Golf greats old Tom Morris and young Tom Morris could play the game of golf.
Born in 1851 and dying at a young age (24 years old), Young Tom Morris or Tommy Morris is considered as one of the greatest players of the professional game of golf.
The young golfer was deemed a prodigy, as he won 4 titles, back to back to back to back, in the Open Championship (British Open) by the time he was 21.
An Amazing Player
It is no surprise then that the young golfer was born in the Home of Golf, St. Andrews.
He also died in the city on Christmas Day in 1875.
His father, Old Tom Morris, was a professional golfer and greenkeeper at the St. Andrews Links who also won 4 Open Championships.
His son’s first Open Championship, at age 17, made him the youngest golf champion in history – a record that has never been broken.
During Tom’s early years, the Morris family relocated to Prestwick from St. Andrews, where Old Tom Morris had taken a position as greenkeeper and golf professional.
During this period, Young Tom studied at the Ayr Academy up until he was a teen. The school was the educational choice for the sons of wealthy businessmen and noblemen at the time.
An Early Introduction to Golf
Because of Old Tom’s role at Prestwick, Young Tom as able to learn and practice golf early. The son did not caddy, which usually was what young players did.
Instead Young Tom Morris focused on the game of golf.
Sound familiar?
While at Prestwick, Young Tom Morris beat his father in a golf game in 1864.
The son was only 13 years old at the time – winning against his father, the Open Champion, in a friendly competition.
Just before Young Tom turned 13, he and Old Tom attended a golf tournament at the King James VI Golf Club in Perth.
However, the young man was not permitted to compete in either the amateur or professional parts of the championship.Â
Instead, organizers of the event arranged a golf match with a local youth golfing champion.
Young Tom won the golf match and was awarded 5 pounds – a large amount for that period.
Tom’s match score would have also given him a win had he been allowed to play professionally.
A Record that Has Never Been Broken
The amazing young Open Championship winner won the title in 1868, 1869, 1870 and in 1872. An Open Championship was not held in 1871.
No other golfer has been able to meet this record.
All of the 4 wins took place at the Prestwick Golf Club.
Another Amazing Feat
Amazing Young Tom succeeded making the tournament’s first hole-in-one ever in 1869. During that event he holed out at the 166-yard eighth hole. His scorecard is on display today in the clubhouse at Prestwick.
Young Tom was always going to be known as Young Tom, as he died early in life, at 24 years old.
On September 11, 1875, Young Tom received a telegram during a team match with his father.
The missive requested his immediate return. His wife, Margaret, had gone into a difficult labor.
Both son and father finished the 2 holes left in the match and won before traveling back by ship, across the Firth of Forth and returning home.
Tragically, both mother and child died during the delivery.Â
It seems Young Tom may have died of a broken heart, just 4 months later, at only 24 years of age.
He was struck by a pulmonary hemorrhage, and succumbed to apnea.
It was believed by some, that the young golfer had become weakened at a major challenge match, which he won, a couple weeks earlier.
During the tournament, the weather had been bad, which many surmised had led to the young golfer’s eventual demise.
Old Tom, or Tom Mitchell Morris, was born on June 16, 1821 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland and died at 86 years old on May 24, 1908.
The golfer and greenkeeper created the course of the Royal Dornoch in northern Scotland as well as laid out the design for the Royal North Devon course on England’s southern shore.
The champion golfer also laid out courses in the Isle of Man, Ireland, and the Western Isles.
He was a champion in is own right but was always overshadowed by his son.
