Golf at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Olympic golf was contested at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, with the golf tournaments held at the Compiègne Club in Compiègne, about 30 miles north of Paris. There were two Olympic golf events in 1900 – one for gentlemen and one for ladies. A third competition was held on the final day. However, this was a handicap event for the men, and cannot be considered of Olympic caliber. It was, however, won by an American, Al Lambert, whose participation was critical to a 1904 Olympic golf tournament taking place.

Lambert was a wealthy man, who founded Lambert Pharmacal Co., later Warner-Lambert, best-known as the makers of Listerine. His avocation in later years became flying and he was the primary benefactor for Charles Lindbergh’s trans-atlantic flight. For his contributions to aviation, the St. Louis airport was named Lambert International Field.

In 1900 Lambert played the Olympic golf event while on a business trip to his Paris office. On his return he mentioned the Olympic golf event to his father-in-law, Colonel George McGrew. McGrew was the founder and president of Glen Echo Golf Club in St. Louis and Lambert and McGrew made plans to conduct an international golf tournament at Glen Echo to celebrate the opening of the course. When the 1904 Olympics were assigned to St. Louis, they made a late decision to contest this as part of the Olympics.

Seventy-two Americans, three Canadians, and two British players came to Glen Echo to contest the Olympic individual championship. They were greeted by a plethora of golf events - driving contests, putting contests at night under the lights, handicap events, flights for non-qualifiers and match-play losers, and team Nassau competitions. Just two of the many events can be considered to be Olympic championships - a team event of 36 holes stroke play on Saturday, September 17, and an individual match-play event which ran the week of September 19-24.