U.S. Open Championship

Harry Vardon, a seven-time major champion and akin to the Tiger Woods of the time, was the favorite. He held a five-stroke lead with five holes to play. However, he faltered with three putts on three holes on the back nine. Ted Ray of Great Britain won by a single stroke over four runners-up, including Jock Hutchison, Jack Burke, Leo Diegel, and Harry Vardon. The top finishers, including an eighteen-year-old amateur from Georgia playing in his first U.S. Open, Bobby Jones, and the rest of the record 286-man field were welcomed with open arms into the Inverness clubhouse. This was the first time the members of a private club opened their doors to participants. Every club since has carried on this gesture. The players appreciated the club’s hospitality so much that they pooled their funds to purchase a cathedral clock as a gift for Inverness Club members. Thus, as Ray made history, so did Inverness Club. Although that first Open at Inverness occurred more than a century ago, the cathedral clock presented to the Club by grateful competitors still stands in the clubhouse lobby, and the memory and spirit of the U.S. Open lives on.