Fred Herd (26 November 1873 – 14 March 1954) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

er from

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. In 1898, he won the fourth U.S. Open at Myopia Hunt Club, in

South Hamilton, Massachusetts South Hamilton is a postal address assigned to ZIP code 01982 by the Postal Service and is part of the town of Hamilton, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S ...

. This was the first U.S. Open to be played over 72 holes, requiring the competitors to play eight rounds of Myopia's nine-hole course. Herd turned in a card totaling 328, 84-85-75-84, averaging 82 strokes per 18-hole round.

Early life

Herd was born at

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 26 November 1873. He emigrated to the United States in 1897, became a naturalized citizen, :File:Frederick Herd naturalization record, 18 Sept, 1897.jpg and that same year was posted as the professional at the Washington Park course in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He and his brother James were boarding at the Chicago home of Ellen McNulty and her family in 1900. :File:HerdBoarding.jpg

Golf career

1898 U.S. Open

He won a $150 prize for winning the 1898 U.S. Open—a large sum of money at the time—but such was his reputation as a drinker that he was not allowed to take the U.S. Open trophy away until he had paid a deposit, as the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

was worried that he might pawn it to buy alcohol. Herd played in the U.S. Open on three other occasions, but did not have any other top ten finishes. His brother,

Sandy Herd Alexander Herd (24 April 1868 – 18 February 1944) was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake. Early life Born in St Andrews, Scotland, on 24 April 1868, to a golfing family, Herd had br ...

, won

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in 1902. Two of Herd's other brothers, Alex and Davy, also played in the 1898 U.S. Open but did not finish in the top 10.

Death and legacy

Herd died on 14 March 1954. He is best remembered for winning the 1898 U.S. Open.

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Herd played only in the U.S. Open. "T" indicates a tie for a place

References

Scottish male golfers Golfers from St Andrews Winners of men's major golf championships 1873 births 1954 deaths {{Scotland-golf-bio-stub