Olympic Golf Marathon

‘Olympic Golf Marathon’ is the second article in our ‘Golf at the Olympiad’ trilogy … if you have not read the opening article of this trilogy and you wish to do so, please click on Tournoi Olympique de Golf, which chronicles the golf events contested at the Summer Olympics of 1900 in Paris, France when golf made its Olympic debut.

Prologue

Englishman Robert Browning was a preeminent poet and playwright of the Victorian era who was acknowledged as the master of dramatic monologues … his magnum opus is possibly The Ring and the Book, the story of a Roman Murder Trial, which runs to 21,000 lines and was published in four volumes!

One of Browning’s lesser-known poems (and certainly one of the shortest) is Pheidippides in which he conveys the traditional story of the Athenian courier (Pheidippides) who ran about 25 miles (40km) from the battlefield at Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of the Greek victory over Persia.

This poem was the inspiration behind Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, and several members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to devise the marathon running race … a tour de force sporting event challenging the courage, endurance, motivation, emotions, mentality and determination of the participating athletes.

In this article, you will bear witness that the golfers who played in the 1904 Olympic Golf Tournament, a festival of golf that was unquestionably the golfing equivalent of a marathon, required an eclectic blend of the above human traits and an assortment of golfing skills.

Hope you enjoy

Chicago

Several cities in the United States were considered by Pierre de Coubertin and the IOC to host the third Modern Olympics and build upon the success of Athens (1896) and Paris (1900). Early favourites were New York and Philadelphia but after some deliberation, the Games of the III Olympiad were awarded to the city of Chicago.

But … unbelievable as might sound, lessons from Paris had not been learnt by Pierre de Coubertin and the IOC when evaluating the selection criteria as 300 miles to the South West of Chicago preparations were well underway for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World Fair, celebrated the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase … for $15m the United States had purchased the territory of Louisiana from Napoleonic France in 1803.

Originally planned for 1903, the Exposition was delayed to enable more American States and more countries to participate, eventually opening on 30th April 1904 and running until 1st December 1904. This World Fair encompassed hundreds of agricultural, trade and scientific exhibitions and provided much entertainment and popular culture to the 20 million people who attended throughout the year.

The Exposition had also established a Department of Physical Culture with the plan to host a series of events across numerous sporting disciplines and thus a clash with the proposed Olympic Games in Chicago. The learned consensus was that holding two enormous sporting games in the United States was just not feasible as one if not both would suffer.

St. Louis

A profusion of stories and theories exist on what happened to resolve this potential conflict. The version of events as captured in the 300-page Spalding’s Official Athletic Almanac for 1905 which was the official report of the 1904 Olympic Games, is possibly the closest to the single version of the truth!

Two Chicago men, one of whom was the Director of Exhibits at the World Fair, were instrumental in driving forward a solution that in the end satisfied all parties, namely:

• Chicago recommended to the IOC that the 1904 Olympic Games be moved to St. Louis.
• The IOC agreed, subject to the proviso that all sporting events held under the patronage of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition must include the name Olympic.
• The Exposition Organising Committee, with the cooperation of all the governing bodies for American sport, including the United States Golf Association (USGA), unanimously agreed to the Olympic naming stipulation.

Glen Echo Country Club

Colonel George McGrew was an eminent, charismatic and influential St. Louisan who was incredibly passionate about golf. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, he played a round of golf with Old Tom Morris at St Andrews … by the time he returned home Colonel McGrew had formulated a plan to realise a vision to establish the best golf course in the United States!

Colonel McGrew along with other prominent St. Louisans secured the purchase of land in Normandy, a city in St. Louis County to build an 18 hole golf course and the Scottish Professional golfing brothers James and Robert Foulis were engaged to design and build a course that would present a fine test of golf.

James Foulis had won the second U.S. Open in 1896 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club for which his prize was $150 whilst Robert Foulis, who was not as good a golfer as his brother, was acknowledged as an expert in course design. Together, they established a heavily wooded golf course with two prominent lakes … one of which played a significant role during the Olympics (more of that later). Glen Echo Country Club officially opened in May 1901 and to this day is the oldest private 18-hole course West of the Mississippi.

As already covered in Tournoi Olympique de Golf, Albert Lambert won the Handicap event at the 1900 Paris Olympics … and his father-in-law was Colonel McGrew! On the back of his unbridled enthusiasm for the International Golf Tournament in which he had participated, Albert Lambert in tandem with Colonel McGrew started to make plans for Glen Echo to host an International (at times referred to as World) Golf Championship in 1904!

With the USGA endorsing the late change of moving the Olympic Games from Chicago to St. Louis, a venue for the 1904 Olympic Golf Tournament had to be found. Colonel McGrew was very highly regarded by the USGA and thus in September 1903, the Colonel announced that instead of an International Golf Championship, Glen Echo Country Club would host the 1904 Olympic Golf Tournament.

In preparation for the Olympics, Glen Echo invested much time and expenditure to bring the course up to the required championship standard … this included lengthening the course and rebuilding all eighteen greens.

The club also produced a booklet that promoted the golf course, the Olympics and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This booklet was then circulated to golf associations and golf clubs, not only in the United States but all around the world to attract the best golfers to play in the Olympics.

Golfing Vignettes

The famous MGM musical ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ starring Judy Garland was comprised of a series of seasonal vignettes up to and including the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition!

The composition blueprint for this movie could well have been established by the itinerary drafted forty years earlier by the Olympic Golf Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr F. W. Gerould … an unimaginable concatenation of golfing vignettes as follows:

• Friday 16th September ~ Team Nassau (36 Holes)
• Friday 16th September ~ Driving Contest
• Saturday 17th September ~ Team Championship (36 Holes)
• Saturday 17th September ~ Putting Contest
• Monday 19th September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Qualifying (36 Holes)
• Tuesday 20th September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Round of 32 (36 Holes)
• Wednesday 21st September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Round of 16 (36 Holes)
• Thursday 22nd September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Quarter-Finals (36 Holes)
• Friday 23rd September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Semi-Finals (36 Holes)
• Saturday 24th September ~ Individual Match Play Championship Final (36 Holes)

There were also Individual Match Play Consolation Flights played from Wednesday 21st September to Friday 23rd September, an Individual President’s match on Friday 23rd September and an unforeseen playoff which was eventually contested on Thursday 22nd September!

Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were up for grabs in the Individual Match Play and Team Championships only … all will be revealed about this unique golf marathon as this article continues to unfold!

(Sadly, of the 651 athletes who participated in the 1904 Olympics, only 6 were women and they were all members of the United States Archery Team. Staggering to believe in today’s world, but back then the various National Olympic Committees sent very few women athletes to the Olympics as they would not cover the costs of chaperones! As a consequence, Margaret Abbott was unable to defend her Olympic title)

1904 U.S. Amateur Championship

For the purposes of this narrative, the golf marathon ‘teed off’ on Monday 5th September, eleven days before the Olympic golf, at Baltusrol Golf Club, New Jersey and the 1904 U.S. Amateur Championship.

All eyes were on defending champion Walter J. Travis who three months earlier had become the first American to win the British Amateur Championship. Travis was viewed as the overwhelming favourite to retain his U.S. Amateur title having also won the title in 1900 and 1901.

On the opening day of the championship, the top 64 players (out of an entry of 142) made the cut after the first 18-holes of stroke play qualifying. Walter J. Travis posted an 81 for T2 with the relatively unknown 20-year-old Chandler Egan heading the qualifiers with an 80.

The following day, the top 32 players qualified for the knockout match play stage after a further 36-holes of stroke play! Travis followed up his opening round with an 81 and 83 for an aggregate score of 246 to finish 2nd, 4 strokes behind Chandler Egan who added an impressive 80 and 82 to lead the qualifiers on 242 … though Travis was still expected to be lifting the Havemeyer Trophy at the end of the week.

The match play stage was played over the next three days as follows:

• Wednesday 7th September – Round of 32 (18 Holes) and Round of 16 (18 Holes)
• Thursday 8th September – Quarter-Finals (18 Holes) and Semi-Finals (18 Holes)
• Friday 9th September – Final (36 Holes)

But then … in the Round of 16, Walter J. Travis suffered a shock defeat by 3&2 to George Ormiston of Pittsburgh, who secured victory by holing his 125-yard approach shot at the 17th! After his early exit from the championship, friends and supporters of Travis tried to console him by saying that Ormiston had been lucky to which Travis replied:

“You seem to forget that luck is part of the game and a good golfer must be good at all parts of the game”

After this surprise setback, Walter J. Travis said he would be travelling to St. Louis to play in the Olympics, believing he had to win to redeem his cachet as a golf champion!

In the meantime, Chandler Egan maintained his fine form to reach the 36-hole final where he came up against 16-year-old Frederick Herreshoff from Brooklyn. As he had done throughout the championship, Egan hardly made a mistake against Herreshoff and was an impregnable 9up at lunch, eventually winning by 8&6 to be crowned U.S. Amateur Champion.

Chandler Egan (pre-Olympics)

As the nineteenth century drew to a close and the twentieth century dawned, the popularity of golf in the United States was growing exponentially, with Chicago and surrounding district very much considered as the ganglion of this growth … in particular, Exmoor Country Club, where Chicagoan Chandler Egan was a member, and Midlothian Country Club.

Chandler Egan’s golfing ability developed so rapidly that by the time he went to Harvard University he was almost immediately appointed captain of the Harvard golf team. He led Harvard to three successive National Intercollegiate Golf Championships (1902-1904) and won the individual collegiate title in 1902, which at the time was considered the national championship. Other notable triumphs up to the U.S. Amateur included winning the prestigious Western Amateur in 1902 and 1904.

With his success at Baltusrol Golf Club, Chandler Egan became the first of only fourteen golfers to date to win the U.S. Amateur and collegiate individual championships … for the record, only Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Ryan Moore and Bryson DeChambeau have completed this double in the same year!

(Today, the annual National Intercollegiate Golf Championship is known as the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, which is the top collegiate golf tournament in the United States)

Chandler Egan confirmed that he would be competing at St. Louis, setting up the luscious prospect of a possible Olympic final between the current British and American Amateur Champions! Unfortunately, it was not to be as a few days before the Olympic golf commenced, Walter J. Travis contacted Colonel McGrew at Glen Echo Country Club to explain that he would not be able to participate in the Olympics due to the demands of his business … though other reports claim he withdrew at the eleventh hour due to illness.

Whatever the reason for the late withdrawal of Walter J. Travis, sports journalists recognised Chandler Egan as the favourite to add Olympic glory to his burgeoning curriculum vitae … even though he had less than a week to recover from his exertions in New Jersey, travel back home on the overnight train to Chicago and then after a quick turnaround journey to St. Louis, again by train!

For Chandler Egan, the golf marathon was well and truly underway.

Team Nassau

Unlike today’s Olympics, the golfers who participated in the carnival of golf at Glen Echo Country Club did not represent their countries … rather they represented golf associations.

Against that backdrop, the opening event on Friday 16th September was very much an hors d’oeuvre … a 12-a-side contest between the Western Golf Association, established in 1899 by eleven golf clubs located in the Chicago area and the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association, established in 1901 by fifteen golf clubs located in Missouri and Iowa.

The Nassau scoring system for this team event (though I was unable to uncover whether it was played as stroke play, match play or both) awarded one point per match for the:

• morning round of 18-holes
• afternoon round of 18-holes
• overall 36-holes

Despite this being a preliminary event with no Olympic medals at stake the Western Golf Association, captained by Chandler Egan, were expected to prevail … but the first of several shocks and surprises at the Olympics ensued with the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association winning by 20&1/2 points to 15&1/2 points.

Driving Contest

After the conclusion of the Nassau, 29 golfers lined up for the driving contest which was held in front of the clubhouse.

Each player had 3 shots and for a drive to count the ball had to land in a grid else it was deemed out of bounds. The scoring system varied depending on which newspaper report you happened to read!

• Scoring System 1 ~ A ball in the grid and measuring over 175 yards scored 2 points
• Scoring System 2 ~ A ball in the grid and the furthest distance

Whichever scoring system was actually used, the winner was Chandler Egan who scored a maximum of 6 points as all of his drives (234 yards, 202 yards and 214 yards) landed in the grid and his first drive was the longest legal drive of the contest … Douglass Cadwallader of the United States recorded the longest drive of 238 yards but his ball finished out of bounds. For his success, Chandler Egan was awarded the Ratcliffe Cup, a breathtaking trophy named after T G Ratcliffe, a prominent St. Louis businessman.

Chandler Egan’s best effort of the evening was way down on what he was capable of … the previous year he reportedly hit a drive 320 yards to finish at the back of the green on a 303-yard par 4!

Despite his success, several commentators questioned whether Chandler Egan would have won if George Lyon, who was travelling by train to St. Louis from Toronto, had arrived in time to play … as he was well known within Canadian golfing circles for drives that were metronomically long and accurate.

George Lyon (pre-Olympics)

Born in 1858, George Seymour Lyon spent most of his working career as an insurance salesman … but it was in the world of amateur sport where his innate ability as an all-around sportsman shone brightly across an array of sporting disciplines such as athletics, baseball, cricket, curling, hockey and tennis.

At the age of 18, he broke the Canadian pole vault record. In 1894, he scored an unbeaten 238 in a Canadian cricket match … a record which stood for almost four decades!  He was captain of the Canadian cricket team and was a member of several championship teams in curling.

But it was not until George Lyon was in his late thirties that he was encouraged to give golf a try! His unusual golf swing was very much modelled on how he struck a cricket ball and this probably explains why he drove a golf ball so straight and long.

In just over two years playing golf, George Lyon won his first Canadian Amateur Championship in 1898 by an impressive winning margin of 12&11. He won his second and third Canadian Amateur Championships in 1900 and 1903 respectively. Also in 1903, he was a founding member of Lambton Golf & Country Club in Toronto, the club he proudly represented at the Olympics.

Despite being 46 years of age, George Lyon was viewed by some as a possible contender for Olympic Gold in the Individual Match Play Championship.

Team Championship

The atmosphere the following morning at Glen Echo Country Club was one of increased excitement and tension for golfers and spectators alike … with the prize of Olympic Gold awaiting the winning team at the end of the second day of competition.

The format of the Team Championship was as follows:

• Ten players per team
• 18 holes stroke play (morning)
• 18 holes stroke play (afternoon)
• All scores to count
• Team with the lowest 36-hole aggregate score wins

Entries were received from six teams but only two teams, the Western Golf Association and the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association actually turned up! Another team was suddenly put together from a roster of American golfers who had entered to play in the Individual Match Play Championship … and this scratch team played under the umbrella of the United States Golf Association. Thus the United States was guaranteed a clean sweep of the medals but which Association would win Gold, Silver and Bronze?

In his role as captain of the Western Golf Association, Chandler Egan had to pick his team up from the surprising reversal in the Nassau. Whether it was pre-planned or as a direct consequence of the defeat he left out Simpson Foulis (the youngest of the five Foulis brothers), Tim Boyd and Louis Allis and brought in Nathaniel Moore from his home club Exmoor.

Chandler Egan led from the front and his 81 was the lowest score of the morning round, two shots better than his teammate Daniel Sawyer and Trans-Mississippi Golf Association’s Harry Potter, a golfer from St. Louis Country Club and not Hogwarts!

After 18 holes the team aggregate scores were:

• 882 ~ Western Golf Association
• 892 ~ Trans-Mississippi Golf Association
• 926 ~ United States Golf Association

Despite windier conditions in the afternoon, the Western Golf Association were determined that there would be no repeat of the Nassau. Chandler Egan returned an 84 to post the lowest individual aggregate score of 165 and ably supported by his team, the Western Golf Association gradually increased their lead throughout the afternoon to eventually run out winners by 21 strokes.

• 1749 ~ Western Golf Association
• 1770 ~ Trans-Mississippi Golf Association
• 1839 ~ United States Golf Association

Five members of the gold medal-winning team were from the same club, namely Exmoor Country Club … an unparalleled accomplishment. In addition to Chandler Egan, there was his cousin Walter Egan, Clement Smoot, Ned Cummins and Nathaniel Moore. The other gold medallists were Robert Hunter, Ken Edwards, Mason Phelps (all from Midlothian), Daniel Sawyer (Wheaton) and Warren Wood (Homewood).

Hitherto, Chandler Egan (in 2015) and Mason Phelps (in 2021) are the only members of this team to have been elected to the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame.

Putting Contest

At the start of the twentieth century, there were very few putting courses in the United States … Glen Echo Country Club went one step further and built a floodlit putting course!

The putting course measured circa. 100 yards by 30 yards with the holes configured in a zig-zag pattern. Several hundred luminous lights were set up in the trees and posts that surrounded the putting course to enable play at night time … and the play could be viewed from the clubhouse veranda.

The supposedly not so serious putting contest on Saturday evening ended in a tie between Clement Smoot and Burt McKinnie, with McKinnie winning the playoff.

Many of the golfers had never previously seen a putting course which might explain why some of them were still playing until 04:00 on Sunday morning!

Individual Match Play Championship Qualifying

Following a day of rest on Sunday, the centrepiece of the Olympic Golf Programme began on Monday 19th September and two rounds of stroke play, with the top 32 golfers qualifying for the knockout match play stage.

Primarily due to the challenges of travelling to St. Louis, only 75 golfers entered the Individual Match Play Championship. All were from the United States apart from George Lyon, Albert W. Austin and his son Albert E. Austin who were all from the Lambton Golf & Country Club, Toronto. There was an entry fee of $5 and all entrants had to prove they were an amateur golfer of good standing!

Ralph McKittrick and Stuart Stickney finished T1st on 163 to head the qualifiers. Selected others …

• Francis Newton ~ 3rd on 164
• Walter Egan ~ T4th on 165
• Chandler Egan ~ T6th on 166 (a disappointing 88 in the first round but a 78 in the second round equalled the amateur course record)
• Albert Lambert ~ 8th on 168 (the only golfer to play in the 1900 and 1904 Olympics)
• George Lyon ~ T9th on 169 (the only non-American to qualify)
• Burt McKinnie ~ T11th on 170

Nine of the ten-man gold medal-winning Western Golf Association team qualified … for whatever reason Ken Edwards did not enter.

Individual Match Play Championship Round of 32

Unlike today’s major amateur championships where the #1 qualifier plays the #32 qualifier, #2 plays #31, #3 plays #30 and so on, the draw for the Round of 32 was unseeded!

Despite the randomness of the draw the leading qualifiers Ralph McKittrick and Stuart Stickney along with Francis Newton, Chandler Egan and George Lyon all progressed to the Round of 16. Only one of the head-to-head contests went to sudden death where Burt McKinnie, who had won the earlier putting contest, triumphed at the 37th against Harold Weber.

The only real shock occurred in the encounter between Albert Lambert and Walter Egan with the home favourite winning surprisingly easily by 7&6. Walter Egan, who in 1901 had been runner up to Walter J. Travis in the U.S. Amateur, was apparently in an “erratic mood” according to newspaper reports!

Individual Match Play Consolation Flights

The golfing marathon was far from over for the golfers eliminated in the Round of 32. The following day (Wednesday 21st September) they were joined by 34 other golfers in an 18 hole stroke play qualifier to determine the makeup of each of the four Consolation Flights, as summarised below.

• First Flight Consolation ~ Qualifiers 1 to 16
• Second Flight Consolation ~ Qualifiers 17 to 32
• Third Flight Consolation ~ Qualifiers 33 to 48
• Fourth Flight Consolation ~ Qualifiers 49 and 50

The Flight Consolations (apart from the Fourth) was then played over Thursday and Friday as knockout match play (Round of 16, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final) with each match contested over 18 holes.

Walter Egan triumphed in the First Flight, defeating the long-hitting Douglass Cadwallader in the semi-final and Harry Potter in the final. Warren Wood, Bart Adams and Albert E. Austin were victorious in the Second, Third and Fourth Flights respectively.

Individual Match Play Championship Round of 16

In the United Kingdom, Match of the Day (MOTD) is a weekly football highlights programme shown on the BBC where the running order is usually aligned to the excitement/quality of the various Premier League games … my team is Newcastle United and they are very rarely shown first unless getting thrashed in a high scoring encounter!

If there had been a golfing equivalent of MOTD back in 1904 then the producers would have struggled to decide the running order as the eight 36-hole matches contained a mixture of high quality, excitement, shocks and surprises … for expediency I have selected the following three matches.

• Albert Lambert continued his fine form, this time defeating joint leading qualifier Ralph McKittrick. In a nerve-wracking finish, Lambert secured victory by 1 hole.
• Stuart Stickney, who was the other joint leading qualifier, came up against George Lyon. Almost without exception, commentators anticipated that Stickney would prove too strong for his Canadian opponent …. George Lyon had not read the script and proceeded to shoot 77 in the morning round to establish a new amateur course record and be 8up at lunch, eventually winning by 11&9!
• In the battle of Exmoor Country Club members, Chandler Egan was pitted against Nathaniel Moore. At one stage, Chandler Egan was reported to be 4down but eventually rallied to secure his place in the quarter-finals by 7&6.

With George Lyon and Chandler Egan in different halves of the draw, there was growing anticipation that they would meet in the Olympic final.

Burt McKinnie, Daniel Sawyer, Harry Allen, Mason Phelps and Francis Newton completed the quarter-final line-up.

(A really sad postscript … just over five years later, Nathaniel Moore died of natural causes at the age of 25 in Chicago’s infamous Levee district) 

Innovation

An ingenious operation was established to enable wireless telegraphy to be used for the very first time at a golf tournament.

An automobile, possibly a 1904 St. Louis Motor Car Runabout manufactured by the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company, was driven to various points of the Glen Echo golf course, from where an operator flashed the progress of matches to the telegraph station which was located in the cupola of the clubhouse.

The operator who was based in the cupola then transmitted the information received to the Scoreboard by using a megaphone!

Individual Match Play Championship Quarter-Finals

Considering it was the quarter-final stage of the Olympic golf, there was a paucity of column inches in the newspapers.

In the first quarter-final, Burt McKinnie was always in control against Daniel Sawyer and finally closed out the game by 4&3 … almost unnoticed he had serenely reached the semi-finals.

Chandler Egan was 1up against Harry Allen from the St. Louis Field Club after the morning round, despite struggling at times on the greens for the first time in the tournament. But in the afternoon, he extended his lead to 4up with 9 holes to play after winning the 21st, 23rd and 27th … a lead he maintained to win by 4&3.

In terms of quality, the best quarter-final was the clash between Albert Lambert and George Lyon. Over the first 18 holes, Glen Echo’s favourite golfing son played his best golf of the week and yet found himself 4down at lunch to George Lyon who posted a 78! And in spite of further brilliant golf from Albert Lambert in the afternoon he was unable to reduce the deficit and was defeated by 5&4.

In the last remaining quarter-final, Francis Newton knocked out Mason Phelps by 2&1 in a match that was reported to have oscillated between the mediocre and the dazzling!

On the same day (Thursday 22nd September), there was an 18-hole playoff between the joint leading qualifiers Ralph McKittrick and Stuart Stickney to decide who should be awarded first place! The organising committee waited until they had both been knocked out in the match play stage … which raises the question of what would have happened if they had both reached the final? For the record, Ralph McKittrick won the stroke play playoff by 2 shots.

Individual Match Play Championship Semi-Finals

Burt McKinnie, Chandler Egan, George Lyon and Francis Newton were all guaranteed at least a Bronze medal as there was no playoff between the losing semi-finalists … but all 4 players were undoubtedly focused on their respective semi-finals rather than thinking about the possible colour of an Olympic medal.

There was very little to separate Burt McKinnie and Chandler Egan during the morning round, but it was the U.S. Amateur Champion who led by 1 hole after 18. A large gallery watched Burt McKinnie win the 19th to restore parity, but that was it good as it got for the golfer from the Normandie Golf Club in St. Louis. Chandler Egan raised his game to another level to win 5 of the next 12 holes and despite losing the 32nd won by 4&3 to reach the Olympic final. He was never behind in the semi-final and afterwards stated that for the first time during the tournament he was satisfied with his game! But who would he face in the final?

A fabulous encounter unfolded in the other semi-final between George Lyon and Francis Newton. Nip and tuck throughout, the Canadian held a narrow 1 hole lead after the first 18 holes. The contest continued in the same vein throughout the afternoon … one particular highlight was at the 27th where to the astonishment of the gallery both players holed lengthy putts to halve the hole in birdie twos! Francis Newton regained the lead at the 29th but by the 34th George Lyon was once again 1up. The 35th was halved and then at the 36th … Francis Newton almost holed his approach shot to take the semi-final to sudden death, but it was not to be.

And thus after almost ten rounds of golf over five days, Chandler Egan and George Lyon had reached the 1904 Olympic final.

In contrast to the fierce competitiveness of the respective semi-finals, Colonel George McGrew played a friendly 18 hole President’s match against Albert E. Austin from Lambton Golf & Country Club. The score of 87-92 in favour of the Colonel was secondary to the spirit in which the round was played on the penultimate day of the Olympic golf programme.

Individual Match Play Championship Final

Something must have irritated the Greek god Zeus in his abode on Mount Olympus as Chandler Egan, George Lyon and the large expectant gallery were greeted by a deluge of rain when the final started at 11:00 … the rain continued for most of the morning round but improved later in the day.

The first hole (named ‘Lilac’) was a par 4 measuring 276 yards but played longer due to the precipitous conditions. George Lyon reached the green with a prodigious drive whilst Chandler Egan pulled his opening tee shot left and had to settle for a par … Lyon made birdie to be immediately 1up.

George Lyon followed up this opening birdie with par, bogey, birdie, eagle to be 4up after 5! At the par 3 9th, Chandler Egan reduced the deficit with a birdie and the next 2 holes were halved. Chandler Egan then found some form to win 3 and lose only 1 of the next 7 holes to reduce George Lyon’s lead to 1 hole. Remarkably, the first 18 holes only took 2 hours and 40 minutes!

After lunch, George Lyon continued to outdrive his opponent in length and accuracy, backed up by consistent approach play and putting. Indeed this relentless pressure from the tee was no doubt a factor in Chandler Egan struggling with his driving … as a consequence George Lyon was able to win the 20th, 23rd and 24th to once more be 4up. Chandler Egan birdied the 25th and then a rare mistake from George Lyon at the 27th meant he was only 2up with 9 holes to play.

The next 3 holes were halved in par, par, birdie. But following an exquisite approach shot by Chandler Egan at the 31st George Lyon’s lead was down to 1up with 5 to play. The 32nd was halved in par … 1up with 4 to play.

With the honour at the 33rd, Chandler Egan hit yet another wayward tee shot and found the lake whilst George Lyon once again found the fairway … 2up with 3 to play.

On the 34th George Lyon found the middle of the fairway but Chandler Egan was again erratic and found the rough with his tee shot and then hit a tree attempting to recover … George Lyon made no mistake and majestically birdied the hole to seal victory by 3&2.

A magnificent contest between two great amateur golfers with George Lyon deservedly crowned as Olympic Champion.

Pure Sportsmanship

Not long after the conclusion of the final, Chandler Egan gave a searingly honest interview during which he said …

“I deserved to lose and that the golf played by Mr Lyon was superior to mine and that any time I fail to get my tee shots away I merit defeat”

He also added that …

“The number of competitive rounds I have played at the U.S. Amateur, the team matches and in the individual and the long railway journey has physically taken its toll”

But in no way was the above offered as an excuse for his defeat.

In an interview with the newspapers, George Lyon was quoted as saying …

“Though winning this trophy carries with it the title of Champion of the World, I am not foolish enough to think that I am the best player in the world, but I am satisfied that I am not the worst!”

George Lyon then added that he had never played with a more sportsmanlike opponent than Chandler Egan and that …

“He is a grand fellow to play golf with and no doubt was not the Chandler Egan who won the national championship”

To which Chandler Egan graciously replied …

“Mr Lyon deserved to win. He was more clever than I”

Presentation

On Saturday evening there was a dinner for all of the players and officials in the Glen Echo clubhouse and the presentation of all trophies and medals by Colonel George McGrew.

If the rumours and stories are true then Chandler Egan was absolutely exhausted and went to bed early whilst George Lyon decided to prove how strong he was by walking across the dining room on his hands to receive his prize!

Chandler Egan (post-Olympics)

The following year, Chandler Egan won the Western Amateur for a third time, defeating his cousin Walter Egan 3&2 in the final. He also successfully retained his U.S. Amateur title, winning by 6&5 against Western Golf Association teammate Daniel Sawyer in the final. When one examines the record books, other famous golfers to have won the U.S. Amateur twice include Francis Ouimet, Lawson Little and Jack Nicklaus! He was also a losing finalist in 1909 and unbelievably reached the semi-finals in 1929.

In 1906 Chandler Egan was the leading amateur at the U.S. Open where he finished T8th (fourteen shots better than the second-placed amateur) and in 1907 won the Western Amateur for the fourth time.

After 1909, he unexpectedly disappeared from golfing circles only to re-appear a few years later to combine playing as an amateur with golf course architecture. Having moved to Oregon he designed about twenty courses on the West Coast of the United States and assisted Dr Alister MacKenzie on a handful of course design projects.

At the age of 49, Chandler Egan was selected to represent the United States in the 1934 Walker Cup … he won his foursomes but did not play in the singles. The following year he was invited, through his friendship with Bobby Jones, to play in the U.S. Masters where he finished a credible 60th.

Sadly, just a year later he contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 51.

George Lyon (up to the London Olympics)

After his triumph at St. Louis, George Lyon won three consecutive Canadian Amateur Championships in 1905, 1906 and 1907, bringing his overall tally at that stage to a record six Championships.

In 1905 he played in The Open at St Andrews but missed the cut after 36 holes … the Champion Golfer that year was James Braid.

In 1906, at the age of 48, he was narrowly defeated by 2 holes in the final of the U.S. Amateur by Ebenezer ‘Eben’ McBurney Byers … the following year he reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur.

In 1908 George Lyon set sail for England to defend his title at the London Olympics and … to find out what happened please see ‘To Be Concluded’ just after the Epilogue.

Epilogue

Rolling the clock quickly forward to the present day … Olympic Golf at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 and possibly Ad Infinitum consists of men’s and women’s individual 72-hole stroke play tournaments.

But wouldn’t be great if one day the International Golf Federation and the International Olympic Committee worked jointly to re-establish the Spirit of St. Louis (as in the festival of golf rather than the high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight) … match play, mixed-gender formats, driving contest (with or without Bryson DeChambeau!), team competitions and so on … and thus unveil that golf rather than politics…

‘is the art of the possible’

To Be Concluded …

I hope you have enjoyed reading ‘Olympic Golf Marathon’

If you wish to read more about defending champion George Lyon and the unbelievable events surrounding the men’s individual tournament at the 1908 London Olympics, then please click on Olympic Golf Chaos, the third and final article in our ‘Golf at the Olympiad’ trilogy.

Acknowledgements

And finally a massive thanks to …

• Donald R. Holton ~ Historian, Exmoor Country Club, Illinois … who kindly shared a priceless treasure trove of articles and material about Chandler Egan, the 1904 Olympics and much more, some of which was extracted from Chandler Egan’s personal archive (letters, scrapbooks, photographs, etc.).
• Katie Dooley ~ Membership & Marketing Director, Glen Echo Country Club, Missouri … who kindly shared a link to the Glen Echo Historic District Preservation Foundation website which contains an unbelievable seam of material and photographs for Albert Lambert, Colonel George McGrew and the 1904 Olympics. Katie also resolved the mystery of Egan’s Lake!
• Lambton Golf & Country Club, Toronto … for kindly permitting the striking photograph of George Lyon, as extracted from this historic Golf Club’s website to be used to augment this article.