Francis Ouimet carried and Eddie Lowery 1913

Edward Edgar Lowery (October 14, 1902 – May 4, 1984) was an American

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives the player advice and moral support. Description A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the ...

, amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er and multi-millionaire businessman. Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old

Francis Ouimet Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913 and was the first non-Briton elected ...

during the 1913 U.S. Open, held at

The Country Club The Country Club, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the oldest golf-oriented country club in the United States. (The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, was the first country club for any sport.) It holds an important place in ...

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

, which Ouimet won in a playoff over

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

and Ted Ray. An iconic photograph of Lowery and Ouimet striding down the fairway together is one of the most memorable in American golf history. It was used as the logo for the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

's centennial celebrations, appears on the cover of

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

's account of the 1913 Open ''The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf'' and inspired a memorial statue in Brookline. Lowery was prominently featured in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

movie ''

The Greatest Game Ever Played ''The Greatest Game Ever Played'' is a 2005 American biographical sports film based on the early life of amateur golf champion Francis Ouimet and his surprise winning of the 1913 U.S. Open. The film was directed by Bill Paxton, and was his last ...

'', portrayed by actor

Josh Flitter Joshua Alexander Flitter (born August 25, 1994) is an American actor. He is known for playing Corky in ''Nancy Drew'', Eddie in ''The Greatest Game Ever Played'', and voiced Rudy Kangaroo in the 2008 animated film ''Horton Hears a Who!'' and Budd ...

. Lowery and Ouimet remained lifelong friends, and when Ouimet died in 1967, Lowery was one of the

pallbearer A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles of ...

Biography

Lowery was the fifth child born to John and Maria Lowery (née Curran), who were Irish immigrants who lived in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. He moved to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and championed the rising amateur careers of

Ken Venturi Kenneth Paul Venturi (May 15, 1931May 17, 2013) was an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. In a career shortened by injuries, he won 14 events on the PGA Tour including a major, the U.S. Open in 1964. Shortly before his death in ...

(1964 U.S. Open Champion),

Harvie Ward Edward Harvie Ward, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – September 4, 2004) was an American golfer best known for his amateur career. He is best known for winning both the U.S. Amateur (twice) and the British Amateur. Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, Ward ...

(1955 & 1956

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

Champion), and

Tony Lema Anthony David Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. He died two years later ...

(1964

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

Champion), among others. Lowery played at San Francisco Golf Club in San Francisco. He died in 1984 in

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

, and is buried at El Carmelo cemetery in Pacific Grove, California. He became a multi-millionaire as an auto dealer in San Francisco. Lowery and

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

were friends and they both played in the 1951

British Amateur The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. He enjoyed sponsoring young amateur golfers, such as two of his employees: Venturi and Ward. In 1956 he arranged a match between these two amateurs and two golf pros,

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

and

Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hog ...

, a friendly four-ball match at

Cypress Point Club Cypress Point Club is a private Country club, golf club located in Pebble Beach, California, at the northern end of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast. Its single 18-hole course has been named as one of the finest in golf, best know ...

. The amateurs played a strong game but the pros took the match, 1-up. Venturi told a newspaper years later, "It was the best golf I've ever seen." This match was chronicled in depth in

's 2007 book ''The Match''. Lowery also served on the executive committee of the

. His sponsorship of Harvie Ward led to problems, because Lowery had claimed certain disallowable business expenses for tax write-offs. And Ward, who had trusted Lowery's USGA expertise, had his amateur status revoked in 1957, at a time when he had won the previous two consecutive U.S. Amateur titles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowery, Eddie American caddies American male golfers Amateur golfers Golfers from Massachusetts Golfers from California American transportation businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts 1902 births 1984 deaths

Biography

See also

References