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Friday, March 25, 2022

Dear Harvey: (Uncle Charlie) McDowell trumped by (Great Uncle Fred) McLeod

Harvey on the practice tee at Austin CC
Dear Harvey,

I enjoy sharing stories about my mom's four younger brothers: Uncles Pat, Charlie, Archie, and Woody McDowell. They are all special to me.

When the subject is golf, I tell enthusiasts how Uncle Charlie won the US Juniors in 1961 at the Cornell University Golf Club in Ithaca, NY, defeating George Boutell in the semis and Jay Sigel 2up in the final match. At the time, Charlie was the youngest ever to win at 16 years, 1 month, a record now held by Tiger Woods. Charlie came within one match of winning a second US Juniors the following year. He had many other junior titles before college golf at Princeton, followed by a distinguished law career, and now a philanthropist in Wilmington, DE. He continues to play the game he loves and has been kind to me with several invitations to bring friends and family to Pine Valley Golf Club. This video says it all about what that is like!

I don't often get 'trumped' when I start talking about my Uncles, but it happened recently with a favorite work colleague and a new golf buddy here in England. Grant McLeod grew up in North Berwick and learned the game on the famous links of The North Berwick Golf Club. (Taylor and I played A couple of gems: Muirfield and North Berwick in August.) It turns out Grant has a famous great uncle, Fred McLeod:

Fred won the US Open in 1908, and in 1910 and 1911 he missed out on getting into the play-off by one shot. He twice won the North and South Tournament in 1909 and 1920 and the Senior PGA Championship in 1938 played each year at Augusta National. In 1919 he finished one shot behind Jim Barnes in the US PGA and in the 1921 US Open he tied with Walter Hagen for second place. In the Open at St Anne's in 1926 he finished seventh, rounding off one of the most remarkable careers in golf, lasting over twenty years at the top level. [Reference: Fore Please, Freddie McLeod Now Driving]

In golf terms, that is like sticking a tee shot on a par three to two feet, only to have your competitor knock it in the hole for an ace!

Harvey, I knew you would enjoy this story. Perhaps you even met Freddie at some point? Let me know when you next write.

Until then,

gPageS

Pretty good company you were keeping in 1961 Uncle Charlie!

Pat, Woody, Charlie, Archie, and Mom = Billy Gay (McDowell) Singletary

Father-Son Pine Valley Trip 2018 (l to r) Jim Hopke, Taylor Wilkinson, gPageS, Uncle Charlie, Jack Magee, Rick Magee, Wehman Hopke

Second Pine Valley Trip (l to r): Uncle Charlie, Ricky May, gPageS, Mal Fuller, PV Member?, Mark Fuller, Patrick Pritchard, Rufus Pritchard

First Pine Valley Trip (l to r) Rick Magee, gPageS, John Lazkowski, Uncle Charlie

Letters to Harvey from The Kingdom:

Other 'golfy' scribblings:
"Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a sports classic that became the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats -- Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright -- all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend." - Kevin Robbins, author of Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf.
"And if you play golf, you are my friend." - Harvey Penick

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