US golf pros played an international match 14 years before the first Ryder Cup!

“Did You Know”
US golf pros played an international match 14 years before the first Ryder Cup!

At the United States Golf Association’s annual meeting in early 1913, it was decided to move the US Open, which had been scheduled for June, to September. This change might encourage some of the leading golf professionals from Great Britain and France to make the voyage to the states for our Open. Along with that American professionals could play in The Open, which Americans call the British Open. The Open was scheduled for June.

At that same meeting the USGA accepted an invitation from the Federation Francaise de Golf, to send a team of golf professionals to France to play a match against French golf professionals. French golf was on the rise. The USGA agreed to send a four-man team. This was to be done with no expense to the USGA. It was expected that friends of the professionals would assist with their expenses.

Three homebred American professionals–Johnny McDermott, Tom McNamara and Mike Brady, were selected, with one more to be decided. While there, they would play in The Open before heading to France for the challenge match. Later, Alex Smith, a transplanted Scottish professional who was the professional at Wykagyl CC in Westchester County, New York, was chosen to fill out the four-man team. McDermott and Smith had won the last three US Opens. 

After McDermott won the 1911 US Open, A.W. Tillinghast and George Crump, had collected $300 from their fellow amateurs for McDermott to make the voyage to Europe for the 1912 British Open. They had also presented McDermott with a gold watch and gold chain.

At the 1912 British Open McDermott had failed to qualify by three strokes in what a newspaper described as half-gale winds. McDermott’s biggest problem was putting, with the roll of the smaller British golf ball more affected by imperfections on the greens. One week later, McDermott had a fifth-place finish in the French Open.

Now, having won the US Open for a second straight year in 1912, McDermott was ready to make another attempt at The Open. McDermott may have received some financial help but by now he didn’t need much. He had tournament money, fees from exhibitions and wealthy people were paying money, just to play golf with him.

To ensure his success abroad this time McDermott left early, giving himself every opportunity to acclimate himself to the British weather. He boarded a steamship in New York on May 20 for the voyage which could take ten days. The Open was scheduled for June 24-25, at Hoylake, England, with qualifying the week before.

Tom McNamara and Mike Brady left later than McDermott. Before leaving they played in their home state’s Massachusetts Open, which ended in a tie between McNamara and Brady. So another day was needed for an 18-hole playoff which McNamara won.

McNamara and Brady may have decided to play in the Massachusetts Open because the Massachusetts Golf Association was helping with their expenses for their overseas excursion. Two days later on May 24, they set sail from New York. 

Upon their arrival in Scotland, the American champion golfers were greeted with great interest. Along with McDermott having won the previous two US Opens, McNamara had finished second in two US Opens and was the current Metropolitan Open champion. Brady had lost to McDermott in a playoff for the 1911 US Open. There were invitations to play at many golf clubs along with opportunities for paid exhibitions. 

The American professionals had to be careful not to accept too many invitations. Time was needed for practice and rest. Also practice with the smaller English golf ball was important. A player did not have to play the smaller ball but playing it was necessary to compete on the wind-whipped golf courses near the coasts of Scotland and England. In some conditions the smaller ball went 20 yards farther than the larger American ball. Also putting with the smaller British golf ball was a challenge.   

There were 269 entries for The Open. Everyone, including the defending champion, had to pass a 36-hole qualifying test. There were three 36-hole sessions with the entries divided into thirds. In each session the low 20 and ties qualified for the starting field in the tournament. McDermott drew the first day, June 19. Playing in a driving rainstorm, McDermott passed the qualifying test, but only by one stroke. From the 90 players competing that day, only seven stokes separated the first and last successful qualifiers. McNamara successfully qualified on the third day, but Brady failed to qualify along with four other visiting American professionals who had been born in the British Isles.

With that, Johnny McDermott and Tom McNamara would be the first Americans to play in a British Open.

The Open was played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club with 36 holes a day for two days. On Sunday, the day before the start of the competition, the golf course was closed to all play. The weather had been unusually hot and the forecast was good. Then during the tournament on Monday and Tuesday, June 23 and 24, the weather was about as bad as it could be. On the first day the greens were flooded from rain that began during the night and continued throughout the day. The second day presented gale force winds and drenching rain at times. McDermott had his moments. An opening round 75 was just two strokes off the lead, but an afternoon 80 set him back. On the second day McDermott was one under fours for the first seven holes and after nine holes only three strokes off the lead. But, with problems on the second nine his total for the round was 77. With a final round 83 McDermott tied for fifth, winning seven pounds and ten shillings. With a compact swing, J.H. Taylor had the right golf game for the elements. His 304 total made him the winner of The Open for a fifth time, this one by eight strokes. But, if not for having holed a six-foot putt on the final green of qualifying, Taylor would not have even been in the tournament.

Now the US team of McDermott, McNamara, Brady and Smith were off to France for what the press was calling the Franco-American contest, USA versus France. Smith was the captain and McDermott played number one. The challenge match was played on the La Boulie Golf Links near Versailles on the last day of June and the first day of July. On day one there were two 36-hole four-ball matches. The McDermott/McNamara team lost 3&2 and the Smith/Brady team lost 3&2. Day two was 36-hole singles. At the lunch break McDermott had a lead of two holes, but with putting problems in the p.m., lost 3&2. The Americans lost all four matches, ending up with 0 points to 6 for France. The Americans thought they played well, but the French knew the golf course and played better. Only McDermott had played the golf course before, finishing fifth there in the 1912 French Open.

In September 1913, with some of Europe’s great golf professionals competing in the tournament, Francis Ouimet, an American amateur, won the US Open. It would be nine years before an American, Walter Hagen, would win The Open.