Tom moved from Jersey to England first, to pursue a golf career. Harry went to England in the spring of 1890, taking a job as greenkeeper at age 20, at Studley Royal Golf Club,
Ripon, Yorks. A year later he became club professional at
Bury Golf Club, and in 1896 the club professional at
Ganton Golf Club, in
Yorkshire. In 1902, after eight years as the professional at Ganton Golf Club, Harry Vardon moved south and became the professional at South Herts where he was to remain until his death in 1937. By his early 20s, Harry developed a demanding practice program, the most ambitious seen to that time. He was the first professional golfer to play in
knickerbockers – discarding the "proper" dress of an Englishman in an uncomfortable shirt and tie with a buttoned jacket. In
1896, Vardon won the first of his six
Open Championships (a record that still stands today). Vardon had rivalries with
James Braid and
J.H. Taylor, who each won five Open Championships; together the three formed the 'Great Triumvirate', and dominated worldwide golf from the mid-1890s to the mid-1910s. These rivalries increased the public's interest in golf.
Scottish challenge In 1898, Vardon won his second Open Championship at
Prestwick Golf Club, beating
Willie Park, Jnr by a single stroke. Park missed a makeable putt on the 18th green to take the match to a play off. So aggrieved was Park that he immediately offered a challenge to Vardon to play him over 72 holes, 36 holes at his home course of Musselburgh and 36 holes at a golf course of Vardon's choosing, for a wager of £100 per side. Park had offered similar challenges before; some years earlier he had met and defeated Ben Sayers at Musselburgh and North Berwick, and in 1897 Park defeated J.H. Taylor over two venues, also for £100 per side. Vardon refused Park's challenge; besides the £100 per side, Vardon had nothing to gain from such a match, and he most certainly was not going to play Park at Musselburgh, where fan partisanship was less than courteous to rival players. Eventually Park conceded to play his home leg at
North Berwick Golf Club instead of Musselburgh, and Vardon chose his home course of Ganton, Yorkshire.
Golf Week magazine acted as both promoter and stakeholder, and the match took place in July 1899, by which time Vardon had won his third Open Championship. The British press billed the encounter as the greatest golf competition of all time. Such was the interest that 10,000 Scottish fans attended the match at North Berwick, and that on a day when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) was making a State visit to nearby
Edinburgh. Special trains were laid on to ferry fans from Edinburgh and other nearby towns. The format of the competition was
match play. The first 36 holes at North Berwick ended with Vardon holding a two-hole lead. The second leg took place two weeks later at Ganton, and Vardon completed the rout, winning 11 up with ten holes to play, collecting the £200 prize and the glory.
Tours United States and Canada During his career, Harry Vardon made three visits to North America, in 1900, 1913 and 1920. During all three trips he competed in the
U.S. Open finishing 1st, 2nd and tied 2nd. He became golf's first international celebrity in 1900 when he toured the United States and
Canada.
John Henry Taylor, the 1900 Open Champion and member of the Great Triumvirate, also traveled to the USA on a mini tour in 1900. Vardon played in more than 90 matches and capped it off with a victory in the
U.S. Open, where Taylor was second. Vardon wrote that while on this tour, he lost only two matches while playing head-to-head against a single opponent, and both were against the
Boston professional
Bernard (Ben) Nicholls, older brother of
Gilbert Nicholls; the Nicholls brothers had recently emigrated from the British Isles. In 1913, accompanied by
Ted Ray, Vardon played in 45 exhibition matches winning 36 of them, and in 1920 at age 50, again accompanied by Ray, he played from July to the beginning of November in nearly 100 exhibition/challenge matches against the likes of
Walter Hagen,
Jim Barnes,
Francis Ouimet and
Bobby Jones.
Twice runner-up in U.S. Opens Vardon was the runner-up, after a playoff loss to the 20-year-old Ouimet, at his next U.S. Open in
1913, an event portrayed in the film
The Greatest Game Ever Played. He toured North America with Ted Ray that year, as he did once more in 1920. At the age of 50, Vardon was again tied runner-up in his third and final U.S. Open appearance, in
1920; he was leading with a few holes to play.
Career accomplishments During his career, Vardon won 48 tournaments and 21 team events; that was the most titles won by a single player to that juncture in golf history. He won the
German Open in 1911 and the
British PGA Matchplay Championship in 1912. Between 1898 and 1899 Vardon played in 17 tournaments, winning 14 and coming 2nd in the other three. Vardon popularised the overlapping grip that bears his name, one still used by over 90 percent of golfers; this grip had been originated by
Johnny Laidlay a few years before Vardon adopted it. In his later years, he became a golf course architect, designing several courses in Britain, Llandrindod Wells Golf Club,
Woodhall Spa and
Radcliffe-on-Trent being notable examples. ==Death and legacy==