On September 30, 1876, the 16th Open Championship was held at the Old Course at St Andrews. Davie Strath finished tied for the lead but became involved in a rules dispute and did not take part in the playoff. Bob Martin won the title by playing the course alone.
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Strath was born in St Andrews in 1849. He gave up his job as a legal clerk to become a professional golfer in 1868, at the age of 19. He was known for his excellent short game and fiery temper. His brother, Andrew Strath, had won the 1865 Open Championship.
Davie Strath was both a close friend and a major rival of Young Tom Morris. The two travelled across Scotland and played exhibition matches as far south as Liverpool, sometimes attracting crowds of 10,000 people. Morris died in December 1875, less than a year before the 1876 Open. Strath was also known to struggle under pressure. With the championship taking place at his home course, the Old Course at St Andrews, one account described him as the favourite to win.
A Crowded Open Course
Nothing about the week ran smoothly. The Open was pushed back to a Saturday because the Royal and Ancient Autumn Meeting was under way, with Prince Leopold being installed as captain. The Old Course was crowded with members playing their own games, plus huge crowds of spectators. All 36 holes had to be squeezed into that one day.
Trouble began early for Strath. At the 14th in the afternoon, he pulled a shot toward the fifth fairway and hit an upholsterer named Hutton on the head. Hutton recovered quickly, but Strath was rattled and began dropping shots.
The defining moment came at the 17th, the Road Hole, where a ball that runs past the green can end up on the road behind it. Because of the crush of people, Strath did not know his approach had struck a player putting out on the green, and the ball was stopped from running onto the road. Accounts differ slightly on who was hit. Most say a player, while Wikipedia’s summary says a spectator.
That is why the incident mattered. Some felt Strath’s ball would otherwise have finished on the road, so the collision may have helped him. He two-putted for a five, then took a six at the last to tie. He and Martin both shot 86 and 90 for 176. It was the first time in 16 Opens that two players had tied. Willie Park Sr. was third, seven shots back.
Some wanted Strath disqualified for playing to the green before it was clear. The Championship Committee ordered a playoff for the Monday “under protest,” leaving the disqualification question unresolved.
Strath saw the problem at once. If the ruling went against him afterward, the playoff would have been pointless. According to golf writer Mike Clayton, his demand was: “Settle it now or I won’t be here in the morning.”
The committee did not budge, and Strath did not show. Martin, a St Andrews caddie and assistant to Old Tom Morris, walked the course on his own and was declared champion. The win stayed controversial. Martin won again in 1885, becoming the first player to win two Opens at St Andrews.
Strath’s logic is hard to fault. He wanted a verdict before risking everything, and the crowding that kept him from seeing the green made a clear, immediate decision even more important.
A Tragic Final Chapter
Strath’s story did not get happier. Several of the Strath brothers died young of consumption, now known as tuberculosis. In October 1878, Strath sailed from Liverpool for Melbourne on the SS Eurynome, hoping the trip would restore his health. The voyage took 84 days, and his doctors had suggested it because Melbourne was seen as a good place to recover.
He arrived on January 8, 1879, so weak he had to be carried from the ship, and died 20 days later in a house on Royal Terrace in Melbourne. He was around 29. Many assumed he had died at sea, and for more than a century his fate was a mystery.
He was buried in an unmarked grave. A headstone reading “DAVID STRATH, CHAMPION GOLFER” was unveiled in January 2006. At St Andrews, the Strath bunker on the right side of the 11th green honors the family.
Davie Strath never won the Open. His 1876 story lingers because it holds everything that makes golf history so human: a fierce competitor, a crowded course, a rules dispute, and a stand taken on principle. Whether he would have beaten Martin in the playoff is the question no one can answer.