Local golfer won first US Open
By William Kelly
When the 123rd US Open golf tournament is held this weekend at the Los Angeles Country Club, one name you probably won’t hear is that of John McDermott, America’s forgotten hero.
The US Open is America’s national golf tournament. Though open to all, from the time of the first US Open held in New York in 1895 until 1911, all 16 champions were British and Scottish golf professionals until 1911 when Johnny McDermott, a young, spunky teenage hotshot from Philadelphia, became the first native-born American champion. Then 19 years old, he is still the youngest to have ever won it.
McDermott first came to the public’s attention the year before at the 1910 US Open at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, when he seemingly came out of nowhere to tie Scottish brothers Macdonald and Alex Smith and lost in a three-way playoff, surprising his father who read about it in the newspaper the next morning.
The former caddy took his first job as the Merchantville, (N.J.) Golf Club pro where today there is an historic marker in his honor at the front gate.
McDermott was hired as the professional at the prestigious Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield where he took the trolley to attend Mass every morning before he practiced, made balls and clubs, and gave lessons. They said after work McDermott would spread out newspaper pages over an area as a target to shoot at, and then narrow it down until he could hit a small area at will.
McDermott was confident of victory at the 1911 Open at the Chicago Golf Club. When he left the pro shop he said, “You are looking at the next US Open champion.” Then he went out and did it.
And he won again in 1912 in Buffalo, N.Y., defending his title with back-to-back victories. As golfing great Walter Hagen put it, it is the sign of a true champion. Hagen witnessed McDermott win at Buffalo, which inspired him to quit his job as an assistant pro at the Country Club of Rochester, N.Y. and become the first independent touring pro.
McDermott became the first American to finish in the top ranks of the British Open, but really made his mark at the at Shawnee Open a few weeks before the 1913 US Open when he played against Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, two of the greatest golfers ever.
They didn’t play in the two US Opens won by McDermott, so there was the nagging question as to whether McDermott could actually beat the best of Britain. That question was answered when McDermott won the tournament outright by eight strokes, and soundly defeated Vardon and Ray.
One sports writer, Grantland Rice, said McDermott was the best golfer ever, with no weaknesses in his play. It wasn’t just the way McDermott won, or by how much, but afterwards, in the locker room full of reporters, McDermott made a speech in which he promised that the US Open trophy would not be taken back across the pond. McDermott was quoted extensively in the British press, and that speech took golf off the sports pages and onto the front pages of every major newspaper in America and the British Empire.
Although McDermott was criticized, reprimanded by the USGA, and apologized, the media frenzy following McDermott’s nationalistic speech created much anticipation for the 1913 US Open at the Country Club at Brookline, Mass.
When McDermott fell behind, it was left to Francis Ouimet, an equally young 20-year-old caddy and dedicated amateur, to keep McDermott’s promise. The tournament ended in a three-way tie and before the playoff McDermott advised Ouimet, “Pay no attention to Vardon and Ray and play your own game,” which Ouimet did in what was later called “The Greatest Game.”
The movie “The Greatest Game,” inaccurately portrays McDermott as tall and bumbling, with red hair and a mustache and promotes Ouimet, when it was McDermott who generated the international interest in the match.
McDermott went back to Europe, where he missed a train and his British Open tee shot and refused to play in the tournament, even though the British offered to bend the rules for him.
Returning home by steamship, McDermott was in the barber’s chair when his ship was rammed by another ship and sunk. He escaped near death in a lifeboat.
When he finally got home, he learned that his stock market investments had tanked and he was broke. One morning he was found unconscious on the floor of the pro shop, having suffered a nervous breakdown.
McDermott was sent to Norristown Hospital in Philadelphia where the doctors set up a little course over the grounds, and he played a few times with visitors like Walter Hagen. His $7 a day hospital fee was paid by those who attended the first meeting of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) in Philadelphia.
McDermott spent the rest of his life either with his sister or in local institutions. He did get out to play on occasion with his friend Tim DeBaufre at Valley Forge, until his clubs were stolen from his sister’s car. One club survived however.
While playing with a stranger, he borrowed a club from his playing companion, liked it, and he was allowed to keep it. In return, he gave up an old wooden mashie, saying to his incredulous playing partner, “that club helped me win two US Open championships.”
When the 1971 US Open was held in Philadelphia at the Merion Country Club, McDermott’s sister left him alone in the clubhouse where a young assistant pro thought he was a shabby old derelict in the way and ordered him out of the pro shop. But Arnold Palmer recognized him and put his arm around McDermott and welcomed him.
As reported by golf historian John Coyne, “In 1971, Arnold Palmer at Merion Golf Club, noticed a shambling old man being ejected from the lobby. Palmer recognized him as John McDermott who, in 1911, had been the first American to win the US Open. Tossing out such a man wouldn’t do, decided Palmer, who shooed away club employees and escorted McDermott back inside. They talked golfer to golfer, champion to champion, and Palmer arranged for McDermott to stay at the tournament as his special guest.”
Two months after the 1971 Open at Merion, McDermott died in his sleep at his sister’s home in Philadelphia, near where there is a city historic marker today. And in 2012, 100 years after his final US Open win, 101 years after being a national hero as the first American to win the Open, McDermott was elected into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. Former Atlantic City County Club owner Jim Fraser accepted the honor in McDermott’s name and loaned one of McDermott’s US Open gold medals to the USGA museum in Somerset County.
And now, as they play the 123rd US Open, few people will recall that John McDermott, the first American and at 19, is still the youngest to win the American national championship. Though someday he will be remembered again when another young, spunky teenage hotshot comes along to beat the pros and become the youngest to ever win the US Open.
William Kelly is the author of “Birth of the Birdie – A History of Golf at the Atlantic City Country Club.” Email him at billkelly3@gmail.com.
