U.S. Golf Started on a Cow Pasture

Originally published on September 4, 2013 This month, one hundred years ago, a game of golf changed the sport forever. Taking on two of the topseeded players in the world, an unassuming 20-year-old beat all odds to win the 1913 U.S. Open. But who was Francis Ouimet — and why isn’t he as well-known as Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan or Tiger Woods? It has a lot to do with the man, who was humble to a fault. Award-winning Golf Channel writer Mercer Baggs took a closer look at one of the most influential players in the history of … Continue reading U.S. Golf Started on a Cow Pasture

A Great Game of Golf a Century Later

Originally published on August 5, 2013 A hundred years ago, American golf changed dramatically. Long an elite sport played mainly by rich men, it became the sport we know today, a game that anybody can play. The game-changer was an 18-hole playoff among two Brits and a 21-year-old American born to immigrant parents. The competition that played out on Sept. 20, 1913, has been called “the greatest game ever played.” Francis Ouimet came from a modest upbringing in Brookline, Mass. In high school the self-taught Ouimet became the best student player in the state. To learn more about his early … Continue reading A Great Game of Golf a Century Later