Harry Vardon 'Great Triumvirate', and dominated worldwide golf from the mid-1890s to the mid-1910s. These rivalries enormously increased the public's interest in golf. In 1898 Harry Vardon won his second Open Championship at Prestwick, beating Willie Park, Jnr by a single stroke. Park missed a makeable putt on the 18th green to take the match to a play off. So aggrieved was Willie that he immediately offered a challenge to Vardon to play him over 72 holes, 36 holes at his home course of Musselburgh and 36 holes at a golf course of Vardon's choosing, for a wager of £100 per side.
Harry Vardon 1920 at age 50, again accompanied by Ray, he played from July to the beginning of November in nearly 100 exhibition/challenge matches against the likes of Walter Hagen, Jim Barnes, Francis Ouimet and Bobby Jones. Vardon was the runner-up at his next U.S. Open in 1913, an event portrayed in the film "The Greatest Game Ever Played". He toured North America with Ted Ray that year, as he did once more in 1920. At the age of 50, Vardon was again the runner-up in his third and final U.S. Open appearance, in 1920. During his career, Vardon won 48 tournaments