Gilbert Nicholls

Gilbert Ernest Nicholls (July 23, 1878 – January 17, 1950) was an English-American professional golfer, prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He had eight top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open.

Gilbert Nicholls
Nicholls, c. 1945
Personal information
Full nameGilbert Ernest Nicholls
Born(1878-07-23)July 23, 1878
Dover, Kent, England
DiedJanuary 17, 1950(1950-01-17) (aged 71)
Great Neck, New York
Sporting nationality England
 United States
SpouseMary Agnes Gately
(1878–1927)
Eleanor C. Watson-Moshier
(1897–1989)
Children5
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins12+
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour5
Best results in major championships
PGA ChampionshipT33: 1922
U.S. Open2nd: 1904, 1907
The Open ChampionshipT13: 1924

Early life

Nicholls was born in Dover, Kent, England on July 23, 1878, to Frank Nicholls (1851–1930) and Lois Elizabeth Cordrey (1855–1935).[1]

Nicholls brothers emigrate to U.S.

After working in Cannes, France, the two Nicholls brothers emigrated to the United States in 1897 and 1898, when golf was growing rapidly in North America.[1] He had an older brother Bernard (also known as Ben), also an excellent competitive golfer, who posted five top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open between 1897 and 1907,[2] although Gilbert eventually compiled the better record of the two.

Nicholls, c. 1937

Bernard Nicholls, then playing out of the Boston area, earned the distinction of twice defeating Harry Vardon, then the top player in the world, head-to-head, on Vardon's 1900 tour of the United States and Canada; those were the only head-to-head matches Vardon lost on that tour.

The first match was on February 17, 1900, at Ormond Beach, Florida, when he soundly defeated the British star 5 and 4;[3] and the second was at the Brae Burn Country Club near Boston on 13 October 1900 when he won 2 up in a 36-hole match.[4][5][6][7]

The Nicholls brothers worked as club professionals and also sold golf clubs under the "Nicholls Brothers" and later "Butchart-Nicholls" brands.[1] Gilbert worked at clubs in Lexington, Massachusetts, St. Louis, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, Wilmington, Delaware, Beaumont, Texas, and finally Great Neck, New York.[1]

Marriage and family

Nicholls married Mary Agnes Gately (1878–1927) on May 14, 1901, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. They had five children, four boys and one girl. When his wife Mary died at the relatively young age of 48, Nicholls remarried to Eleanor "Ella" Catherine Moshier, née Watson (1897–1989) on January 7, 1929, in Miami, Florida. He met Mary Gately when he was lodging with the Lewis Tapley family in 1900 shortly after arriving in the United States. The Tapley's were Mary Gately's aunt and uncle.[8][9]

Golf career

Competitive record

Nicholls is officially credited with five PGA Tour victories for his career, along with one third-place finish; he placed 15 times in the top-10 and 24 times in the top-25.[10]

As well, he finished as runner-up in two U.S. Opens, in 1904 and 1907; he had a total of eight U.S. Open finishes in the top-10. He would have had a ninth, a T-5 in 1908, but he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.[11] Among tournaments Nicholls won are included the 1909 and 1912 Philadelphia Open Championships, the 1911 and 1915 Metropolitan Opens, the 1911 and 1914 North and South Opens, the 1912 Florida Open, and the 1924 Maine Open. He is also listed as having won PGA Tour events in 1917 and 1921.[10]

Memorable matches

Nicholls teamed twice with the legendary Willie Anderson, a World Golf Hall of Fame member who won four U.S. Opens, in 36-hole exhibition matches shortly before Anderson died in late October 1910. On October 21, Nicholls and Anderson lost to Jock Hutchison and Peter Robertson at a Pittsburgh club. Two days later, Nicholls and Anderson teamed again at the Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and lost on the final hole to two top-flight amateur players: William C. Fownes (then U.S. Amateur champion) and Eben Byers (1906 Amateur champion). This was Anderson's final match; he tired noticeably as the match progressed and died two days later at his home in Philadelphia at age 31.[12]

In 1913 Vardon again toured North America and, teaming with Ted Ray, barnstormed the continent prior to the U.S. Open. In the first match of the tour, the two Englishmen met the Nicholls brothers in Philadelphia, and defeated them over 18 holes with a medal score of 68.[13]

Golf club shaft patent

On April 26, 1927, Nicholls was awarded United States Patent No. 1,626,476. His invention was intended to improve the construction of wooden golf shafts by laminating different types of wood together; in the case of his invention it was a plurality of bamboo and hickory woods.[14] When steel shafts became available in the early 1930s, Nicholls' invention quickly became obsolete.

Death

Nicholls died on January 17, 1950, in Great Neck, New York.[1]

Tournament wins

Note: This list is incomplete.

Results in major championships
Tournament 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
U.S. Open T23 T18 ? T14 T18 T15 2 T7 T8 2 DQ 17
The Open Championship
Tournament 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924
U.S. Open T5 T5 ? ? ? T10 T4 NT NT T16 T23 ? ? ? ?
The Open Championship NT NT NT NT NT T13
PGA Championship NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NT NT R64

Note: Nicholls never played in the Masters Tournament, founded in 1934.

  Top 10
  Did not play

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DQ = Disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play

Sources: U.S. Open,[11][15] Open Championship,[16] PGA Championship[17]

References
  1. Cornwell, David (2002). "Great Gilbert". Connecticut Golf. pp. 40–44.
  2. "Bernard Nicholls". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  3. "English Champion Downed by the Philadelphia Professional in Florida". New York Tribune. February 21, 1900. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  4. Vardon, Harry (1933). My Golfing Life.
  5. Sommers, Robert (1996). The U.S. Open: Golf's Ultimate Challenge (second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-19-510049-2.
  6. "The World of Sport". Newark Daily Advocate. Newark, Ohio. March 19, 1900. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  7. Greeley, Horace; Cleveland, John Fitch; Ottarson, F. J.; Schem, Alexander Jacob; McPherson, Edward; Rhoades, Henry Eckford (1901). "Vardon's Chief Matches and Records". The Tribune Almanac for 1901. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  8. "United States Census: 1900 Population". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  9. "Gilbert Nicholls ancestry". Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  10. Barkow, Al (November 1989). The History of the PGA TOUR. Doubleday. pp. 235, 254. ISBN 0-385-26145-4.
  11. "Finals in National Golf Result in a Draw Match". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 29, 1908. p. 7.
  12. Sommers, p. 26.
  13. Sommers, p. 33.
  14. "United States Patent Office, Patent No. 1,626,476" (PDF). United States Patent Office. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  15. "Gilbert Nicholls". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  16. "Hoylake – 1924 Results". The Open Championship. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  17. "Player Stats for Gil Nichols". PGA of America. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
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