Golf Hall of Fame: A Look at Five Who were Overlooked

Hall of Fame Overlooked Entrant #4: Laurie Auchterlonie

The Auchterlonies rank among the game’s most under-rated families. Between them, older brother Laurie and younger sibling Willie won two major championships, Willie’s 1893 British Open championship and Laurie’s triumph at the 1902 U.S. Open.

Laurie, pictured above on the right, was born in St. Andrews in 1867, and remained an amateur until he was 30, Emigrating to the United States, he found himself immediately competitive with the leading players of the day on this side of the ocean, Willie Anderson, Willie Smith, and Alex Smith.

When Harry Vardon and John H. Taylor came to the U.S. to play in the 1900 Open, Auchterlonie tied Willie Smith for fourth. One year later he finished fifth, four strokes behind Anderson, then won the Western Open, at the time the second most important championship this side of the Atlantic.

At the 1902 Open at Garden City, N.Y., became the first player ever to post four rounds in the 70s, his score of 307 giving him the title by six strokes over Stewart Gardner and Walter Travis.

Through the next five years, Auchterlonie was a consistent contender at both the U.S. and Western Opens. Between 1903 and 1906, he had three top 10 finishes at the U.S. Open. At the Western Open, he was second to Alex Smith in 1903, third to Anderson and Alex Smith in 1904, fourth in 1905, eighth in 1906, and fifth in 1908

For peak performance, Auchterlonie’s score of -1.48 ranks on a level with Tommy Armour, Sandra Haynie, Peter Thomson, and Henry Cotton, all of them Hall of Famers.

His career score of -22.53 is the 44th best in history, on a level with Cotton, Julius Boros, Carol Mann, and Harold Hilton. Again, all are in the Hall of Fame.