Horace Rawlins – who was born in Shanklin – was the 1st ever winner of the United States Open Golf Tournament on 4th October 1895.
Horace was born in 1874 and worked as a golf caddy from at least the age of 16 at the Royal Isle of Wight Golf Club in St Helens. Several members of the club went on to become successful professional golfers, including Rowland Jones, the cousins Alfred and Walter Toogood, and Horace’s brother Harry.
Rawlins became a professional at Mid-Herts Golf Club in 1893 and then at Raynes Park Golf Club. Rawlins’ brother Harry was a golf professional at Atlantic City Golf Club in the United States; Horace travelled to America to join him. Once in the United States, he worked with professional Willie Dunn at Newport Golf Club on Rhode Island. It was here that the inaugural United States Open was held on 4th October 1895.
The first US Open was contested between 10 professionals and an amateur. Horace won the Open with a score of 173 over 4 rounds of the 9-hole course, beating Willie Dunn by 2 strokes. He won $150 (around £4,500 in today’s values).
The Washington Star newspaper reported at the time:
“The play in the open golf championship tournament at Newport yesterday resulted in a grand surprise, the title being won by [Horace] Rawlins of the Newport Links, who defeated Dunn, Davis, Campbell and all the other cracks, leading his nearest competitor by 2 strokes, and his instructor, Davis, by five.
“Rawlins is a mere lad, who was scarcely considered as a probable winner. He is only [20] years old, of English birth, and until within two or three years was a caddie at Bembridge, Isle of Wight, later playing on several English links.”
He was runner-up at the Shinnecock Hills Open the following year and he competed 13 times over the next 18 years. Altogether, he spent around 19 years in the United States at many clubs. He was the first professional at the Springhaven Club in Philadelphia, which has held the Horace Rawlins Invitational Tournament in his honour for over 40 years.
In 1911, Horace Rawlins married Cicely Wright at St Saviour Church in Shanklin. When his mother died in 1914, he took over the family drapery business, after which he apparently had little time for golf. He died in 1935 in Reading some 40 years after his US Open success.
Remarkably, Horace’s son Robert either did not hear about or was indifferent to his father’s fame as a golfer. It was only when his grandson Michael opened a safe deposit box in a bank and found his grandfather’s gold medal together with some old photographs that his family became aware of his achievements.
A statue of Horace Rawlins by sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies was unveiled at the front of the Mid-Herts clubhouse as part of its 125th Anniversary celebrations in 2017, to commemorate his success as the winner of the inaugural US Open Championship and the first groundsman/professional to be employed by the club.
What a great story would never have believed it
At least the younger generations of his family can now be proud of his achievements, thanks to his grandson.