16. Harry Vardon
Vardon is probably best known to the average golfer as the guy that Francis Ouimet beat in the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played, about the 1913 U.S. Open.
He, J.H. Taylor and James Braid were superstar golfers of their time and played many exhibitions in the United Kingdom. They won 16 British Opens between them.
He was also an international golf star in his day. He became famous in the U.S. when he toured the U.S. and Canada with J.H. Taylor and played more than 90 matches.
Vardon holds the record for British open victories with six. He won the U.S. Open in 1900 and finished second in the U.S. Open in 1920 when he was 50 years old. He is credited with 48 worldwide victories but that does not count 21 victorious team events or the 90 matches he played with J.H. Taylor where he won all but two.
Vardon is the namesake of today’s modern overlapping grip called the Vardon Grip.
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