Joseph Francis Sylvester (February 2, 1893 – October 28, 1976) was an American

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 club maker who played in the early-to-mid 20th century. His best performances in major golf championships were a T24 finish in the 1923 U.S. Open and a T9 showing in the

1920 PGA Championship The 1920 PGA Championship was the third PGA Championship, which is now considered one of golf's major championships. It was held August 17–21 at the Flossmoor Country Club outside Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago. The field of 32 ...

. In September 1910, the 17-year-old former

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 ...

won the Greater New York Championship at the

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...

links, beating William Wallace.

Early life

Sylvester was born February 2, 1893 in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of Italian immigrants Alfonso and Philomena Sylvester. His father worked at a factory that made

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s. Not unlike the majority of golfers from his generation, Sylvester first learned to play golf after working as a

. He was also a fine maker of golf clubs.

Golf career

At age 17, Sylvester won the Greater New York Championship at the

links, defeating William Wallace. Sylvester played in a number of U.S. Open tournaments. His results were as follows: T45 in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

; 50th in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

; T44 in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

; and T24 in

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

. Sylvester was hired as the professional at the Glens Falls Country Club in Queensbury, New York, in 1914 but spent only one season there. He then took a post as club professional at St. Albans Country Club (now defunct) in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

, from 1915 to 1938. In 1939, Sylvester was the head professional at the

Pomonok Country Club Pomonok Country Club was a country club in the northeastern United States, located in what is now the Pomonok neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. The golf course was located between Kissena Boulevard and 164th Street, just to the ...

on Long Island where that year's

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

was contested. As the home professional, he was exempt from qualifying. For reasons unknown, however, the official records for the tournament do not reflect Sylvester as being in the starting field. Sylvester's golf career was put on hold when he was called up for duty to serve during

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 ...

. It was reported in the '' Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' on November 29, 1918 that Sylvester was wounded when he was shot in his calf while fighting in France. The report went on to say that Sylvester did not think the wound would affect his professional career and that he had done more teaching than playing since his 1913 appearance at

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

. In 1936 he was paired with

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

in a pro-am best-ball tournament at the Rockville Country Club on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. Sylvester's game suffered as he was "distracted" by the large crowds that followed Ruth.

1919 PGA Championship

In the 1919 PGA Championship, contested from September 16–20 at the Herbert Strong-designed

Engineers Country Club Engineers Country Club is a historic country club located in Roslyn Harbor, New York, on the historic Gold Coast on the north shore of Long Island. History The club has an 18-hole championship golf course which hosted the PGA Championship in 1919 ...

in Roslyn Harbor, New York, Sylvester made it into the round of 32. He then lost his next match to Otto Hackbarth by the margin of 5 and 4. His final placement was a tie for 17th. He won $50 in prize money.

1920 PGA Championship

Sylvester had his best major championship finish in the

which was played from August 17–21 at the Flossmoor Country Club outside Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb south of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The field of 32 golfers qualified by sectional tournaments. They then competed in 36-hole match play rounds in a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Sylvester opened up play with a first round victory over Tom Boyd, winning 4 and 3. In the next round, however, he lost convincingly to

James Douglas Edgar James Douglas Edgar (30 September 1884 – 8 August 1921) was an English professional golfer and golf writer. Early life Edgar was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He won the French Open in 1914. He coached the young player Tommy Armour, w ...

by the score of 11 and 9. Sylvester's final position in the tournament was a tie for ninth place, winning $60.

1921 PGA Championship

In the

1921 PGA Championship The 1921 PGA Championship was the fourth PGA Championship, held September 27 to October 1 on Long Island at Inwood Country Club in Inwood, New York. The match play field of 32 consisted of the defending champion and the top qualifiers from the ...

, held September 27 to October 1 at the

Inwood Country Club Inwood Country Club is a private Golf, Tennis & Beach Club in Inwood, New York, located adjacent to Jamaica Bay and just southeast of John F. Kennedy International Airport. Originally established as nine-hole course in 1901, it is one of the olde ...

Inwood, New York Inwood is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 9,792 at the 2010 census. It is considered part of Long Island's Five Towns area and is located within the Town ...

, Sylvester again made it into the round of 32. He lost in the first round to

Emmett French John Emmet French (November 22, 1886 – June 10, 1947) was an American professional golfer, who is notable for losing to Gene Sarazen in the 1922 PGA Championship. French was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. French, being a tall man, was a go ...

8 and 7, finishing in a tie for 17th place. He won $50 in prize money.

Death and legacy

Sylvester died on October 28, 1976, presumably in New York state. Sylvester was a frequent competitor in both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. He was granted a patent for a golf club design in 1937.

Results in major championships

''Note: Sylvester never played in 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 ...

The 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 ...

.'' NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
? = Unknown
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sylvester, Joe American male golfers PGA Tour golfers 1893 births 1976 deaths