Left to right: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, Ted Ray
September 20, 1913: Francis Ouimet wins the U.S. Open golf tournament, held at The Country Club in his hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts, outside Boston.
NOTE: For a long time, with this project, I resisted putting in references to golf, because of the kind of people who tend to play it. I finally caved in, although I haven't included as many references as I would if it were a real sport, which it is not.
This was the 19th time that the Open was conducted. It wasn't the 1st time an American had won it -- that was John McDermott, who had won the previous 2, ending the English and Scottish monopoly on America's top golf tournament -- but it was a watershed moment, because he had to defeat the 2 leading golfers in the world to do it, both from the Channel Island of Jersey: Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.
Vardon was 43 years old, Ray 36, Ouimet 20. Ouimet was the quintessential New Englander: Father of French-Canadian descent, mother from Ireland. Both ancestries would have inspired him to beat the Englishmen.
After 72 holes of regulation play ended in a 3-way tie, Ouimet, Vardon, and Ray engaged in an 18-hole playoff the next day, in rainy conditions. Ouimet won the playoff at one-under-par for the day, beating Vardon by 5 strokes and Ray by 6.
His victory was widely hailed as a stunning upset over the strongly favored British, who were regarded as the top two golfers in the world. He was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open. The biggest crowds ever seen in American golf followed the playoff, and his achievement was front-page news across the country.
Ouimet's U.S. Open success is credited for bringing golf into the American sporting mainstream. Before his win over Vardon and Ray, golf was dominated by British players. In America, the sport was restricted to players with access to private facilities. There were very few public courses. Ten years after his 1913 victory, the number of American players had tripled and many new courses had been built, including numerous public ones.
In 1951, Francis Ouimet became the first non-Briton elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, where the game was allegedly invented, and still the game's spiritual home. He died in 1967.
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September 20, 1913 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Naps, 7-2 at the Polo Grounds. Ray Caldwell went the distance for the win. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the Cleveland team's 2nd baseman, best hitter, manager and namesake, did not put himself into the game. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Pirates won the opener, 1-0. Hank Robinson pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 4-3. Herbie Moran went 4-for-5. Honus Wagner did not play in either game.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Ty Cobb went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* And the Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 6-3 at National Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Walter Johnson pitched 3 2/3rds innings of relief to get the win.
There was 1 college football game played, the opening game of the season: The Carlisle Indian School beat Albright College, 36-0 at Indian Field in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, outside Harrisburg. The Carlisle school was shut down in 1917. Albright, in Reading, Pennsylvania, downgraded their program, and now play in NCAA Division III.
And in English soccer, at their brand-new Arsenal Stadium in the Highbury section of North London, Arsenal played Yorkshire team Hull City to a 0-0 draw.
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