Willie Smith (golfer) Willie Smith (golfer) Willie Smith (8 October 1876 – 26 December 1916) was a Scottish golfer. He won the 1899 U.S. Open. Willie Smith was born in Dundee, Scotland on 8 October 1876. He learned to play golf in Carnoustie. His brothers Alex and Macdonald were also expert golfers. While working as a professional at the Midlothian Country Club, near Chicago he won the fifth staging of the U.S. Open in 1899, which was played at the Baltimore Country Club, Roland Park Course. He won by a margin of eleven shots, which wasn't bettered until Tiger Woods won the 2000
Tiger Woods 2000 U.S. Open, where he broke or tied nine tournament records in what "Sports Illustrated" called "the greatest performance in golf history", in which Woods won the tournament by a record 15-stroke margin and earned a check for $800,000. At age 24, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam. At the end of 2000, Woods had won nine of the twenty PGA Tour events he entered and had broken the record for lowest scoring average in tour history. He was named the "Sports Illustrated" Sportsman of the Year, the only athlete to be honored twice, and