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Open Championship 1902: Hoylake
At last Sandy Herd won the Open Championship. He had knocked on the door in 1895 when a hailstorm and playing the last round "under protest", 'like a millstone around a man's neck', Herd described it, (a spectator claimed he had grounded his club in a hazard) had cost him the title. It was a first not only for Herd but for the Haskell ball. One of the first people Sandy Herd met at Royal Liverpool was the great locally-based amateur, John Ball. Herd was amazed at the distance Ball achieved in the practice round they played together, never having seen the Haskell before, and, at the 15th, Ball let him try the Haskell. On returning to the club house, Herd made his way to Jack Morris's shop and bought four Haskells. He shot 77 in the first round, five behind Vardon, but closed the gap to four shots with a 76 in the afternoon. In the third round, Herd played once again with John Ball. In his own words, 'Mr Ball was much more desirous that I should win that he should beat me .... he gave me every encouragement that one man could give another .... I played like one inspired against a very troublesome wind and returned a score of 73'. Both Vardon and Braid scored in the 80s and Sandy began the last round with a 3 shot advantage over Vardon and 8 over Braid. Herd's last round was an 81. Vardon ended up with a six foot putt on the last to tie. 'In those days Harry Vardon rarely missed putts of that distance with the gutta', but this time he did. Braid needed a 73 to tie and missed a very long putt to end up with a 74. 1902 was the year of Edward VII's coronation and Sandy Herd was called the Coronation Champion. Nothing whatsoever to do with the golf played but one canot help recall the passage from Sandy Herd's autobiography when seeing the Ryder Cup wives leaping about greenside. 'When the day came to pack my bag and make tracks for Hoylake, I said to my wife, "That wee bird keeps on whispering that I am going to win this championship." She slapped my back with her slipper for luck as I passed out the door, after giving her a big kiss. There's nothing a good wife likes better than an extra warm kiss now and again. It reminds her of her courting days and you of yours. Of course, the thing shouldna' be overdone and no Scotsman is likely to do that.' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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