Willie Smith (died 26 December 1916), a native of Carnoustie, was a Scottish golfer. His brothers Alex and Macdonald were also famous golfers.
While working as a professional at the Midlothian Country Club, near Chicago he won the fifth staging of the U.S. Open in 1899, which was played at the Baltimore Country Club, Roland Park Course. He won by a margin of eleven shots, which wasn't bettered until Tiger Woods won the 2000 championship by fifteen shots. Smith's prize was $150. He played in nine U.S. Opens in total, and made the top-10 in eight of them, but he did not win again.
In 1899, Smith won the first Western Open in a playoff against Laurie Auchterlonie. He also won the 1900 California State Open.
In 1904, Smith moved to Mexico City to become the golf pro at the Mexico City Country Club. He was injured during the Mexican Revolution. He had refused to leave his post at the country club and was found trapped under a fallen beam after Emiliano Zapata's troops ransacked the club which they saw as a symbol of the corrupt ruling class. He later died of pneumonia. His body was returned to Scotland for burial in the family plot.
Famous quotes containing the word smith:
“Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the publick interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it.... He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.”
—Adam Smith (1723–1790)