Player Profile: Thomas Morris, Jr. (Young Tom Morris)

We’ve had the father of the game so let’s move onto the son.

Name: Tom Morris Jr.
Nickname: Young Tom / Young Tom Morris
Date of birth: 20th April, 1851
Place of birth: St Andrews, Fife
Date of death: 25th December, 1875
Place of death: St Andrews, Fife
Nationality: Scottish
Notable Wins: Won the Open Championship in 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872

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Other notable facts:

Tom Morris Jr was born into golf. With such a famous father this is no surprise.

He was naturally gifted with touch around and on the greens. He also hit the ball great distances (for the time) with a generally low ball flight.

Because his father was greenskeeper at Prestwick Golf Club, Young Tom bypassed the caddying and clubmaking roles, which were the usual entry to golf for young players at that time; he was the first future top player to do this.

He won his first Open Championship in 1868, succeeding his father, Old Tom Morris, who won his forth title in 1867. Tommy went on to win 4 Open Championships in a row (there was no Open held in 1871).

Until 2006, when his birth certificate was discovered in Edinburgh, it was thought that he was born on 10th May.

I would have liked to see the 1870 first round at the 12 hole Prestwick Course where Tommy shot 47. Folklore has it that this was one of the best rounds of golf ever played.

At the age of 17 years, 5 months and 8 days he is still the youngest ever player to win the Open Championship.

A memorial was erected at his grave bears the inscription: "Deeply regretted by numerous friends and all golfers, he thrice in succession won the Championship belt and held it without envy, his many amiable qualities being no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements."

When Morris won The Open in 1872, which was to be his last success, although he did finish as runner-up to Mungo Park when the tournament was held at Musselburgh in 1874.

Young Tom broke the course record over the Old Course at St Andrews by two strokes with a score of 77 for the 1869 St Andrews Professional Tournament; this score then stood as the course record for 20 years.

His self promotion really grew the popularity of the game of golf.

In 1865, aged just 14, Young Tom made his debut at the Open Championship.

In 1869, in keeping with the Rules of the Tournament, Young Tom was allowed to keep the original Championship Belt after his hat-trick of victories. The famous Claret Jug was purchased for the tournament in 1873, and his became the first name to be engraved on it, as he had won the Open Championship in 1872.

All four of his Open Championship wins were played at Prestwick Golf Club.

In December 1875, just three months after he lost his wife and baby son in childbirth, Tommy died.

In better circumstances who knows what he could have achieved.

“Beneath the sod poor Tommy’s laid,

Now bunkered fast for good and all;

A better golfer never played

A further or surer ball.”