U.S. Open history lesson: In 1896, Shinnecock hosted first Black players

One-hundred thirty years ago, Shinnecock Hills and the U.S. Golf Association determined how open a U.S. Open really should be.

Southampton resident John Shippen Jr., the first Black pro, and Oscar Bunn, a member of the Shinnecock Nation, were entered into the 1896 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills by club members. Other entrants, all white and many from Europe, objected to the duo’s presence and threatened to boycott if Shippen and Bunn were allowed to play. USGA president Theodore Havemeyer ruled that the tournament would go on, even if the field consisted of only two, Shippen said in an interview with Tuesday Magazine years later.

No one ultimately withdrew, and the second-ever U.S. Open was completed with 28 golfers over 36 holes on July 18. James Foulis, a Chicago pro who had learned the game as a youth in Scotland, won the $200 first prize. Shippen finished fifth (or sixth, according to different accounts) and won $10. Bunn placed 21st.

Shippen was considered a prodigy back then, having moved with his family to Southampton when his father — the son of slaves — was hired as minister at the Shinnecock Nation Presbyterian church. Young John gravitated to the course and began caddying. He was only 16 during the 1896 Open but was already a professional. He played in four more U.S. Opens and had a long career as a head pro. He once gave lessons to golf legend Harry Vardon.

Bunn, another former caddie, also remained in the golf business as a teaching pro. He caught pneumonia on a golf trip to Argentina and died at 42 in 1918. He was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame in 2009.

There is no telling how Foulis’ total of 152 strokes related to par because even the USGA has no record of what par was in 1896. But there is no doubt that Shinnecock’s first Open was quite an occasion. The New York Times reported the following day: “In the afternoon, when the second round was being played, there was a continuous string of carriages arriving at the clubhouse, and by 3 o’clock, there were over 300 ladies on the links, many of whom followed the players over the greater part of the course.”

Also, decades before Augusta National’s green jacket became golf’s preeminent symbol, there was a fashion statement at Shinnecock Hills. The Times reported, “The scarlet-coated club members made a very pretty picture, scattered as they were, all over the hills.”