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Franis DeSales Ouimet was the first great American-born golfer. Born in 1893, his childhood home was across the street from The Country Club in Brookline, MA.
Francis hopped the fence as a youngster to form his game. One of the greatest sagas in the annals of golf was his playoff victory there in the U.S. Open in 1913. With his young upstart caddie Eddie Lowery toting the bag, Ouimet bested two great professionals from the U.K., Ted Ray and Harry Vardon.
Ouimet won the U.S. Amateur in 1914 at Ekwanok and then again in 1931 at Beverly CC in St. Paul, MN. He played on eight undefeated Walker Cup teams (from 1922 through 1934) and captained four more (1936, 1938, 1947, and 1949). His personal record was an astonishing 11-1. In 1923, he won the Royal St. George’s Grand Gold Challenge Cup. In 1940, he was in the inaugural class of the World Golf Hall of Fame, along
with Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and Gene Sarazen. In 1955, Ouimet was the recipient Eddie Lowery toting the bag of the first Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor bestowed in recognition of dis- for Francis Ouimet tinguished sportsmanship in golf. Ouimet also served as President of the Boston Bruins and Vice President of the Boston Braves.
Francis Ouimet became a Senior in 1948. He served three terms on the USSGA Board of Governors (from 1952
to 1963), served as Vice President in 1955 and 1957, was a member of the Membership Committee, and played in numerous Annual Tournaments. Eddie Lowery also was a member of the USSGA.
Ouimet was elected in 1951 as the first American Captain of the R & A. The great British golf writer Bernard Darwin wrote of Francis:
“...he is intensely keen; he can work at the game like a slave and fight like a hero, but he has the natural genius for ‘letting up’ between battles and there is no more cheerful and amusing person in the championship field…. His solemnity is entirely without self-consciousness or fierceness.”
Francis Ouimet authored the Foreword to the book Fifty Years of United States Seniors’ Golf — 1905-1954. In that Foreword, he wrote:
“There is no age limit to which one should confine himself if he loves the game…. As Bernard Darwin so aptly put it, ‘Golf is a game of amity.’ Was not this the thought behind the action of Horace L. Hotchkiss? I am sure it was.”
The Ouimet Scholarship Fund, founded in 1949 by the Massachusetts Golf Association to assist caddies with college tuition, was called by Francis “his greatest honor”. Over the years, the fund has helped over 5000 students with more than $25 million in scholarships.
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Francis Ouimet’s victory in the U.S. Open at Brookline, Seniors from The Country Club presented the USSGA with a bronze plaque honoring Ouimet and his triumph. That plaque sits near the first tee, at Apawamis. It is entitled "Francis D. Ouimet, 1893-1967, America's First Golf Hero".
Portrait of Francis Ouimet at R&A
Painting by Dwight D. Eisenhower
Suggested Readings
The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost, published in 2002 by Hyperion.
USSGA Newsletter 16, pp. 3-5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__NAEwOSi7o https://www.ouimet.org/history/https://i.thriftbooks.com/api/imagehandler/l/
Honoring Francis Ouimet, the Legend and the Legacy, Ouimet Centennial Gala, Ouimet Scholarship Fund, May 15, 2013 United States Seniors’ Golf Association, 1905-2005, by William L. Quirin, pp. 96, 140.
