CONNECTIONS

In mid-September 1913, a 20-year-old amateur golfer “walked across the street from his family’s modest house onto the grounds of one of the nation’s most exclusive playgrounds for the rich. Over the span of a week, he created the most astounding story in the history of golf.” (GOLF WORLD)

The young golfer was Francis Ouimet, a former caddie playing in his first national championship. Ouimet galvanized the golf world when he became the first amateur to win the U.S. Open by defeating two renowned British players, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, in an 18-hole playoff at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. 

THE NEW YORK TIMES featured Ouimet’s win on the front page. GOLF WORLD ranked his Open victory as “the most important moment in golf.” Jack Nicklaus adds, “Thanks to what Francis Ouimet did in 1913, the seed of American golf was planted.” An obituary of Ouimet’s death on September 2, 1967 began, “A gardener’s son who won in 1913 showed  that the sport of golf wasn’t only for the affluent….”

(Left to right: Webhannet pro Bill Burns, Francis Ouimet, Elmer Ward (Larry’s father), Frank Craven, John Levinson and Rod MacPhie)

Three weeks prior to Ouimet’s death, he played in a Member-Guest tournament at Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk Beach, Maine. Situated so close to the Atlantic Ocean that players teeing off on #6 hear kids gleefully shrieking as they leap through the icy waves with their boogie boards, Webhannet Golf Club was probably Ouimet’s last golf outing and venue.

Ouimet’s host at that August Member-Guest tournament was Lawrence Ward, a long-time member and a revered and respected gentleman of the club. Several years before Larry’s death, I interviewed him for club history. Here’s what he told me, with a twinkle in his eyes;

“I got to know Francis because he and my dad Elmer were good frids. In 1967 I invited him to play in our annual Member-Guest. We played in the championship flight and ultimately lost, but we gave them a good fight, especially on the 12th hole when we were one down.”

(Webhannet’s Par 4 12th hole)

“I hit a pretty good drive off the tee, but then hooked my second shot into the woods on the left. It was a jungle in there. After I found my ball, I could hardly see the flag, but somehow I hit it through the trees and under the pine boughs and over the telephone poles and watched it fly across the bunker and then roll along the green and drop into the cup for a birdie. Ouimet turned to me and said, ‘Lawrence, you’re a man and a half!’” (Anyone who’s played Webhannet’s challenging 12th hole knows that shot was a miracle!)

Bob Marier, aka Mr. Wonderful and 31 years old at the time of that 1967 Member-Guest, remembers standing along the 18th fairway with other spectators watching Larry Ward and Francis Ouimet stride to the green. Bob recalls, “Ouimet was so dignified, the ultimate gentleman, and he had the most beautiful flowing swing.”

Several years later, Bob was tapped to play in “The Ouimet,” a prestigious  invitational tournament at Charles River Country Club where Ouimet had been a lifetime member. Bob remembers, “It was an honor to be asked to play and it was a tough field. I probably finished in the middle.”

Kirk Kimball, Webhannet’s Director of Golf, maintains a special spot in his heart for Francis Ouimet. He said, “One day in the fall of 2005, I got a phone call from Ken Raynor, head pro of Cape Arundel Golf Course in Kennebunkport, asking if I and Larry Ward and our wives could attend a private showing at the Saco Cineplex of a new movie called ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played.’” 

The movie is a biographical sports film based on the early life of Francis Ouimet and his surprise win of the 1913 US Open. President George H. W. Bush was the official host for that evening. Kimball says, “Going with Larry Ward, one of our most revered members and his wife Edie to the movie, then sitting there and watching the film with our 41st President and his family made that an unforgettable evening for Karen and me.”

This week the 122nd United States Open Championship is being played at the site of Ouimet’s historic win in Brookline. The Golf Channel will surely present historic snippets of young Ouimet with his even younger (10 years old!) caddie Eddie on the bag. And for those of us who belong to Webhannet, it’ll be fun to remember our CONNECTIONS to the man who “transformed the staid old game of golf into a young man’s field of glory.”

(Thanks to Ken Janes for his photos of Webhannet Golf Club and to Kirk Kimball for digging through his files and uncovering the pairings sheet for the 1967 Member-Guest Tournament, shown below.