James Douglas Edgar (30 September 1884 – 8 August 1921) was an English professional golfer and golf writer.

Early life

Edgar was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, England. He won the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

in 1914. He coached the young player Tommy Armour, who became a prominent professional after 1920; Armour later praised Edgar as having helped him the most. The legendary Harry Vardon stated that Edgar was on his way to becoming a player who could surpass everyone.

Golf career

Edgar emigrated to the United States in April 1919, following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was the head professional at

Druid Hills Golf Club The Druid Hills Golf Club is a private country club located in the Druid Hills, Georgia, Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The course has frequently hosted U.S. Women's Open qualifying tournaments. History Founded in 1912, the club's ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Edgar played frequently with the young Bobby Jones at the Atlanta Athletic Club (the site of today's

East Lake Golf Club East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones and much of its clubh ...

) from 1919 to 1921. He mentored and coached Jones during this period as well. Jones developed into one of the dominant golfers of the 1920s. Edgar was a friend of Alexa Stirling and gave her golf lessons while he was the professional at Druid Hills. Edgar won the Canadian Open in 1919 at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club by a record 16 strokes (a winning margin which still stands for a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

event), with Jones and Jim Barnes tying for second, and came back the next year to win that title again. He lost the 1920 PGA Championship, one of golf's majors, in a

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 h ...

final to Jock Hutchison. During 1919–20, Edgar was among the top players in the world. Edgar wrote a golf book entitled ''The Gate to Golf'', based on his discoveries made in England. Edgar had an ailing hip which he could not turn freely. Through experimentation, he found that a restricted hip turn still allowed a repeatable swing with excellent power and control. This book proved to have significant impact on golf instruction, right up to the present time.

Death

Edgar's death was mysterious. He was found late at night on an Atlanta street, bleeding heavily from a deep wound in his leg, and died in the street before any trained help could arrive. The case was turned over to police but never solved. He left a wife and two children in England. In an article published in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' in April 2010, writer Steve Eubanks wrote that Edgar was having an affair with a married Atlanta woman, and that this likely played a central role in Edgar's death. Eubanks' article was an excerpt from his book ''To Win and Die in Dixie'', a biography of Edgar published later that year. Edgar was buried in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta.

Tournament wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

*1919 Canadian Open *1920 Canadian Open, Southern Open

Other wins (1)

''this list may be incomplete'' *1914

Results in major championships

''Note: The Masters Tournament was not founded until 1934.''
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edgar, James Douglas English male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golf writers Golfers from Newcastle upon Tyne British people murdered abroad People murdered in Georgia (U.S. state) Unsolved murders in the United States People murdered in 1921 1884 births 1921 deaths