Died: Oct. 25, 1910
Major Championships:
4
• U.S. Open: 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905
Awards and Honors:
Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
Quote, Unquote:
Willie Anderson: "To think of nothing but golf while engaged in playing golf is the secret to success."
Trivia:
At the 1902 Western Open, Willie Anderson became the first golfer to break 300 in a U.S. tournament.
Willie Anderson Biography:
Willie Anderson dominated the U.S. Open in that tournament's first decade of existance. Despite the smaller and weaker fields of early 20th century golf tournaments, Anderson must be considered among the best U.S. Open players.
Consider: Anderson was the first person (and still one of only four) to win four U.S. Opens. He won those four in just five years, 1901-1905. Three of them (1903-05) were won in succession, making Anderson the only golfer to win three U.S. Opens in a row. In the 14 years he played the Open (1897 through 1910), Anderson finished in the Top 5 11 times.
The U.S. Open wasn't the only tournament in which Anderson enjoyed great success. He also won four Western Opens (1902, 1904, 1908, 1909), an event that was the second-biggest pro event in the U.S. at the time.
It has been written that Anderson carried only eight clubs, but that he was equally adept with each of them. The World Golf Hall of Fame described Anderson this way: "Anderson was a sturdy man, with muscular shoulders, brawny forearms and exceptionally large hands. He played with a flat, full-sweeping action that was characteristic of the Scots and known as the 'St. Andrews swing.' Despite what many considered to be swing flaws, Anderson was consistently accurate. Gene Sarazen was once practicing bunker shots when another pro casually asked him if Willie Anderson could have gotten out of those bunkers as well as he was doing. 'Get out of them?' Sarazen said. 'He was never in them!' "
In addition to his great playing record, Anderson was highly sought by other golfers as an instructor. He died at age 30 in 1910 from arteriosclerosis.
Willie Anderson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975.
