"Takes a deep breath as he looks out at the huge crowd"

A photo of Francis Ouimet before play began September 20, 1913

.......Francis, when the tournament started you knew that Vardon and Ray represented the 1st and 2nd best golfers in the world, you also knew when you told Eddie "...I give you my solemn word the one thing they will not be able to say is that my tying them for this championship was a fluke. " that you were not thinking another tie. No you were starting to think that at the end of the day Vardon and Ray were going to represent the 2nd and 3rd best golfers in the world.

You also knew Eddie was the caddie for the job, you'd been offered a substitute now that the field was down to 3 and the whole world was going to be watching. No, you had caddied for 10 years yourself, you knew what a caddie could bring and what he could not. You knew Eddie, bad foot and all was the very best there was.

How about Eddie himself, he knew that today was going to be big, making small potatoes out of his past weeks troubles with his mother and the truant officer. He also knew you were going low and that as long as he could breath no one was going to interfere with your date with destiny.

When you stood on that first tee and looked down the fairway you saw what no one had ever seen before, a fairway lined left and right, tee to green with spectators. Thousands of spectators, all there to watch you play golf. Many knew little or nothing of the game, but what they knew was this is special, and they knew you were about to change not only your life and the world of golf, but their lives and the lives of thousands upon thousands, most who would never know or hear your name.....then with your smooth and powerful swing....you would not notice the crowd again until your last putt dropped.