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 ...
event held as part of the
Golf at the 1904 Summer Olympics
At the 1904 Summer Olympics, two golf events were contested – men's individual and team tournaments. The competitions were held from September 17, 1904 to September 24, 1904. It was the second and final appearance of the sport at the Olym ...
programme. It was the second time the event was held at the Olympics, though it took a much different format than the 1900 golf tournament. 75 golfers from two nations competed. The competition was held approximately 5.75 km north of the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
at Glen Echo Country Club from September 19 to September 24, 1904. The event was won by George Lyon of Canada, one of only 3 golfers not from the host United States. Lyon defeated American
Chandler Egan
Henry Chandler Egan (August 21, 1884 – April 5, 1936) was an American amateur golfer and golf course architect of the early 20th century.
Early life and college
Egan was born in Chicago, Illinois, which at the end of the 19th century was th ...
in the final, giving Egan the silver medal. Americans Burt McKinnie and Francis Newton were the defeated semifinalists, each receiving bronze.
Background
The first Olympic golf tournaments were held at the 1900 Games, with events for both men and women. One of the men's players was
Albert Bond Lambert
Albert Bond Lambert (December 6, 1875 – November 12, 1946) was an American golfer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was also a prominent St. Louis aviator and benefactor of aviation.
Early life
He ...
, who finished eighth in the (Olympic) men's tournament and first in the (non-Olympic) handicap tournament. Lambert and his father-in-law George McGrew, prominent businessmen in the St. Louis area, determined to bring golf to the 1904 Games that would be held in St. Louis. They founded the
Glen Echo Country Club
Glen Echo County Club, located in Normandy, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb,stroke play tournament as the entire competition, the 1904 tournament started with a 36-hole stroke play ''qualifying round''. This was followed by the top 32 qualifiers playing a 5-round
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 ...
tournament with each round consisting of 36 holes. Each round was played on consecutive days, resulting in the finalists playing six straight days of 36 holes of golf. No bronze medal match was played; both semifinal losers received bronze medals.
Schedule
Results
Qualifying round
Golfers played two 18-hole rounds in qualifying play on September 19. The top 32 golfers advanced to
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 ...