Golf exclusive
The amazing story of war hero turned Open winner
Of all the emotional pilgrimages being made to Carnoustie for the 147th Open next week, none will have the resonance of that of Tommy Armour III. The grandson of the “Silver Scot” will make the less-travelled journey from Las Vegas to Angus to pay homage to his forebear and namesake and to spread the word of what he calls “golf ’s greatest untold story”.
There can be no disputing this claim, purely because of the astonishing details of the narrative of a young man who lost the sight in his right eye in the First World War. Yet there is much more to this story than the remarkable comeback of a war hero whose bravery earned him an audience with King George V.
In short, Armour, a three-time major champion, was one of Britain’s best-ever golfers, but is rarely recognised as such because he had the temerity to move to the United States to find work.
“It really is an astonishing tale,” Armour III said. “And every time the Open returns to Carnoustie, I pray that it gets more airtime. Not just because of what he achieved, but because of the road he and the other Scottish professionals took just to fulfil their own dreams and preach the gospel that so many followed.”
Armour III is the legacy of that Edinburgh boat launched into the unknown. The 58-year-old is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who still plays on the senior circuit. Armour III has played in the Open himself, a top-30 finish at Lytham in 1988 being the best of his four appearances. His last Open was at St Andrews in 1990 and he is so determined to have one more competitive trip around the Old Course that he will try to go through qualifying for the Senior Open in two weeks’ time.
“But first I will go to Carnoustie and tell anyone who will listen what my granddad did by winning the Open the first time it was held at Carnoustie in 1931,” he said.
His audience are bound to be transfixed, to the point where they will wonder why this has not yet been turned in a film.
Born in Edinburgh, Armour was educated at Fettes College and, after completing his degree at the capital’s university was destined for a job in high finance, until conscription came calling. Armour quickly rose from a private to staff major in the Scottish Tank Corps and in 1917 was caught in a mustard gas explosion on the Western Front.
The wounds were catastrophic. He was without vision in both eyes and could not walk. Metal plates were fitted in his head, arms and legs and slowly he began to convalesce. He never did regain sight in his right eye, but this was still the best outcome for which he and his family could possibly have hoped.
His doctors stipulated that light exercise was crucial to his recovery. “And so he played golf once more,” Armour III said. “It is
incredible how he learned to play again and where it took him.”
In 1920, to the amazement of everyone, but most of all the surgeons, he won the French amateur championship. This time the fields of France had been kind. By then he had decided that with his country on the verge of recession, his future lay in America. He met Walter Hagen and this led to the role of secretary at the Westchester Country Club, the famous New York course.
In 1924, after Armour had made a fortune on Wall Street and lost it again, Hagen persuaded him to turn pro, but soon “The Haig” wished he had resisted. In 1927, Armour won the US Open at Oakmont and three years later beat Gene Sarazen, one of only five golfers to win the career Grand Slam, at the USPGA at Fresh Meadow.
However, the one he truly yearned to win was 3,000 miles east, near Dundee. “You can imagine how much he wanted to win the Open,” Armour III said. “For a person to leave Edinburgh as an amateur and to come back as a professional must have been a huge thrill. Oakmont is regarded as the toughest course in America and Carnoustie the toughest in Britain, so he must have travelled over thinking, ‘This is for me’.
“And to win there in his homeland, with a plate in his head and only being able to see out of one eye? This was not just the American Dream, this was anyone’s dream. I mean, what more do you want?”
Recognition would be a bonus. In a sport which is obsessed with its past champions, it is curious that the re-naturalised Americans from Scotland who were so influential in the installation and sudden boom of Stateside golf are barely mentioned in their homeland.
The likes of Willie Anderson – the only player to have won three consecutive US Opens – and the Smith brothers from Carnoustie – Alex and Willie, also both US Open champions – boast plaques in North Berwick, but nothing more.
“These were pioneers,” Armour III said. “American golf would not have been the same without them or my grandfather. I’ve seen his plaque and it’s great, but it does not begin to sum up his stature. He won 24 times and three majors. Just think of the tributes he would receive nowadays.”
Indeed, the contrast is perverse, particularly when the majority of the top British pros live in the US. Is Rory Mcilroy now any less European because he resides in Florida? Or Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and so many more Ryder Cup heroes?
Armour led the way – and not only by showing how to prevail around the beast of Angus. His quality should not be doubted and certainly Bernard Darwin, the legendary golf writer, did not question his ball-striking prowess. “I do not believe that [JH] Taylor or [Harry] Vardon at their best ever gave themselves so many possible putts for three with their iron shots as he does,” Darwin wrote. “His style is the perfection of rhythm and beauty.”
In later life, Armour became a renowned teacher and club-maker and his instructional tome How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time is still the biggest selling golf book of all time.
“He did everything,” Armour III said. “He is the greatest untold golf story of all time. Perhaps next week will change all that.”
‘He won 24 times and three majors. Think of the tributes he would receive now’