Young Tom Morris

Young Tom Morris, born Thomas Morris in St Andrews on 20 April 1851 and dead there on Christmas Day 1875 at the age of 24, was a Scottish professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the professional game. The son of the St Andrews greenkeeper Old Tom Morris, he learned golf at Prestwick and was a prodigy. He won the Open Championship in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872, the last of those four titles in a row, and his first win at 17 made him the youngest major champion in golf history, a record that still stands. He also pioneered appearance money, exhibition tours and betting matches over the Old Course, and he set a course record there in 1869 that lasted twenty years.