Willie Smith (8 October 1876 – 26 December 1916) was a Scottish

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 ...

er. He won the 1899 U.S. Open.

Early life

Willie Smith was born in Dundee,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on 8 October 1876. He learned to play golf in

Carnoustie Carnoustie (; sco, Carnoustie, gd, Càrn Ùstaidh) is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of 1 ...

. His brothers Alex and Macdonald were also expert golfers.

Golf career

1899 U.S. Open

Smith worked as a club professional at Midlothian Country Club, near

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

, in his early adulthood. During this time he won the 1899 U.S. Open, played at

Baltimore Country Club Baltimore Country Club is a private club in Baltimore, Maryland, with two campuses, one in the city's Roland Park neighborhood and the other in the north suburb of Lutherville. It is one of only twelve clubs nationwide to operate two campuses. T ...

's Roland Park Course. He won by a margin of eleven shots. This record wasn't broken during the entire 20th century and wasn't surpassed until

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

won the 2000 championship by fifteen shots. Smith's prize was $150. He played in nine U.S. Opens in total, and made the top-10 in eight of them, but he did not win again.

Western Open and California State Open

In 1899, Smith won the first

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

in a playoff against

Laurie Auchterlonie Lawrence Auchterlonie (8 December 1867 – 20 January 1948) was a Scottish professional golfer, a native of St Andrews. In 1902 U.S. Open (golf), 1902, representing the Glen View Club, he won the eighth U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open at Garden City ...

. He also won the 1900

California State Open The California State Open is the California state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Southern California section of the PGA of America. It was first played in 1900 and has been played at a var ...

Later life

In 1904, Smith moved to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

to become the golf pro at the Mexico City Country Club. He was injured during the Mexican Revolution. He had refused to leave his post at the country club and was found trapped under a fallen beam after

Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...

's troops ransacked the club which they saw as a symbol of the corrupt ruling class. He was tasked with designing a new course, the Club de Golf Chapultepec, however due to his death it was completed by his brother

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 2 ...

. It has hosted the Mexican Open multiple times, and the

WGC-Mexico Championship The WGC Championship was a professional golf tournament that was held between 1999 and 2021. It was one of the three or four annual World Golf Championships until the number of WGC events was reduced to two following the 2021 season. Under sp ...

since 2017.

Death

He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on 26 December 1916. His body was returned to

for burial in the family plot.

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Smith played in only the U.S. Open and

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 t ...

. DNP = Did not play
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

References

External links

Article on early Scottish golfers in the U.S.
(including the Smith brothers) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Willie Scottish male golfers Winners of men's major golf championships Golf course architects Golfers from Dundee Golfers from Carnoustie Scottish emigrants to the United States Scottish emigrants to Mexico Deaths from pneumonia in Mexico 1876 births 1916 deaths