reduced to €6 if you are a student or unemployed.

The guys running Footee call it a novelty sport, but it seems to be a great day out, and their website says, "get active, get outdoors, get involved." As well as the massive interest on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, there has been some controversy brewing online. One disgruntled Facebook user posted this message on their wall: "AAFG -The Asociación Argentina de Footgolf - Footgolf not Footee!" The charge seems to be that Footee is a rip-off of FootGolf; a sport set up in 2007 which uses an identical concept.

The exact origins of FootGolf are not clear, but it is thought to have come into existence in a number of different countries in 2007, and in 2009, the International FootGolf Association was established. FootGolf is now played in over thirteen countries, including England, and each nation have their own association or governing body. FootGolf even has its own World Cup, and the first staging of the event was held in Budapest in June, 2012. Eight different nations were represented, with over eighty competitors taking their chance, and Hungarian Béla Lengyel was crowned champion after two days play. Here is a promotional clip from the event below:




You would have to say that both sports look very similar, but it seems to be the first time anything like this has been introduced to Ireland. It is unclear if there are any plans to introduce more custom-made courses anywhere else in the country, and for now Firhouse is the one-stop shop for Footee, or FootGolf, or whatever you want to call it. It does look like it would be a good day out, and I even gave it a go myself. Check out the video below of me trying my best to hone my limited skills of both golf and football in trying to land the ball into a basket about the size of the Footee holes -- Maybe it is a little bigger!

Early Start For Dawn Chorus Day

International Dawn Chorus Day  takes place this Sunday, May 5, 2013. According to the dedicated website, the day is a celebration of “nature’s daily miracle” where all types of birds sing at the start of a new day. The first International Dawn Chorus Day was held by the Urban Wildlife Trust in Birmingham in 1984. Since then, the day has grown in notoriety, and each year more events are scheduled to mark the occasion. The commemoration encourages people to get up early, or stay up late, to hear the first calls of the vocal songbirds. The sounds are best experienced in thick woodland areas, but most of us can hear an ample amount of singing in our own back gardens.

The Mooney Show on RTÉ Radio One will be taking listeners through the dawn chorus from midnight on Sunday, and throughout the show, contributors will explain the sounds and songs of many birds. This way, you can listen out for the individual birds, and recognise which sing earliest, and which pipe up latest. Almost all of us are familiar with some common garden birds, and these too will be heard on Sunday. You can start to watch out for birds now that might be around your garden, and then listen out for their distinctive calls during the dawn chorus. In this video below, I have labelled some of the most common birds you might find rummaging around your garden. Watch out for some of these birds, and listen to their individual song in the SoundCloud file below. 

Each bird will have its own song, some more distinctive than others. Now that you have seen the birds, and will be more familiar with them when you see them, take a listen below to some of their songs. 

If you are a garden listener like me, you will most likely come across the sounds of the more common birds. Here are three of the most common that you are likely to hear if poking your head out for a quick listen in the early hours of Sunday morning. 

THE WOODPIGEON

Source: birdsofbray.blogspot.com

The woodpigeon is one of those birds with a very distinctive song. Its song is a three note cooing sound like “whoo-who-huhu”. The woodpigeon is one of the top 20 most common garden birds in Ireland, and unlike crows, jackdaws and rooks, it is easily distinguishable from other species. As you can see it has a thick grey body, and is known to have white and green patches on the side of its neck. The woodpigeon stays in Ireland all year round, but their stocks are boosted further by immigrant birds from the continent in winter. The woodpigeon will be the baritone of the dawn chorus, although their song is more ever-present in the evening, rather than the morning. 

THE BLACKBIRD

Source: http://farm3.staticflickr.com

The Blackbird is extremely common in Ireland, and is a regular fixture in parks and gardens around the country. It is recognisable over the crow, jackdaw, and rook because of its yellow beak. The blackbird's song comes in burst of around four seconds, and is a shrill whistling. The blackbird is a ground feeding bird, and can often be seen on lawns and among leaves looking to root up worms. During the dawn chorus, unlike the wood pigeon, the blackbird is best heard at early dawn, and will be bellowing its squeaky song over the lower toned woodpigeon. It was originally a woodland bird, or so researchers believe, because its low notes travel quite well through dense woodland. 

THE ROBIN

Source:http://aipetcher.files.wordpress.com

The Robin is related to the blackbird, as well as to the song thrush, but this bird is more common in Irish gardens than any other bird. It is very recognisable, not only from Christmas cards, but because of its red breast. Although known as the red-breasted robin, the red colour often extends up over the robins face, around its beak, and between its eyes. The robin feeds on insects and worms, but it will also eat scraps of food or bread left out or discarded by people. It will be one of the first birds to investigate a bird feeder if you fill it with broken pieces of bread. Within minutes, you will see one perched on a fences or twig, before it swoops down to the food. Its song is kind of a high pitched wobbling whistle, and when joined by the blackbird and song thrush, their tones are often difficult to decipher. The robin will sing early, but in urban areas, streetlights may also trigger the robin to sing at night. 

International Dawn Chorus Day is a great excuse to get up early, go and sit in your garden on a bright May morning, and enjoy the sounds from the trees and chimney tops around you. Especially for those of you used to a busy lifestyle, listening to the dawn chorus on a lazy Sunday morning can be very relaxing for the day ahead. 

New Sci-Fi Series ‘Revolution’ Comes To Sky1

New sci-fi adventure drama series, ‘Revolution’ hit our screens on Friday night with a double bill exclusively on Sky1 HD. Set in the modern day, Revolution depicts a world where electricity has mysteriously disappeared. Within minutes, viewers are transported into the world that will probably house the series going forward. The characters are forced to revert to a world without power, and militia groups assume control in the wake of government collapse. Predictably over dramatic from the outset, the main character Ben seems like the only person aware of the impending power-cut, and is seen downloading an unidentified file to some sort of USB key on a necklace. Unsurprisingly, we see the file hit 100 per cent completely downloaded seconds before the power dies.

Ben has a wife and two young children at the start, but in the ‘new world’ without power, the narrative has moved on, so the children are young adults, and his wife has passed away. Ben is killed by the militia in an early scene of the ‘new world’, managing to pass the mysterious USB to a friend beforehand, and thus begins an adventure to get it to a woman named Maggie. We are presented with scenes of the Maggie character using an old computer, black screened, with green font, but it is not revealed how she has power, although she does possess a similar USB key to the adventurers. The non-speaking scenes of her on this computer are very reminiscent of ‘Lost’ and that hatch, so it is no surprise the same creators are involved here. In the first episode, Ben’s son Danny is abducted by the militia forces, and his daughter, partner, and hapless friend must find his ex-marine brother Miles, who can ‘get Danny back’. Ben’s daughter Charlie is played by the relatively unknown actress, Tracy Spiridakos, who, although overly pushed as a strong but vulnerable young woman, gives an adequate performance.

Revolution is produced by JJ Abrams, who rose to worldwide fame as the producer of ‘Lost’, and the similarities in production are obvious throughout. The scenes cut sharply between this ‘new world’ and the initial period of the outage itself when Charlie and Danny were still children. This is very reminiscent of ‘Lost’, and the obnoxious suspenseful music linking these scenes is very much like the 2004 mystery drama. Also like ‘Lost’, new characters are introduced at every turn, and this over complicates the narrative structure with too many seemingly important people interrupting the story.

Revolution tries to link modern day people and personalities with the very common period dramas that are cluttering our television screens, but it appears to be falling short already. Without the context of a recognisable period, and the setting of a modern environment, Revolution gets muddled between the two. Add in overly dramatic sword and gun battles, much like the ‘pow’ and ‘kaboom’ era of Batman shows, and this series really appears to be trying too hard to catch all genres. 

Giancarlo Esposito as Tom Neville

The saving grace of the show is the performance of Giancarlo Esposito as a militia leader, guiding ‘his boys’ in upholding the law of the newly established ‘Monroe Republic’. Esposito rose to recent prominence as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in the critically acclaimed series, Breaking Bad, and he continues to impress here. His performance is most believable, and his conviction portrays him as an evil strong armed upholder of the law, but his obvious ambition to protect his own family makes him connectable to the viewer on a very human level. This contradiction of allegiance on the part of the viewer makes him the standout character, leaving him the root appeal of the entire show.

Despite its shortcomings early on, Revolution is a thought-provoking series, and if the writers can endear us to the main characters as the episodes progress, it may be a relative success. If it continues to add too many characters and deflects from the protagonists, I fear the average viewer may lose interest. It is too early to write it off completely, and the series continues Friday nights at 9pm on Sky1 HD.

Time Captures Historic Week With Two Covers

This week, Time have issued two covers of their famous magazine; one of a male couple kissing, and the other of a female couple. This is marking what has become known as gay marriage week in America, where the Supreme Court is discussing the legality of the federal Defence of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 case, both of which restrict the rights of people in gay partnerships. 

The covers are among the most iconic in Time’s history, and they both run
with the caption: “Gay Marriage Already Won.” The cover story is written by David Von Drehle, and he says that “the Supreme Court hasn’t made up its mind, but America has.” He goes on to write that “the rise of same-sex marriage from joke to commonplace is a story of converging strands of history.” The covers have created quite a stir online with the images being regularly shared and retweeted by social media users. Time managing editor Rick Stengel said there was much debate in their offices about the issues, but he said in a statement: “Some thought they were sensationalist and too in-your-face. Others felt the images were beautiful and symbolised the love that is at the heart of the idea of marriage. I agree with the latter, and I hope you do too.”

It is not the first occasion that Time has captured an iconic moment in history on their front cover, and here is a timeline of some of the most memorable.