Henry Alexander Lamb (24 February 1844 – 1 January 1893) was a Scottish amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century. He is most associated with Royal Wimbledon Golf Club. Lamb finished second in the 1886 Amateur Championship, losing 7 and 6 to

Horace Hutchinson Horatio Gordon "Horace" Hutchinson (16 May 1859 – 27 July 1932) was an English amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hutchinson won the 1886 and 1887 Amateur Championships. He had three top-10 finishes in ...

in the finals. He placed seventh in the 1876 Open Championship and finished in eight place in the 1873 Open Championship.

Early life

Lamb was born in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 24 February 1844. His father was posted in India where he worked for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

Golf career

The 1873 Open Championship

The 1873 Open Championship was the 13th

Open Championship 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 ...

, held 4 October at the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Tom Kidd won the Championship by a stroke from Jamie Anderson. This was the first Open Championship not held at

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

Details of playing conditions

In the days before the Championship heavy rains had soaked the course. However, when the first round got underway it was sunny with light winds—ideal conditions except for the wet turf. Under these adverse wet ground conditions Lamb was still able to get around the links in good fashion and played consistently, posting rounds of 96-96=192. At this time in golf history there wasn't a specific rule in place to take free drops from casual water. The only option, other than playing the ball as it laid, was to drop (or tee up) a ball behind the hazard with a 1-stroke penalty. The winning score of 179 was the highest recorded while the Championship was over 36 holes. This was partly due to the fact that St Andrews was the toughest of the three courses used at that time for the Open and partly due to the difficult conditions. When the Open was next contested at St Andrews in 1876 the winning score was 176.

The 1876 Open Championship

In the 1876 Open Championship, held on 30 September at the

, Lamb finished in seventh place, carding rounds of 94-92=186.

The 1882 Open Championship

In the 1882 Open Championship, held 30 September at the

, Lamb finished in 11th place.

Death and legacy

Lamb died on 1 January 1893 at

Matlock, Derbyshire Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. It is situated in the south-eastern part of the Peak District, with the National Park directly to the west. The town is twinned with the French town of Eaubonne. The former spa resort of Matloc ...

, England. He is best remembered as a frequent competitor in both the Open Championship and the Amateur Championship. In the latter event, he played extremely well finishing in second place in 1886. In the 1870s, Lamb had two top-10 finishes in the Open Championship. Lamb is reputed to be the inventor of the "bulger" golf club, a wood with a convex face, circa 1885. In his 1890 book ''Golf'',

advises that the theory behind the convex face is that shots hit on the heel will have less of a tendency to go to the right and shots struck nearer the toe will have a lesser tendency of traveling to the left of your target. Meanwhile, a shot struck in the sweet spot (center of the clubface) will be unaffected. All woods and metal woods of the modern era incorporate Lamb's invention.

Results in major championships

''Note: Lamb played only in The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.'' LA = Low amateur
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10 Sources for Amateur Championship: 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Henry Scottish male golfers Amateur golfers 1844 births 1893 deaths