With seven wins for him and one less for her, Harry Vardon and Pat Bradley are sixth and seventh respectively in the men’s and women’s grand prix winner rankings.
Born in 1870 on the British island of Jersey, in the English Channel, halfway between France and England, Harry Vardon can be considered as the first celebrity in the world of golf and one of the most influential players. During his prolific career he won 62 professional titles and seven majors (the US Open in 1900 and the British Open in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and 1914). Among his many awards, his inclusion in the World Hall of Fame stands out. The number one winners of the European and North American professional golf circuits at the end of the season are awarded the Harry Vardon Trophy.
This prolific golfer popularized what is known as the Vardon Grip and his instructional books are still relevant today among aspiring golfers. He also gave his name to a ball, the Vardon Flyer.
Harry took up golf as a teenager and, influenced by his brother Tomo’s success as a professional golfer, decided that he too would take up the sport. At the age of 20, in 1890, he turned professional and his first victories were not long in coming.
His first great triumph would occur in 1896 during the British Open, which he played with an outfit that would become his hallmark from then on: bloomers (he was the first golfer to wear them), formal shirt, tie and buttoned jacket.
Despite the awkwardness of the jacket, Vardon became famous for his smooth, free swing motion that flew the ball higher than all of his contemporaries, giving him a great advantage on appoachs, which landed the ball softly.
His fame spread when in 1890 he joined the North American Tour and played more than 80 exhibition tournaments, often against the best ball of two opponents, and won more than 70 of those competitions. He also won the US Open that year, a tournament in which twenty years later, when Harry was already 50, he came second.
J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon and James Braid, who finished their careers with sixteen British Open victories overall and who in 1900 finished that tournament in first, second and third place respectively, were known as “the Great Triumvirate”.
Vardon was attacked by tuberculosis in 1903 and his game was no longer the same from then on, although as the years went by he recovered and in 1911 and 1914 he won the British Open again.
After leaving competition for good, Vardon turned to golf course design and writing golf instruction books, one of which, ‘The Essentials of Golf’, is considered a classic.
The British player died in 1937, at the age of 67. In 1974 his name was inscribed in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
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Harry’s Word
“Don’t play too much golf: two rounds a day is enough.”
“More games are lost through carelessness at the beginning than any other cause.”
“A lot of unnecessarily bad golf is played in this world.”
“To play well you must feel calm and at peace.”
Pat Bradley
Among the most outstanding sporting merits of Pat Bradley, born in 1951 in Westford, Massachusetts, is that of being the only golfer to have won three of the four LPGA Tour majors in a single season (1986), and the first to win all four modern majors. In addition, this American made history in the sport by surpassing the $2 million, $3 million and $4 million mark in Tour earnings for the first time, in ’86, ’90 and ’91, respectively.
Pat has been one of golf’s greats. She has 31 victories in the North American Tour and 6 in the Grand Slam. She won the majors between 1980 and 1986, the latter being the most prolific, as she won three: the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Championship and the du Maurier Classic, which she also won in 1980 and 1985. The sextet of victories in the majors is completed by the 1981 US Women’s Open.
Among her most important distinctions are being a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and having won the Vare Trophy (lowest average score) and the LPGA Player of the Year award for the ’86 and ’91 seasons.
In addition, she was a player on the U.S. Solheim Cup team (the women’s Ryder Cup) in 1990, 92 and 96, and served as captain of that competition in 2000.
As a curiosity, there is a cowbell in the Florida Hall of Fame, and the reason for that is Pat Bradley. Every time the player scored a victory, her mother would go out on the porch of the family home in Westford and ring a Swiss cowbell. Kathleen Bradley had to ring it some thirty times, from the time her daughter won the Colgate Far East Open in 1975 until 1991, when Pat scored her last victory. After her retirement and when the golfer inscribed her name in the Hall of Fame, the cowbell is part of an exhibition there.
Pat started playing golf at the age of 11, and five years later he began to win important amateur titles in his country. Already in his college years, in Florida, he won the All-American title in 1970.
She soon turned professional and in 1974 joined the LPGA Tour. Her first win on the Tour came two years later, at the 1976 Girl Talk Classic, a season in which she finished second six times, which gives an idea of her quality.
His big breakthrough to stardom came in 1978, when he won three tournaments. However, her most fruitful years in triumphs would take even longer to arrive, since they occurred in the mid 80’s. She won the most victories on the LPGA Tour in 1983 (four) and 1986 (five). She won the most victories on the LPGA Tour in 1983 (four) and 1986 (five). Her first major, the du Maurier Classic, she won in 1980.
The year Pat will never forget was 1986: she won three majors, placed fifth in the other (US Women’s Open) and topped the winnings list.
“I’ve been a very good player and a very consistent player, but I really think 1986 was when I distinguished myself a little bit more from the other players,” Bradley explained. “I think someone up there, somewhere, chose me to have that year that will live on in golf history and make me just a little bit more than special than other people. Honestly, I wish everyone could experience what I felt in that year when my dream came true. I was invincible,” he said.
1988 was a fateful year for Pat: her father died and she was diagnosed with a thyroid disease. Despite this, she played seventeen tournaments, although she was only able to make the cut in eight. However, the following year she recovered and from then on the victories came again. In 1989 she won one tournament, in 1990 she won three and in 1991, her last great year, she won four. This last season she was number one in winnings and was awarded the title of Player of the Year, which she had already won in 1986.
Pat’s last two LPGA Tour victories came in 1995. During her time on the Tour, Bradley played in 627 tournaments and finished in the
s top ten 312 times, and 208 of those in the top five.
The keys to success for Pat, the 12th woman to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, have been, aside from her innate talent for the sport, her sheer determination to pursue excellence in her game. “The key was dedication,” Bradley said. “You can have successes and failures, suffer setbacks and win, and overcome all of that,” she added.
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Pat’s Word
“Commitment was the key. You can have success, failure, setback and defeat, and overcome it.”
“Every ounce of me is out there trying to be the best.”
“You work hard to be good and then to be great, but when you’re great you don’t just want to be good.”
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