IT is the ninth time the US Open has been staged at Oakmont, Pennsylvania, but when it was first held there, in 1927, the winner was Scotland’s Tommy Armour, by then an American citizen and professional at the Congressional club, Washington DC. He was the 10th and last Scottish-born player to win it.
"The lean war-scarred Scotch pro”, as one report described him, did it the hard way, coming from behind to clinch a tie on the 72nd green and then defeating Harry "Lighthorse" Cooper in a play-off.
This was Armour’s first of three Majors, along with the USPGA in 1930 and the Open in 1931, and he is still the only Scot to win three different Majors. He is also the only player to have represented Britain against the USA as an amateur at Hoylake in 1921 in the Walker Cup’s forerunner, and then the USA, against Britain, as a professional in the forerunner of the Ryder Cup, at Wentworth in 1926.
Born in 1896 in Balcarres Street, Edinburgh, he learned his golf at nearby Braid Hills where he represented the Western club. But his early promise was almost obliterated through serious injuries sustained as a tank corps officer in the First World War, the loss of his left eye and shrapnel wounds.
Resuming his playing career at the now defunct Lothianburn club, he overcame adversity to win the French Amateur title in 1920, his first notable success. He then flitted back and forth across the Atlantic, playing frequently in America. He went on to marry a Cuban heiress there much to the surprise of his British friends, particularly to a Miss Young from Leith, who successfully sued him for breach of promise of marriage.
By 1922, Walter Hagen had secured him a job as secretary of Westchester golf club, New York and in 1924 he turned professional and became a US citizen. Initially he found it difficult but his 1927 win at Oakmont heralded the start of a very successful career.
He finished playing competitively in the mid 1930s, going on to enjoy a lucrative teaching career in Florida and a high-profile lifestyle.
A strong minded individual, he split opinion. Some considered him dour and temperamental, but others, such as fellow professional Bobby Cruikshank, another "American Scot", described him as “the best-hearted fellow you ever saw”.
A return visit to Lothianburn in the 1940s was not a great success, the club history recording that “it did not generate a great level of warmth”.
Irrespective, he is one of Scottish golf’s truly iconic figures and Russell Knox, our only representative at Oakmont, will have to be at the top of his game to emulate him.
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