Jerome Dunstan "Jerry" Travers (May 19, 1887 – March 29, 1951) was one of the leading amateur golfers of the early 20th century. He won the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August o ...

in 1907, 1908, 1912 and 1913, the New Jersey Amateur three times, and the

Metropolitan Amateur The Metropolitan Amateur or Met Amateur is an amateur golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. It has been played annually since 1899 and is one of the oldest amateur golf tournaments in the United States along with the U.S. ...

(New York) five times. He was regarded as one of the finest

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 ...

golfers of his time and had a famous rivalry with

Walter Travis Walter J. Travis (January 10, 1862 – July 31, 1927) was an American amateur golfer during the early 1900s. He was also a noted golf journalist and publisher, an innovator in all aspects of golf, a teacher, and golf course architect. Golfing c ...

. He won the 1915 U.S. Open.

Early life

Travers was born on May 19, 1887 in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Golf career

On September 16, 1905, a then 18-year-old Travers partnered with Herbert Strong to tie for second place, shooting 72, in a four-ball tournament held at Fox Hills Golf Club on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull a ...

as part of the 1905

Metropolitan Open The Metropolitan Open is a golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. In the early 20th century it was one of the top events in the country and was retroactively given PGA Tour-level status. History The tournament has been ...

. The stroke play portion of the tournament was won by

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 200 ...

. In

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

Travers won the U.S. Open at

Baltusrol Golf Club The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club in the eastern United States, located in Springfield, New Jersey, about west of New York City. It was founded in 1895 by Louis Keller. In 1985, Baltusrol became the first club to hav ...

, making him the second of the five amateurs to win the event. It was his only top ten finish in four appearances at the U.S. Open – he never entered the tournament again once he had won it. Although all of Travers' notable victories came as an amateur, he later became a teaching professional and gave exhibitions.

Death and legacy

Travers died on March 29, 1951 in

East Hartford, Connecticut East Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 51,045 at the 2020 census. The town is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River, directly across from Hartford, Connecticut. It is home to aerospac ...

. He is remembered as one of the finest amateur golfers of all time. He won the U.S. Amateur four times and the U.S. Open in 1915. He was inducted into the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

in 1976.

Tournament wins

*1904 Nassau Invitational *1906

, Eastern Scholastic, Lynnewood Hall Cup *1907

, New Jersey Amateur *1908

, New Jersey Amateur, Morris County Invitation Tournament, Lynnewood Hall Cup *1910 Montclair G.C. Invitational *1911

, New Jersey Amateur *1912

*1913

, New Jersey Amateur *1914 Prince of Wales Medal *1915 U.S. Open, Lynnewood Hall Cup

Major championships

Professional wins (1)

Amateur wins (4)

Results timeline

''Note: Travers played in only the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, and The Amateur Championship.''
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10 Sources: U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, Amateur Championship: 1909, 1914

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Jerome American male golfers Amateur golfers Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from New York (state) Sportspeople from New York City 1887 births 1951 deaths