Golf Central

Willie Anderson (left) with Alex Smith: 'Get your hand off me, laddie...'

It was on this day in 1903, that the great Willie Anderson won his second US Open. Anderson, a Scottish immigrant to the USA, became the first golfer to win the US Open twice in playoffs, on this occasion beating fellow Scot, David Brown, at Balustrol GC in Springfield, New Jersey.

Anderson's first playoff victory came in 1901 against Alex Smith at Myopia GC, Massachusetts. Not only did Willie become the first player to win four US Open titles, he is still the only man to win three consecutive US Opens (1903-05). Berwick-born Anderson could have won another US Open in 1897, had Joe Lloyd not eagled the final hole.

Three years earlier in 1906, Alex Smith became the first golfer in US Open history to break 300 for 72 holes when he posted a 295 for a seven-stroke victory over his brother, Willie, at Onwetsia Club, Illinois.

On this day in 1613, in a London of vagabonds and bards, The Globe Theatre burnt to the ground. Famous for an association with Shakespeare, a building was erected in 1614 and closed in 1642. Then, in 1997, the New Globe opened on a site standing 230 metres away from that of the original.

Disney illustrator Don Rosa

So it's Akiko Fukushima! as they say in Japan to former PGA Tour member, Ed Humenik (1959), Nick Nolte clone Gary Busey (1944), Disney illustrator Don Rosa (1951), and snooker underdog Joe Johnson (1981). Had he not gone to play golf on the fairways of heaven in 1961, 1925 US Open winner, Willie McFarlane born on this day in 1890.

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