Historic 1899 Golf Match Poster

- Tait, Park, Vardon & Ball

        If you're a student of golf history, you've no doubt read about the popular 19th century challenge matches between titans of the game. But we'd be willing to bet that you've never seen an original advertising posters from one of those historic challenge matches. Until now, that is.

        Presented here is an original 1899 sign advertising an upcoming match between 4 of the most legendary golfers the game has ever seen - F.G. Tait & Willie Park, Jr. against John Ball and Harry Vardon. Between them, these four golfers won 19 British Amateurs and British Opens (with Vardon also winning a U.S. Open). Freddie Tait would've likely won even more than his 2 British Amateurs, but was killed in battle during the Boer War on January 11, 1900 - less than 6 months after this match.

        This golf match was at Scarborough Golf Club on Monday July 24, 1899. Interested parties may want to read this newspaper article about the rematch between these exact same golfers at Scarborough, sometime before the newspaper date of October 7, 1899. Therefore, the golfers likely played this original match on July 24 and then a rematch on October 6 or so of that same year. http://tinyurl.com/1899ScarboroughMatch

        This scarce original challenge match advertising sign measures 11" x 17".