A Standrews Man Jamie Anderson Champion Golfer
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A StAndrews Man Born in 1842, Jamie was brought up at Auld Daw’s house at 43 North Street and was a prominent member of The StAndrews Golf Club and the Rose Golf Club. He married his wife Janet Armit (1841-1917) who came from Auctermuchty in Dunshelt on 30 August 1861. They lived at 105 North Street and had 11 children over 19 years: Jane (1861- 1951), David (1863-1863), Margaret (1864- 1940), Mary (b1866), Elizabeth (1868-1937), James (1870-1944), William Armit (b1871), David (1874-1939), Janet Clement (b1876), Helen Strachan Dow who was known as Nellie (b1878) and John Murdoch (b1880). David died, aged 8 months, in 1863. Jamie arranged for a small headstone, which was placed about 15 feet Jamie Anderson from Allan Robertson’s obelisk in the StAndrews cemetery. Janet worked as a servant in the It is hard to write Jamie’s story without feeling household of Mrs Jane McIntosh, 15 Bell Street. a heartfelt sense of profound loss, sadness and The large family seems to be a family trait simple frustration at a life stolen from one so as his brother David (1847-1912) in the 1891 gifted. He was born with a truly rare talent for valuation roll had nine children living with him. Champion Golfer golf. To this day, Jamie still remarkably figures In 1901, a further daughter-in-law and grandson Jamie featured regularly in matches in the in most golf magazines’ Top 100 Golfers. squeezed into the house at 5a Ellice Place, making town with all the well-known names from The a grand total of 13 inhabitants. Jamie had it all, including fame, money and Royal and Ancient Golf Club of StAndrews such a solid business in StAndrews. He would go from When Forgan set up his own business in 1856 as Captain Leslie Balfour, H S C Everard and golf challenger to the dominant Tommy Morris when Philp died, he took on Jamie as his very writer Horace G Hutchinson. and Davie Strath, to the very top of the golfing first apprentice. Jamie did well learning the craft During one game with Hutchinson at world when Tommy died. of club making and stayed with Forgan through Westward Ho!, Hutchinson played a long iron his formative years and returned when his own Sadly from such great heights, his life would shot, that finished six inches from the hole. business and work opportunities dwindled. descend to the very lowest depths that would “Ah – that’s the sort that saves a lot of trouble,” see him arrested in StAndrews for being drunk said Jamie, who then encouraged Hutchinson and incapable, die in the Dysart Combination to come to StAndrews as his type of play would Poorhouse on the east of the village of Thornton, do well on the hard running StAndrews Links.13 about 20 miles from StAndrews, and also the Hutchinson took his advice and later became final ignominy – buried in an unmarked grave the second English Captain of the R&A, the in StAndrews cemetery. first being Onesipherous Tyndall Bruce in 1838. However, most historians and writers to date It is said that it was the competitiveness have told the story of Jamie as a drunkard who between Jamie, Tommy, Bob Kirk and Davie lost everything to drink. The truth may be a little Strath that pushed each of them, including less dramatic and a tad all too human. Tommy, towards greatness. Jamie Anderson (above) Horace G Hutchinson (above) Simply one of the greatest golfers to play the game. After driving in as new Captain of the R&A in 1908, Jamie had this headstone (right) made when his son Horace Hutchinson rewards the successful caddie David died. In the same lair some years later, Jamie, with a gold sovereign for the recovery of his ball. his wife Janet, his sister Elspeth and father Auld Daw were all buried but no other headstone was ever added. 70 ST ANDREWS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OLD TOM MORRIS Jamie was no wallflower either. He more than held his own but Tommy Morris was a rare talent and at his best, if that was ever achieved, was in a different category altogether to everyone, winning the Open in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872. There was no Open in 1871, as Tommy then owned the Championship Belt outright. By 1872, the Open Championship organisers at Prestwick had created the Claret Jug, which Tommy won at his first attempt, true to form. Jamie’s best Open finish at Prestwick from 1866 to 1870 was sixth in 1869. This was when Old Tom, Willie Park and Tommy dominated the game, winning 10 out of the first 11 Opens between them. In 1873, when the Open came to StAndrews for the first time, Jamie was runner-up to Tom Kidd of Rose Lane, StAndrews, who had cut grooves into the face of his irons the night before play to help control the ball spin. After Tommy died in 1875, Jamie won the Open in 1877, 1878 and 1879. He did not play Having played two shots already on the 9th, in 1880 as there had been very little prior notice called the Burn Hole, Jamie stood over his ball North Street fisherfolk due to the organisers’ pre-occupation with the and eyed the flag 150 yards away. He knew Jamie spent his early boyhood days at 43 North Street and would have been all too familiar with the fisherfolk April General Election, but romantic legend he had to get it onto the green at the very least. working outside the house. tells us that Jamie did not wish to do anything There was no room for error. to diminish the precious memory of Tommy. One can imagine the crowds edging closer He had died only 5 years previously and the to Jamie, as he took a swipe. It was on line. The His heart must have been pounding. town was still heartbroken. ball landed safely on the green. As the spectators With his hickory club in hand, Jamie smacked started to move, Jamie watched as the ball the ball. He caught it well. The ball flew over The Best Ever Finish to an Open rolled purposefully forward towards the pin and the pin to the slope behind the green. The ball suddenly, it was gone. The ball had fallen into stopped where it landed. As Jamie, the little Of his three Open wins, the 1878 stands the hole. A three on that hole was unheard of. girl and the crowd stared at the ball, it began out as being one of the most exceptional finishes On the 10th, Jamie had a solid four. This to move. It was rolling, meandering towards to an Open Championship, even to this day. left him needing to finish the last two holes the pin. It couldn’t. It did. The ball dropped Played over three rounds on the 12-hole in less than nine strokes to win. for a hole-in-one. The crowd erupted! Prestwick course, Jof Morris, Tom’s son, was On the Short Hole 11th, the par 3, he was Amidst all the cheers, legend says Jamie already in the Prestwick clubhouse with a about to play when a girl watching with her turned and lifted his hat to the little girl and respectable 161 total. Jamie was still out on the father noticed that Jamie was playing his ball said,“Thank you miss. I am greatly obliged!” course with four holes left to play. If Jamie could from ahead of the tee and mentioned this quietly On the final hole, a good 5 saw him retain come home in less than 17 strokes, he would win. to her father.14 In 1878, this meant instant his Open title with 157 total. It was a simply That is no easy task with the hard rubber gutta disqualification if the ball was struck from this outstanding finish. ball and rough weather-beaten golf course. position. Jamie overheard this, lifted his ball Jof had played the last two holes alone in and placed it behind the tee. 15 shots, ending with a 9 and a 6. CHAPTER 3 | THE LINKS ROAD 71 Jamie seemed to have nerves of steel. Although Unfortunately, this was true. All the same, That young lad was James Braid. “I followed not long off the tee, he was incredibly consistent, he was the first to emulate Tommy’s three Open him like a little dog gazing with admiration at even under the greatest of pressure. As Andra wins in a row and the first to win the Open on everything he did, touching his clubs and repeating Kirkaldy recalled in his own book Fifty Years in three different courses. to my friends some of the wonderful things that StAndrews, ‘Nothing could put Jamie up or down. he said in ordinary conversation,” said Braid. He had a grand head on his shoulders and a big A Great Influence He was talking shortly after his own second heart in his breast.’ 15 Open win in 1905, a mere few weeks before He was playing with Andra Kirkaldy in the One of the greatest stories about Jamie was Jamie’s death. last round of the Open in 1879 in StAndrews, told by a man from Elie. This man, in 1905, for We all have our childhood golf heroes, with Jamie holding a slender one shot lead at the Golf Illustrated related a tale of how he followed, but for James Braid, the 5-times Open winner, final hole.