Tommy Armour

Armour was born on 24 September 1896 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of Martha Dickson and her husband George Armour, a baker. He went to school at Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh, (formerly Boroughmuir Senior Secondary School) and studied at the University of Edinburgh.^[3] During his early golf career, he played at Lothianburn Golf Club near the Pentland Hills. At the outbreak of World War I enlisted with the Black Watch and was a machine-gunner. He rose from private to Staff Major in the Tank Corps. His conduct earned him an audience with George V. However, he lost his sight to a mustard gas explosion and surgeons had to add a metal plate to his head and left arm. During his convalescence, he regained the sight of his right eye, and began playing much more golf.^[4]

Armour won the French Amateur tournament in 1920. He moved to the United States and met Walter Hagen who gave him a job as secretary of the Westchester-Biltmore Club.^[3] He competed in important amateur tournaments in the U.S. before turning professional in 1924.

Armour won the 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA Championship, and the 1931 Open Championship. With Jim Barnes and Rory McIlroy, he is one of three natives of The United Kingdom to win three different professional majors.^[5] His 1930 campaign was overshadowed by Bobby Jones' Grand Slam, and Armour seems to have been overlooked^{[clarification needed]}.

Armour also won the Canadian Open three times, a feat exceeded only by Leo Diegel, who won four.

At the Shawnee Open in 1927, Armour scored the first ever "archaeopteryx" (15 or more over par) when he made a 23 on a par 5, for 18 over par. It still stands as the highest score on a hole in PGA history. This historic performance happened just one week after he'd won the U.S. Open. This claim is actually disputed. It appears, according to contemporary reports by the New York Times, that Armour actually scored an 11 on hole 17 during the third round of the Shawnee Open.

Armour retired from full-time professional golf after the 1935 season, although he competed periodically in top-class events for several years afterwards. He taught at the Boca Raton Club in Florida from 1926 to 1955,^[6] for $50 a lesson. His pupils included Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Lawson Little. He was also a member at the Winged Foot Golf Club in suburban New York City, where he spent much of his summers.^[7]

After becoming an American citizen in November 1942,^[8] Armour played in exhibitions for USO and Red Cross during World War II.

Armour co-wrote a book How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time (1953) with Herb Graffis. It became a best-seller and for many years was the biggest-selling book ever authored on golf. A series of 8mm films based on the book was released by Castle Films including Short Game Parts I and II, Long Hitting Clubs, Grip, and Stance.

Armour is succeeded by his grandson, Tommy Armour III, who is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.

Armour died in Larchmont, New York and was cremated at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York but not interred there. Some modern golf equipment is still marketed in his name. Armour was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1976.

• 1920 French Open Amateur Championship

• 1920 (1) Pinehurst Fall Pro-Am Bestball (as an amateur, with Leo Diegel)
• 1925 (1) Florida West Coast Open
• 1926 (1) Winter Pro Golf Championship
• 1927 (5) Long Beach Open, El Paso Open, U.S. Open, Canadian Open, Oregon Open
• 1928 (4) Metropolitan Open, Philadelphia Open Championship, Pennsylvania Open Championship, Sacramento Open
• 1929 (1) Western Open
• 1930 (3) Canadian Open, PGA Championship, St. Louis Open
• 1931 (1) The Open Championship
• 1932 (3) Miami Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Ed Dudley), Mid-South Bestball (with Al Watrous)
• 1934 (2) Canadian Open, Pinehurst Fall Pro-Pro (with Bobby Cruickshank)
• 1935 (1) Miami Open
• 1936 (1) Walter Olson Golf Tournament (tie with Willie Macfarlane)
• 1938 (1) Mid-South Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

• 1927 Miami International Four-Ball (with Bobby Cruickshank)
• 1938 Mid South Pro/Pro (with Bobby Cruickshank; tie with Henry Picard and Jack Grout)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1927	U.S. Open	1 shot deficit	+13 (78-71-76-76=301)	Playoff 1	Harry Cooper
1930	PGA Championship	n/a	1 up		Gene Sarazen
1931	The Open Championship	5 shot deficit	+8 (73-75-77-71=296)	1 stroke	José Jurado

¹ Defeated Harry Cooper in an 18-hole playoff: Armour 76 (+4), Cooper 79 (+7).
Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958

NYF = tournament not yet founded
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Sources: U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,^[9] Amateur Championship:1920,^[10] 1921^[11]

Amateur

• Great Britain vs USA (representing Great Britain): 1921

Professional

• Great Britain vs USA (representing the United States): 1926

• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tommy Armour.

• Tommy Armour at the World Golf Hall of Fame
• Tommy Armour at the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
• Biography of Tommy Armour
• Tommy Armour – The Greatest (Dr Milton Wayne)
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