James Douglas Edgar (30 September 1884 – 8 August 1921) was an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

and golf writer.

Early life

Edgar was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England. He won the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

in 1914. He coached the young player

Tommy Armour Thomas Dickson Armour (24 September 1896 – 11 September 1968) was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was nicknamed The Silver Scot. He was the winner of three of golf's major championships: 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA, and 1931 Open C ...

, who became a prominent professional after 1920; Armour later praised Edgar as having helped him the most. The legendary

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 ...

stated that Edgar was on his way to becoming a player who could surpass everyone.

Golf career

Edgar emigrated to the United States in April 1919, following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was the head professional at

Druid Hills Golf Club The Druid Hills Golf Club is a private country club located in the Druid Hills, Georgia, Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The course has frequently hosted U.S. Women's Open qualifying tournaments. History Founded in 1912, the club's ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Edgar played frequently with the young Bobby Jones at the

Atlanta Athletic Club Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1898, is a private athletic club in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb 23 miles north of Atlanta. The original home of the club was a 10-story building located on Carnegie Way, and in 1904 a golf course was bui ...

(the site of today's

East Lake Golf Club East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribu ...

) from 1919–1921. He mentored and coached Jones during this period as well. Jones developed into one of the dominant golfers of the 1920s. Edgar was a friend of

Alexa Stirling Alexa Stirling Fraser (September 5, 1897 – April 15, 1977) was an American-Canadian amateur golfer. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur golf championship in 1916, 1919, and 1920. She also won the Canadian Women's Amateur title in 1920 and 1934. ...

and gave her golf lessons while he was the professional at Druid Hills. Edgar won the Canadian Open in 1919 at the

Hamilton Golf and Country Club Hamilton Golf and Country Club is located in Ancaster, Ontario. The club began in 1894. Renowned English golf architect Harry Colt designed 18 of the current 27 holes in 1914, with Canadian golf architect Robbie Robinson adding a third nine in 1974 ...

by a record 16 strokes (a winning margin which still stands for a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

event), with Jones and

Jim Barnes James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and Rory McIlroy) to win three di ...

tying for second, and came back the next year to win that title again. He lost the 1920 PGA Championship, one of golf's majors, in a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

final to

Jock Hutchison Jack Falls "Jock" Hutchison (June 6, 1884 – September 27, 1977) was a Scottish professional golfer. Hutchison was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, the son of William and Helen (née Falls). His name was registered as John Waters Hutchis ...

. During 1919–20, Edgar was among the top players in the world. Edgar wrote a golf book entitled ''The Gate to Golf'', based on his discoveries made in England. Edgar had an ailing hip which he could not turn freely. Through experimentation, he found that a restricted hip turn still allowed a repeatable swing with excellent power and control. This book proved to have significant impact on golf instruction, right up to the present time.

Death

Edgar's death was mysterious. He was found late at night on an Atlanta street, bleeding heavily from a deep wound in his leg, and died in the street before any trained help could arrive. The case was turned over to police but never solved. He left a wife and two children in England. In an article published in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' in April 2010, writer Steve Eubanks wrote that Edgar was having an affair with a married Atlanta woman, and that this likely played a central role in Edgar's death. Eubanks' article was an excerpt from his book ''To Win and Die in Dixie'', a biography of Edgar published later that year. Edgar was buried in

Westview Cemetery Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest civilian cemetery in the Southeastern United States, comprising more than , 50 percent of which is undeveloped. ( Georgia National Cemetery, for military veterans and their families, ...

in Atlanta.

Tournament wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

Canadian Open *

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

Canadian Open, Southern Open

Other wins (1)

''this list may be incomplete'' *1914

Results in major championships

''Note: The

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

was not founded until 1934.''
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edgar, James Douglas English male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golf writers and broadcasters British people murdered abroad People murdered in Georgia (U.S. state) Unsolved murders in the United States Sportspeople from Newcastle upon Tyne 1884 births 1921 deaths