Ouimet francis biography

Francis Ouimet was a pioneer of the American golf scene, a lifelong amateur whose unlikely victory in the 1913 U.S. Open is widely credited with growing the game of golf in the United States. Ouimet remained deeply involved in amateur golf for the rest of his life, as a successful player and then as an organizer and advocate.

Sometimes called "the father of amateur golf" in the United States, his last name is pronounced "wee-MET." Ouimet was born on May 8, 1893, in Brookline, Mass., and died on September 2, 1967, at the age of 74.

Ouimet's Wins in Major Championships

Ouimet won three major championships of his day, one professional major (he played as an amateur) and two amateur majors. His victory in the 1913 U.S. Open, discussed more below, was a huge boon to golf in the USA.

Ouimet later added two wins in the U.S. Amateur Championship, the first in 1914 and the second 17 years later, in 1931.

More of Ouimet's significant tournament wins are listed below.

Awards and Honors for Francis Ouimet

• Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
• Member, U.S. Walker Cup team, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934
• Captain, U.S. Walker Cup team, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1947, 1949
• Recipient, USGA's Bob Jones Award, 1955

Biography of Francis Ouimet

Francis Ouimet put American golf on the map. In the early 20th Century, golf was dominated by the English and Scots. In 1913, the great Harry Vardon and his British compatriot Ted Ray were in America for the U.S. Open. Ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur and former caddie, unknown on the national scene (he had already won the Massachussetts Amateur, however), forced the formidable duo into a playoff.

And when Ouimet won that p

American amateur golfer

Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913 and was the first non-Briton elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

Early life

Ouimet was born to Mary Ellen Burke and Arthur Ouimet in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb west of Boston. His father was a French-Canadian immigrant, and his mother was originally from Ireland. When Francis was four years old, his family purchased a house on Lee Street across from Clyde Street in Brookline, directly across from the 17th hole of The Country Club. The Ouimet family grew up relatively poor and were near the bottom of the economic ladder, which was hardly the position of any American golfer at the time. As far as the general public was concerned, amateur golf was reserved for the wealthy, while professional golf provided competition and income for former caddies, who were prohibited by the USGA from caddying after the age of 16 if they wanted to keep their amateur status.

Ouimet became interested in golf at an early age and started caddying at The Country Club at the age of 11. Using clubs from his brother and balls he found around the course, he taught himself to play. His game soon caught the eye of many country club members and caddie master Dan MacNamara. It was not long before Ouimet was the best high school golfer in the state. When he was a junior in high school, his father insisted that he drop out and do "something useful" with his life. Ouimet worked at a drygoods store before landing a job at a sporting goods store owned by future Baseball Hall of Famer George Wright.

Golf career

1913 U.S. Open

In 1913, Ouimet won his first significant title at age 20,

(b. 8 May 1893 in Brookline, Massachusetts; d. 2 September 1967 in Newton, Massachusetts), amateur golfer whose stunning victory in the U.S. Open Championship of 1913 made him the first American hero in his sport.

Ouimet (pronounced wee-MET) was the fourth of five children of Arthur Ouimet and Mary Ellen Burke. His father, a Canadian immigrant, worked as a coachman and gardener, while his mother, a Brookline, Massachusetts, native of Irish descent, was a homemaker. Ouimet grew up in Brookline across the street from The Country Club, the first country club in the United States. His first encounter with the game that made him famous came when he cut across Country Club fairways on his way to grade school and found golf balls in the rough. He and his older brother Wilfred exchanged the balls for a few clubs at a local sporting goods store and learned to play on a three-hole "course" Wilfred had set up in a cow pasture. After the likable Ouimet turned eleven and became a caddie, he accumulated more golf equipment from kindly club members. He also got the opportunity to observe the techniques of some of the finest amateur and professional golfers as they played in tournaments at The Country Club. Although club members sometimes allowed Ouimet to join them for a round, he more often slipped onto the private course to hone his game out of the sight of greenskeepers early in the morning and on rainy days, or took the trolley into neighboring Boston to play with friends at the Franklin Park public links.

At Brookline High School, Ouimet chose to play golf rather than baseball. He helped organize the school's golf team and won the individual match-play competition in the Greater Boston Interscholastic Golf Championship in 1909. Ouimet left school shortly thereafter, he wrote, because he had "devoted too much time to golf."

After his failure to qualify for match play by one stroke at the U.S. Amateur Championships of 1910, 1911, and 1912, Ou