November 2018
Golf
09.05.1870 (Grouville, Jersey)
The winner of the Open a record six times (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and 1914), the last of which was at the age of 44. He was second on four other occasions.
With one US Open to his win (1900) too, Vardon was golf’s first global superstar.
He developed the “Vardon Grip”, in which the little finger of the right hand is rested on top of the index finger of the left hand, the grip used by 90 percent of good players today.
Vardon died on March 20th 1937 at the age of 66. He was posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Photo of Harry Vardon (above) with thanks to Bain News. The photo below shows Andrew Keites, treasurer of the Harry Vardon Trust, at the RaceNation Sport and Active Living Awards 2018, at which Harry Vardon was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.