The U.S. Open’s top 10 players for peak performance
By Bill Felber
7. Alex Smith, -1.34 peak (1901-1910)
Speaking of Alex Smith…
Although almost completely forgotten today, Smith was one of the dominant American players of the pre-World War I era. His career included 11 U.S. Open top 10s, two of them victories, with three runner-up finishes to boot.
Statistically Smith’s best decade came between 1901 and 1910, although he had been runner-up to Fred Herd as a rookie in 1898. He was runner-up again in 1905 and 1905, both times to Willie Anderson, his great rival, and both times at Myopia Hunt Club.
But as Anderson’s game began to falter, Smith’s star ascended. At Onwentsia outside Chicago in 1906, he strung together four rounds of 75 or better, something none of the other principal contenders could manage. The result was a comfortable seven-stroke advantage over his brother, Willie, the 1899 champion, with Anderson a foundering dozen strokes behind.
That 2.73 standard deviation difference would remain the best U.S. Open showing for nearly a half century, until Ben Hogan’s domination of Oakmont in 1953.
Smith did not defend his title in 1907, but he returned in 1908 and took third, five strokes behind Fred McLeod, who beat brother Willie in a playoff. He was third again in 1909, then in 1910 nearly lost his slot in a playoff when he shot a Saturday morning 79.
Smith recovered for an afternoon 73 that threw him into that playoff with teen-ager John McDermott and his own brother, Macdonald Smith. Alex Smith’s 71 dispatched McDermott by four strokes with Mac Smith two more stokes behind.