Edward Harvie Ward, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – September 4, 2004) was an American golfer best known for his amateur career. He is best known for winning both the U.S. Amateur (twice) and the British Amateur.

Harvie Ward
Personal information
Full nameEdward Harvie Ward, Jr.
Born(1925-12-08)December 8, 1925
Tarboro, North Carolina
DiedSeptember 4, 2004(2004-09-04) (aged 78)
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Sporting nationality United States
Career
CollegeNorth Carolina
Turned professional1974
Former tour(s)Champions Tour
Best results in major championships
(wins: 3)
Masters Tournament4th: 1957
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenT7: 1955
The Open ChampionshipDNP
U.S. AmateurWon: 1955, 1956
British AmateurWon: 1952

Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, Ward attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. As a Tar Heel, he won the NCAA Division I individual title in 1949, and graduated with a degree in economics.[1]

Ward's win in the British Amateur came in 1952 (he finished runner-up in 1953), and his consecutive U.S. Amateur wins came in 1955 and 1956. He also won several other significant amateur events including the Canadian Amateur, making him one of two golfers to win the U.S., British, and Canadian Amateurs (the other is Dick Chapman). Ward is the only player in history to have won those three titles along with the NCAA Championship. He finished runner-up in the 1952 Western Amateur. He also won the 1977 North Carolina Open as a professional.

Ward played on three winning Walker Cup teams (1953, 1955, 1959), winning all six of his matches.

In 1957, Ward lost his amateur status, in a controversial ruling by the United States Golf Association, for accepting expense money from sponsors for golf tournaments. The ruling was reversed in 1958. His primary sponsor, Eddie Lowery, who was serving at the time on the USGA's Executive Committee, had incorrectly claimed income tax deductions for the money he was spending to sponsor Ward, one of his car dealership employees in the San Francisco area. Ward was unaware of this situation, and was not personally at fault. Following the ruling, Ward's life went into a tailspin, and he took several years to recover.[1]

Ward played in 19 professional majors. In 11 Masters Tournament appearances, he finished in the top 10 twice (4th in 1957 and tied for 8th in 1955), in the top 25 five times, and only missed two cuts. In the U.S. Open, he made the cut in five of eight appearances, including a tie for 7th in 1955.

Ward turned professional in 1974, and became a club professional and golf instructor. His best-known student was three-time major winner Payne Stewart. He worked at Foxfire Country Club, Grand Cypress Golf Club (Orlando, Florida), Interlachen Golf Club (Winter Park, Florida) and Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club (Southern Pines, North Carolina).[2] He played occasionally on the Senior PGA Tour from 1980 to 1990.

Ward was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1965,[3] the Carolinas Golf Reporters Association - Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1981,[4] and the Carolinas PGA Hall of Fame in 1996.[5]

Amateur wins edit

Professional wins edit

Major championships edit

Amateur wins (3) edit

Year Championship Winning Score Runner-up
1952 British Amateur 6 & 5   Frank Stranahan
1955 U.S. Amateur 9 & 8   Bill Hyndman
1956 U.S. Amateur 5 & 4   Chuck Kocsis

Results timeline edit

Tournament 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966
Masters Tournament T51 T35 T35 T21 T14 LA T20 T8 LA T34 4 LA CUT CUT
U.S. Open T39 CUT CUT T7 LA 47 T26 T37 CUT
U.S. Amateur QF R128 R16 R128 R32 R32 R32 R64 1 1 R16 R16 R16 R64 R32
British Amateur 1 2

Note: Ward never played in The Open Championship or the PGA Championship.

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Sources: Masters,[6] U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur[7]

U.S. national team appearances edit

Amateur

References edit

  1. ^ a b Frost, Mark (November 6, 2007). The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-0278-8.
  2. ^ Harvie Ward dies aged 78
  3. ^ "North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame profile". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  4. ^ Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame members list Archived 2008-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Carolinas Hall of Fame to Honor Two Professionals
  6. ^ www.masters.com
  7. ^ USGA Championship Database Archived 2010-12-21 at the Wayback Machine

External links edit