Joseph Henry Kirkwood Sr. (3 April 1897 – 29 October 1970) was a

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 is acknowledged as having put

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n golf on the world map. Born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Kirkwood left home at age ten to work on a sheep

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the Australian

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

, where his boss introduced him to the game of golf. He developed his skills to the point where he could compete in his country's most important golf tournaments. Kirkwood won the 1920

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

with a score of 290, 12 strokes better than the previous tournament record score. Later in 1920 he won the

New Zealand Open The New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand. It has been a regular fixture on the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has ...

. Kirkwood's success led him to

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and

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where, in his first competition, he defeated the great

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 ...

. He began playing on the professional tour in the

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in 1923, winning that year's Houston Invitational, and was the first Australian to win on what became the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. In 1924, he was one of the top-ranked golfers on the tour with five victories, three of which were consecutive. Kirkwood remains co-holder of the record for the widest winning stroke margin in

history, set at the 1924 Corpus Christi Open in

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. That year he also teamed up with

Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional Men's major golf championships, majors is third behin ...

to begin travelling around the globe putting on golf and trick-shot exhibitions,

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

s of which were sent back home to be shown in cinemas around the U.S. Kirkwood's best performance in a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

championship was a third-place finish in the

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. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

, a semifinalist in the

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 ...

competition. He finished fourth in the

British Open 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 ...

on three separate occasions. In 1933, he won the Canadian Open. He was apparently the first-ever golfer to tee off from the ''howdah'' atop a domesticated elephant, which he first did (and was photographed doing) at Royal Calcutta Golf Club in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in 1937, and soon after in other clubs in

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, and later in

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. Over his lifetime in golf, Kirkwood is credited with scoring twenty-nine holes-in-one, two of which came in the same round. In his later years, he retired to the mountain resort community of

Stowe, Vermont Stowe is a town in Lamoille County, Vermont, United States. The population was 5,223 at the 2020 census. The town lies on Vermont Routes 108 and 100. It is nicknamed "The Ski Capital of the East" and is home to Stowe Mountain Resort, a ski fa ...

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, where he was the local teaching pro at the Stowe Country Club. The club has held the Joe Kirkwood Memorial Golf Tournament annually since 1967. Notably, Kirkwood's skills remained at a high level for most of his life and at age fifty-one, in 1948 he and his son Joe Kirkwood Jr. both made the cut at the U.S. Open, the first father and son to do so and a record tied only in 2004. When his son won the 1951 Blue Ribbon Open in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, Wisconsin, they became the third father-son winners in the history of the PGA Tour, which by 2010 still has only seven such pairs of winners. Joe Kirkwood Jr. became an actor who made a series of Hollywood films portraying the fictional boxer

Joe Palooka ''Joe Palooka'' is an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984. The strip was adapt ...

. One of Joe Kirkwood Sr.'s most remarkable feats was playing a round of golf at 10-under-par 62, "breaking his age" when 63 years old. Kirkwood died at age 73 in 1970 in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. He was elected to the American Golf Hall of Fame at

Foxburg, Pennsylvania Foxburg is a borough in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located along the east bank of the Allegheny River, about north of the mouth of the Clarion River. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 181. History The town ...

. His

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, as told to Barbara Fey, was published posthumously in 1973 under the title ''Links of Life''. In his honour, the annual winner of the

Australian PGA Championship The Australian PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA. Since 2000 it has been held in the South East Queensland region. The tournament was part of the OneAsia Tour fro ...

receives the ''Kirkwood Cup''. He is buried in the West Branch Cemetery in Stowe.

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (13)

*1923 (5) California Open Championship, St. Augustine Open, Houston Invitational, Open Championship of Illinois, Kansas Mid-Continent Pro Championship (tie with

) *1924 (4)

Texas Open The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Va ...

Houston Open The Texas Children's Houston Open is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played in March. As a part of a restructuring of the schedule, the event moved to the fall in 2019. Because the tour year starts the previous fall, the ...

Philadelphia Open Championship The Philadelphia Open Championship is an annual golf tournament played in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. It is organized by the Golf Association of Philadelphia. It has been played annually since 1903 (except for war years & 2020) at member ...

, Corpus Christi Open *1930 (1)

Long Beach Open The Long Beach Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It was held in Long Beach, California at the Virginia Country Club from 1926 to 1930 and at the Lakewood Country Club from 1949 to 1951. In 1957 the Long Beach Open was a PGA Satellite Ev ...

(tie with Olin Dutra) *1931 (1) Southeastern Open *1933 (2)

North and South Open The North and South Open was one of the most prestigious professional golf tournaments in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It was played at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. sta ...

, Canadian Open

Other wins

''this list may be incomplete'' *1920

, New Zealand Professional Championship *1922

McVitie & Price Tournament The McVitie & Price Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom and sponsored by McVitie & Price. The event was held from 1920 to 1922. History 1920 Tournament The 1920 event had prize money of £550 and was playe ...

Results in major championships

NYF = tournament not yet founded
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1921 Open Championship – 1926 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (nine times)

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of BiographyJoe Kirkwood Memorial Golf Tournament
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkwood, Joe Sr. Australian male golfers American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from Vermont 20th-century American memoirists 1897 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Australian sportsmen