Harry Vardon By his early 20s, Harry developed a demanding practice program, the most ambitious seen to that time. He was the first professional golfer to play in knickerbockers – discarding the "proper" dress of an Englishman in an uncomfortable shirt and tie with a buttoned jacket. Within a few years he became golf's first superstar since the days of Young Tom Morris. In 1896, Vardon won the first of his record six Open Championships (a record that still stands today). Vardon had great rivalries with James Braid and J.H. Taylor, who each won five Open Championships; together the three formed the
Harry Vardon member of the Great Triumvirate, also traveled to the USA on a mini tour in 1900. Vardon played in more than 90 matches and capped it off with a victory in the U.S. Open, where Taylor was second. Vardon wrote that while on this tour, he lost only two matches while playing head-to-head against a single opponent, and both were against the Boston professional Bernard (Ben) Nicholls, older brother of Gilbert Nicholls; the Nicholls brothers had recently emigrated from the British Isles. In 1913, accompanied by Ted Ray, Vardon played in 45 exhibition matches winning 36 of them, and in