Frederick Guthrie Tait

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Frederick Tait redirects here. For those with a similar name, see Frederick Tate (disambiguation).

Frederick Guthrie Tait
— Golfer —
230px
Tait in 1896 after winning
The Amateur Championship
Personal information
Full name Frederick Guthrie Tait
Born (1870-01-11)11 January 1870
Edinburgh, Scotland
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Height 5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m)
Weight 174 lb (79 kg; 12.4 st)
Nationality  Scotland
Career
Status Amateur
Best results in major championships
(wins: 2)
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship T3: 1896, 1897
U.S. Amateur DNP
British Amateur Won: 1896, 1898

Frederick Guthrie Tait (11 January 1870 – 7 February 1900) was an amateur golfer and Scottish soldier. He won the Amateur Championship twice, in 1896 and again in 1898, by convincing margins. Over his short golf career, Tait recorded at least 28 tournament victories. He tied for third place in the Open Championship in both 1896 and 1897.

Early life

File:Freddie Tait - Golfer as a toddler.PNG
Tait as a toddler golfer with a hand-made club, c. 1875

Born at 17 Drummond Place[1] in the Second New Town in Edinburgh, Tait was the third son of eminent physicist and fanatical amateur golfer Peter Guthrie Tait.

The young Tait was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and Sedbergh School. He was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, at his second attempt, and is credited with introducing golf there. Tait was commissioned into the 2nd battalion the Leinster Regiment (109th foot) and then transferred to the 2nd battalion, the Black Watch.

He learned golf at an early age and was already swinging golf clubs as a 5-year-old child. As an adult, Tait was an extremely powerful and long hitter of the ball. At The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews on 11 January 1893, he hit the ball 250 yards, the ball then rolling on frozen ground and coming to rest 341 yards from the tee.

Interestingly, 250 yards was the exact driving distance predicted possible through a careful application of backspin by Tait's father in a paper of 1891, significantly further than the 180 yards achieved at that time.[2] Tait won The Amateur Championship twice (1896 and 1898), finished third in The Open Championship twice (1896 and 1897) and was leading amateur in the same competition on three occasions.

Death and legacy

Tait was killed in action at Koodoosberg, South Africa, during the Second Boer War on 7 February 1900 and is buried there.

A memorial plaque to his (and his father's) memory stands on the inner north wall of St Johns Episcopal Church on Princes Street in Edinburgh.

Honours

The Freddie Tait Cup is awarded annually to the leading amateur in the South African Open.

Tournament wins (28)

File:17 Drummond Place, Edinburgh.jpg
Tait's birthplace at 17 Drummond Place, Edinburgh
Note: This list may be incomplete.
  • 1893 Royal and Ancient Golf Club Spring Club Gold Medal[3]
  • 1894 Royal and Ancient Golf Club Royal Medal
  • 1894 Hampshire Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion[4]
  • 1895 Royal and Ancient Golf Club Autumn Bombay Medal,[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Jubilee Vase,[3] New Luffness Leconfield Medal,[3] New Luffness Silver Quaich,[3] New Luffness Hope Medal[3]
  • 1896 The Amateur Championship, St. George's Challenge Cup, Royal and Ancient Golf Club Silver Cross Medal,[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Royal Medall[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Glennie Aggregate Medall[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Calcutta Cup[3]
  • 1897 Royal and Ancient Golf Club Silver Cross Medall[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Spring Club Gold Medall[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Glennie Aggregate Medall[3] New Luffness Leconfield Medal[3]
  • 1898 The Amateur Championship,[5] St. George's Challenge Cup, Royal and Ancient Golf Club Spring Club Gold Medal,[3] New Luffness Hope Medal,[3] New Luffness East Lothian County Cup[3]
  • 1899 St. George's Challenge Cup, Royal and Ancient Golf Club Silver Cross Medal,[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Calcutta Cup,[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Royal Medal,[3] Royal and Ancient Golf Club Glennie Aggregate Medal[3]

Major championships

197px
Tait at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, c. 1888
Tait (back turned) with Edward Blackwell (center) and Old Tom Morris (right), 1899 at St Andrews, Scotland

Amateur wins (2)

Year Championship Winning Score Runner-up
1896 The Amateur Championship 8 & 7 England Harold Hilton
1898 The Amateur Championship 7 & 5 Scotland Samuel Mure Fergusson

Results timeline

Tournament 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
The Open Championship T30 T21 DNP 9 LA T15 T3 LA T3 5 T7 LA
The Amateur Championship DNP R32 SF SF SF 1 R32 1 2

Note: Tait played in only The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.

LA = Low amateur
DNP = Did not play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Sources: Open Championship,[6] Amateur Championship: 1892,[7] 1893,[8] 1894,[9] 1895,[10] 1897[11]

Bibliography

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References

File:Memorial plaque to Peter Guthrie Tait, St Johns Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.JPG
Memorial plaque to Peter Guthrie Tait and Frederick Guthrie Tait, St Johns Episcopal Church, Edinburgh
  1. ↑ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1870-71
  2. ↑ On the path of a rotating spherical projectile, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. 37, 427-440; Scientific Papers II, 356-370
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 Duncan, David Scott, ed. (1900). The Golfing Annual, 1899–1900. London: Horace Cox. p. 3.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (and succeeding years)
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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