James Ferdinand Douglas Paxton (24 December 1830 – 5 August 1891) was a Scottish

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 ...

who played in the mid-19th century. Paxton placed tenth in the

1863 Open Championship The 1863 Open Championship was the fourth Open Championship and was again held at Prestwick Golf Club. Eight professionals and six amateurs contested the event in wet and windy weather, with Willie Park, Sr. winning the championship for the se ...

Early life

Paxton was born in Scotland in 1830 to James Paxton and Margaret Currie.

Golf career

1863 Open Championship

The

was the fourth Open Championship and was again held at

Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hin ...

. Eight professionals and six amateurs contested the event in wet and windy weather, with

Willie Park, Sr. William Park Sr. (30 June 1833 – 25 July 1903) was a Scottish professional golfer. He was a 4-time winner of the Open Championship. Early life Park was born in Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland. Like some of the other early professional gol ...

winning the championship for the second time, by two shots from Tom Morris, Sr. Paxton had steady rounds of 65-65-66=196 and finished in tenth place.

Death

Paxton was employed by the golf club in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, Sussex. He struggled with alcoholism and died by suicide after overdosing on

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...

References

Scottish male golfers Suicides by poison 1830 births 1891 deaths {{Scotland-golf-bio-stub