historical golf
The decision to include golf must have been based on current commercial and developmental factors, because the history of the sport in the Olympics is dire. First included at the Paris Games in 1900, there were men’s and ladies’ events with 22 competitors, 12 men and 10 women, from four countries: nine French, eight Americans, three British and a solitary Greek. I n t r ue Olympia n st yle, t he Greek – Alexandros Mercati – shot a 36-hole total of 246, but didn’t come last. That “honour” went to the Frenchman “Rip” Van de Wynckélé, who contrived to take 252 strokes to complete his two rounds. Over two rounds at the Compiègne Club north of the French capital, Charles Sands of the United States shot 167, winning the gold by a stroke from Britain’s Walter Rutherford, with another Brit, David Robertson, seven shots back in third. Sands also played in the tennis event that year, losing in the first round.
Golf ’s Shambolic
History in the Olympics With golf likely to make a return at the 2016 Summer Games, Dr Milton Wayne recounts the two previous occasions when competitors teed it up with gold medals at stake
“To be the first person to win a gold medal in over 112 years of Olympic competition…[that] is something that will be very attractive to the top players.”
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n Aug ust 13, 2009 t he IOC provisionally picked Golf and Rugby Sevens as sports to be added to the Olympiad in 2016. Whilst this still has to be formally ratified, it would be a major upset if the game wasn’t added. Why would anyone get excited about this? Well, there have been comments against, notably from Sergio Garcia who said: “I’d love to represent my country in the Olympic Games, but I wouldn’t give up the chance to win one of the four majors to win a gold medal.” He might change his tune if he manages to get the Major monkey off his back beforehand, but in any case we are assured there will be no either-or. The powers that be have committed that the summer Olympics will not clash with any Major. The man spearheading golf’s bid, Ty Votaw from the PGA Tour (see HK Golfer Aug/Sep 2009), put it perfectly when he pointed out that between now and the Olympics in 2020, players will have a chance to win over 50 Majors, but only one gold medal. That should be incentive enough.
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- Ty Votaw, Executive Director, International Golf Federation
An Olympic first (clockwise from top): Charles Sands showing gold medal form in 1900; the ladies' event in Paris; Paris Olympiad poster
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Lyon’s Olympic adventures didn’t stop there however. In 1908, now 50-years-old, he sailed to England to defend his title in London, only to discover that he was the only entrant. Having ignored an earlier Olympic Committee approach to get involved, at the last minute the R&A questioned some entrants’ eligibility and as a result all British players boycotted the event. The organizers offered Lyon the gold medal as he was the only golfer willing to play, but he honorably refused it and the event was removed from the games. So t here you have it. Hardly a glorious history, but clearly golf ’s Olympic ambitions have garnered inf initely more attention i n recent t i mes a nd t he commitment of the game’s ruling bodies is clear for all to see. Here’s hoping we get the spectacle and drama the event deserves.
The men’s [golf] events [at St Louis] attracted 77 entrants, but 74 were from the host nation with the other three journeying from neighbouring Canada. The women’s first (and last) golf event was held over nine holes the following day, with 10 participants. The winner was another American, the tall (5’11”) art student Margaret “Peggy” Abbott, who scored 47 to become the f irst American woman to win an Olympic gold in any sport. Her mother Mary, who had brought her to Paris to study, came eighth. Abbott led an American 1-2-3 with Pauline Whittier and Daria Platt filling the minor places. Unfortunately, record keeping was shambolic and Peggy died in 1955 unaware that the golf contest she had entered for a lark had been an Olympic event, or indeed of her own place in Olympic history. It is little known that the following day there was a third event, a men’s handicap. This was won by Albert Lambert, but it wasn’t deemed to be of Olympic standard. What makes it more interesting is that the very wealthy Lambert was from St Louis, and was responsible for getting the Olympics to his home city and for arranging golf’s second (and so far final) Olympic appearance four years later.
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Not that the 1904 Games was especially memorable. That year, St Louis was also hosting the World’s Fair and the Olympics – by far the biggest showcase in world sports today – was treated as a mere sideshow. In the golf events, which were played at the newly-built Glen Echo Golf Club, the women’s tournament was scrapped altogether and replaced by a men’s team event, while the format for the individual competition was re-jigged and consisted of two rounds of stroke play followed by match play knockout. The lack of female representation aside, this might sound all well and good, but there was a problem: lack of international participation. The men’s events attracted 77 entrants, but 74 were from the host nation with the other three journeying from neighbouring Canada. The team event was a fiasco from the start, with only two 10-man teams entering – both from the US. However, some of the stragglers got together to create – wait for it – another US team. In a shock result, the US won gold, silver and bronze medals over the two rounds played. Gold went to the “Western” team, silver to “Trans-Mississippi” and bronze to the “USGA”. The Western team ran out deserved winners, taking four of the top-five individual scores, with reigning US Amateur champion Chandler Egan well clear at the head of the field with a score of 165. At the other end, Nat Moore, one of the lesser players in the Western
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team, managed to bag a share of Olympic team gold after scoring a total of 188; perhaps more incredibly, a character named George Oliver claimed a team bronze, despite having shot a woeful 206. In another (this time genuinely) shock result, the Canadian George Seymour Lyon won 3 & 2 from the red-hot favourite Egan in the men’s individual contest. It was an upset because Lyon, at 46, was twice Egan’s age, having only taken up the game when he was 38, cricket being his first sporting passion. That said, Lyon had already won three of what would eventually be eight Canadian Amateur titles, and in later years reached the final of the US Amateur and the semi-finals of the British Amateur. Egan admitted later that he had been “outclassed” by the powerful Lyon, whose massive drives overwhelmed his younger opponent. In the stroke play section, Lyon had also broken the course record with a 77. Egan may also have been distracted during the round by Lyon reportedly telling jokes, singing and laughing. Lyon’s eccentricities carried on right through to the awards ceremony, where he walked on his hands to receive the $1,500 sterling silver trophy.
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An Olympic farce (clockwise from top): George Lyon addresses the ball during the 1904 Games; Lyon after declining the gold medal in 1908; a portrait of Peggy Abbott, golf's only female gold medalist
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