Tom Morris of St Andrews, page 9
Born in 1833, he came from a background very different from that of Tom. He and his brothers, Archie and David, were born in the nearby village of Wallyford, while Mungo and Jack, the younger of the five Park boys, were born in the town of Musselburgh. Their father, James, was described as ‘a sturdy Scottish ploughman’, and was said by his grandson to have belonged to a breed of ‘professionals’ who played challenge matches for large stakes and to have been inspired by them.
The Park family moved into a cottage on the side of the highway that skirted Musselburgh links in the area called Linksfield. The Park boys simply had to cross the road to be on the links where they started to carry clubs at an early age for the gentlemen golfers who came down from Edinburgh. Willie and his brothers’ start in golf would be much the same as Tom’s, playing whenever they could with whatever clubs and balls that became available to them.
There were great Musselburgh players for the Parks to emulate. Tom Alexander was still about and making feathery balls when Willie was yet a boy. The Dunn twins were in their prime, although Willie Dunn’s departure for Blackheath, London in 1851, followed by his brother Jamie two or three years later, would certainly have taken the competitive edge away from Musselburgh.1 Willie Park was the doyen of the links, even as a teenager, and soon overcame Bob Cosgrove, Willie Dow and ‘Grundy Geordie’, the other leading Musselburgh men of the day.
While there is no record of Willie Park being apprenticed as a ball- or club-maker in Musselburgh or elsewhere, he does appear to have made both clubs and gutta balls in North Berwick and Musselburgh. He described himself as a ‘Golf Ball Maker’ in the challenges he issued in the newspapers from 1854, although he was listed in the Edinburgh trades’ directories in the 1870s as a club and ball maker, as well as a professional golfer.2 His second son, Willie Jnr, who joined his father around 1885, was an astute businessman as well as a great player and expanded the business to international status by 1890.
As a young man Willie Park’s income was mainly derived from playing and, apart from what he made caddying or partnering gentlemen players, he was dependent upon the money matches that he could arrange. Needless to say, he quickly ran out of takers on Musselburgh links and very soon had to start looking beyond his home course for lucrative matches.
Tom Morris would most likely have come across the sixteen-year-old Park in Musselburgh during the course of the great foursomes match of 1849 when he and Allan took on the Dunn brothers. If he did not, he would certainly have heard about him soon after. The stories of Park playing for money, the odds he gave, as well as some of the wagers he made, were common fare in the golfing ‘howfs’ of the day. Tom or Allan being matched against him on the links would be a recurring topic of the sporting gentry in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as in the Big Room of The Royal and Ancient and in officers’ messes throughout the country.
Two events probably conspired to fire Willie Park’s ambitions and entice him into the golfing firmament. The first of these was the announcement made in the Ayr Advertiser in early October 1853 that Tom Morris and Willie Dunn would attend the Autumn Meeting in St Andrews ‘. . . next week, and will there play any two in the world a match of two rounds.’ The second was the reproduction of this challenge in the Fifeshire Journal by Henry Farnie, the recently appointed editor. Farnie was a knowledgeable golf enthusiast and the first journalist to report professional matches in the same way that prize-fights were recorded, blow by blow. Farnie’s reports were soon given copy space in the national press and he was not averse to stating the purses on offer or the bets made.
It is simply not known if Willie Park was among the ‘crack’ Musselburgh players referred to by Farnie as appearing in St Andrews for The Royal and Ancient Autumn Meeting in 1853. If he was not there he would have learned of the betting and the excitement that surrounded the match that saw Tom Morris and Willie Dunn pitted against Allan Robertson and Sir Robert Hay. Tom and Willie did not, at first, play well and were down in the match after the first round when the betting was heavily against them. In the afternoon, they combined better, made up the four-hole deficit and went on to win comfortably. Much money changed hands that day and there was speculation about how much of it had found its way into Tom and Willie’s pockets. It was not surprising that when Willie Park appeared on the scene at St Andrews, he had his backers ready and waiting.
On his first visit to the Autumn Meeting of The Royal and Ancient in October 1854, Willie, with his backers, threw down the challenge to Allan and Tom.3 They received no response and it was left to George Morris, Tom’s elder brother, doubtless encouraged by the local wags in the newly re-named St Andrews Golf Club, to take up the gauntlet. George was thrashed, and the Rev. John Kerr reported that, after Willie had won the first eight holes of the second round, he pleaded, ‘For the love o’ Gode gi’e me a hauf’, and Allan remarked that ‘He frichtens us a’ wi’ his lang driving’.
Tom, doubtless under pressure from the local sporting gentry, agreed to a two-round match at £50 a side the day after his brother’s resounding defeat at Park’s hands. If Tom thought that he could wrest back the honour of St Andrews and that of his family, it was a vain hope. There was much excitement in St Andrews over the outcome of this match. Tom was a favourite son who had gone away to Prestwick to better himself and here he was, having to uphold the honour of his ‘Auld Grey Toun’. The first round was halved, but Willie Park won the second by five holes with four to play and consequently the match. There was much money lost that day in St Andrews, and Tom was consigned to the category of ‘outsider’, and referred to as ‘Prestwick Tom’.
For Willie Park this was the match that really ignited his career. He had beaten Tom Morris, the only one of the big three players of the day who had dared to accept his challenge, and he had done it at St Andrews. Even the parochial Fifeshire Journal, not known for its unbiased reporting, conceded that, ‘Possessing all the requisites of a good golfer – neat style, a long driver, cool as a cucumber whether playing a losing or a winning game, and equally handy with all the tools used in golf – he fully justified the confidence reposed in him by his backers.’
Tom suffered this, his first defeat at Willie Park’s hands, on 19 October 1854 but had the satisfaction of taking the honours the following morning in a one-round match for an undisclosed sum. Willie pleaded for a second round but Tom was forced to decline because of commitments to other matches with J.O. Fairlie in the afternoon.
With still no response to his challenge from Allan Robertson, and no doubt buoyed up by his resounding victory over Tom, the 21-year-old Park resorted to extravagance, offering to play against the better ball of Allan and Tom.
This was an audacious and impudent challenge that he must have known would not be accepted. It was no doubt intended to embarrass Allan into playing him head-to-head. Allan resolutely refused to play the brash young pretender from Musselburgh and never did give Willie Park the satisfaction of matching him, and with good reason, for he would have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Allan was already universally accepted as the de facto champion, a position he took care to preserve. A win over Park would not alter his status but a loss would shatter the aura of invincibility that he had enjoyed in the golfing world for two decades.
In the week that followed, Tom took on Willie at North Berwick where he was again beaten, and at Musselburgh where he had a narrow victory over Park on his home green. The Fifeshire Journal reported that there was no money involved in the North Berwick encounter and no sum was mentioned for the match at Musselburgh. Tom and Willie appear to have played purely for the fun of it, which makes what followed all the more surprising.
Although no contemporary account exists, the golfing world must have been astonished when, on Saturday 4 November 1854, the following notice appeared in the Edinburgh News:
GOLFING.
A GREAT MATCH at GOLF was Played at ST ANDREWS LINKS on the 19th of October by THOMAS MORRIS, servant of the Prestwick Golf Club (late of St Andrews), and WILLIAM PARK, Golf Ball Maker, Musselburgh. This was played at St Andrews, North Berwick, and Musselburgh – Three Rounds on each Green – WILLIAM PARK beating MORRIS Nine Holes at the conclusion of the game.
WILLIAM PARK Challenges Allan Robertson of St Andrews, or William Dunn, servant of the Blackheath Golf Club, London, or Thomas Morris, for Fifty Pounds, on the same Greens as formerly. Money Ready.
WILLIAM PARK, Golf Ball Maker, Millhill, Musselburgh.
There was no response to this from St Andrews, Blackheath or Prestwick. Tom and Willie met again in foursomes partnering gentlemen players and, on at least one occasion, in a head-to-head at Musselburgh which Tom won. Almost immediately after this, Willie raised the profile of his challenge, as well as the stakes.
On 11 October 1855, in the week before the Autumn Meeting at St Andrews, Bell’s Life carried an advertisement, placed by Willie, offering to play anyone in a match over St Andrews, Musselburgh and North Berwick for £100 or £200 a side. This must reflect not only a considerable self-confidence, but also that money staked on match play was one of Willie’s main sources of income – and that he had backers ready and willing to put up the cash.
Willie may not have received any formal response from either Tom or Allan, but he certainly whetted the appetite of the gambling men. The gathering for the Autumn Meeting in October 1855 was clearly in high expectation. The report in the Scotsman on 27 October that year begins,
On Thursday, a match was played which created very great excitement amongst the golfers. The players consisted of the champion golfers of the day – viz, Allan Robertson of St Andrews (the king) and Tom Morris of Prestwick, against Dunnie of Blackheath and Park of Musselburgh. It is very difficult to state the total amount of bets made upon this round by numerous parties; but we believe we shall be rather under than above the mark when we say that from £300 to £400 depend on the issue. After a well contested match, the players came in with Allan and Tom having two holes and two strokes ahead of their opponents.
The Scotsman piece concluded with the news that the best was yet to come. Intimation was made that, at long last, ‘Tom Morris has signified to Park his willingness to accept of the challenge for £100 . . . advertised by him some time ago to the “wide, wide” world.’
Tom’s formal response to Willie’s challenge came in Bell’s Life on 25 October 1855.
It was not until 29 April 1856 that they met in this formally arranged contest, and the Fifeshire Journal reported on it from the outset, bringing the game of golf to the attention of the general public in places where it was almost unknown. It was a carefully arranged match played over the links at Musselburgh, North Berwick, Prestwick and St Andrews. The stake was £100 on the match, calculated by cumulative holes up over the 144 holes of golf. At each venue 36 holes were to be played, finishing at St Andrews on 10 May. We know, through the indiscretion of the editor of the Fifeshire Journal, that the Earl of Wemyss was Tom’s backer. It was an indiscretion that the editor would not repeat, for the Earl would not have taken kindly to the details of his betting at golf becoming public knowledge.
From the toss of a coin, Park won the right to choose the starting venue.
Betting was reported as ‘6 to 4 on Park and business brisk’. Play began at Musselburgh on Tuesday 29 April where Willie won by 8 holes. He added a further 5 holes to his lead at Prestwick on the Friday and Tom could only reduce his deficit by 2 holes after winning at North Berwick the following Tuesday. There must have been something of an anti-climax about the final leg at St Andrews on Saturday 10 May, although a huge crowd turned up to be addressed by Sir Hugh Playfair about the conduct expected, with Allan Robertson leading the marshalling. Tom played well, but although he reduced the 11 hole deficit by 5, Willie took the money with a 6 holes win.
Willie Park won this, their first formally arranged encounter, to the general amazement of the press in Glasgow and Ayr. In the Fifeshire Journal it was reported that the Earl of Wemyss, who was in London at the time, had instructed Tom to issue an immediate challenge for another match. This duly took place, starting at St Andrews on 26 October 1856 after the Autumn Meeting, and while the newspaper did not report on the progress of this match after it moved on to Prestwick with Tom trailing by 5 holes, the Scotsman did, and we learn that Willie Park again won the £100 stake. Willie Dunn had also risen to Park’s challenge over the same four greens. Park was 12 holes up on Dunn at the conclusion of their match at St Andrews on Saturday 23 October and, after he trounced Tom by 5 holes three days later, the Fifeshire Journal appeared resigned to Willie’s invincibility.
After the Grand National Tournament at St Andrews in 1858 something of a novelty match occurred that gained a great deal of attention. The brothers Tom and George Morris played and beat Willie and Mungo Park. Clearly buoyed by his victory with his brother, Tom and his backers immediately challenged Willie to a match for a £200 stake. This was an eagerly anticipated duel, and the excitement grew when it was announced that the challenge had been accepted and that the match would take place ‘as soon as preliminaries are arranged’. Apprehension however ensued when the following reports appeared in the newspapers:
Grand Golf Match – William Park v. Tom Morris – £100 A-Side.
We are enabled to state that a match at golf has now been arranged between the above named professionals, for £100 a-side, the best of 144 holes over the links, at St Andrews, Musselburgh, North Berwick, and Prestwick, 36 holes to be played on each green. The stakes fall to be lodged with Stuart Grace, Esq., honorary secretary, Royal and Ancient Golf Club, on or before the 30th September. Morris’s money is already posted. Park’s is yet forthcoming. If it is not lodged tonight, however, the match is off.
Finally, there was widespread disappointment when it was announced:
PARK AGAINST MORRIS – MATCH OFF. – This match at golf which created no little stir amongst the gentlemen assembled at the meeting last week, is now declared off. Park’s money, was, as intimated in our impression of last week, due on Thursday last. Not forthcoming then, he craved and obtained an extension of his time to Monday last, when again he craved a further delay to Tuesday night, which was granted – but when Tuesday came, no deposit of his portion of the stakes appeared. So no alternative was left but to declare the game off from that cause. We should like to hear an explanation of Park’s conduct.
So the great challenger was humiliated and the betting gentlemen of the links were on this occasion denied their sport. It is not difficult to understand why Willie’s backers were not forthcoming with the stake, for Tom’s form had been good in matches after the meetings at North Berwick, Prestwick and St Andrews. The Musselburgh brigade may have been justifiably optimistic with their money in the past, but they were shrewd enough to know that the situation had changed and Park was not likely to beat Tom on his current form.
In the 25 years that followed, Tom and Willie would be responsible for more than a ‘fair bit’ of money changing hands at Musselburgh, St Andrews, Prestwick and North Berwick. The gambling men’s demand for their matches never abated, and few golf reports were concluded without the rumour of some ongoing arrangements of an encounter between Morris and Park.
Arrangements were ultimately successful for another great four-greens match after the Autumn Meeting at St Andrews in 1862. Announced as ‘The Great Golf Match’ in the Scotsman between ‘Tom Morris of Prestwick (a St Andrews bred player), and William Park of Musselburgh (bred on his own links), for the sum of £100 and the championship’.
The big event began in the third week of November at Musselburgh and was concluded on 2 December at St Andrews. Tom was the victor on all four greens. On Willie’s home links at Musselburgh, Tom enjoyed a 2-hole win. On his own links at Prestwick he won by 5 holes, taking a 7 hole lead to North Berwick where he increased the margin by a further 4 holes. His 11-hole lead certainly reduced the betting temperature at St Andrews but it did little to dampen the public’s enthusiasm for the match. The 2nd of December was a ‘cloudy raw day, but not unfavourable for the game – an immense assemblage turned out to witness the two rounds.’ Although the outcome of the ‘big match’ was all but determined, there was big betting on the outcome of the two rounds at St Andrews. If Willie’s backers were hopeful of recouping some of their losses of the previous two weeks it was a hope misplaced, for Tom was 4 holes ahead after 9 holes and 15 holes up overall in the match. Tom won a further two holes before Willie withdrew on the 13th green. The Fifeshire Journal was euphoric, while the Scotsman, with restraint, wrote, ‘Tom Morris’ triumph has been somewhat unparalleled in the annals of golfing, he having won on all the four links, and by a heavier majority than almost ever fell to the lot of a golfer in such a match’.
These four green matches were extensively reported in the press and keenly followed by the nobility, gentry and ordinary citizens. There can be little doubt that these matches raised the profile of golf and, increasingly, thousands flocked to the links to be part of the excitement.
The tussles between Tom and Willie did, however, continue over the years and there is no doubt that they had great respect for each other as players. Some of their encounters were recorded in detail while others passed with a mere mention in the sporting press of the day. Tom and Andrew Strath took on and beat the Park brothers after the Autumn Meeting in 1863 and, one week later, Tom beat Willie for an ‘undisclosed sum’ at Dunbar. The events were, nevertheless, feasts to the golfing aficionados and eagerly anticipated by the caddies and local worthies as well as the sporting gentry. The matches were summed up by the late nineteenth-century golfing scribes as ‘honours even’; this is a fair assessment, for Willie appears to have had the edge through much of the fifth decade while Tom enjoyed the honours through much of the sixth, although it is a summary that Willie would have disputed. After a report in the Scotsman of the events on the Links at St Andrews in May 1864, when Willie left the Town before a match was scheduled to take place between the Park brothers and Tom and Andrew Strath, Willie Dow took his place to partner David Park. The Musselburgh men were heavily defeated and, in the ensuing piece in the paper, Tom was referred to as ‘the champion’. It was an error that Willie Park was not prepared to let pass and he duly wrote a letter to the editor, not only pointing this out, but also noting that he and David had earlier bettered the Morris and Strath score.
