James Edmundson

Born Ballywatt, Portrush 19 June 1886 to James Edmundson (d. 1902) and Mary Dunlop. Edmundson won the Irish Professional Championship ("IPC") when he was twenty-one years of age and the following year won it again together with being placed joint eleventh in the Open Championship.

In the 1907 IPC the prize fund was twenty-four pounds (2006: Eur 140,000), with a top prize of ten pounds (2006: Eur 20,000) and a gold medal which is now a family heirloom. Edmundson was second in the qualifying rounds that whittled the field of twenty-two down to eight. Edmundson beat Hamill by 5 & 4 and closed his match against Pope in the semi-finals at the thirteenth.

The final was another exciting match with neither player giving the other a quarter. Edmundson won the first, squared the second, lost the third and halved the fourth, an infringement on the fifth by Snowball after ending on the road saw this hole handed to Edmundson but Snowball recovered this on the next. The to and fro nature of the match continued with Edmundson winning the eighth, Snowball responded in-kind on the ninth to square the match again. Edmundson took the next three to go three up and Snowball took the thirteenth to reduce the deficit. The next two holes were halved, followed by another win for Snowball, but Edmundson closed the match out on the seventeenth by 2 & 1 to take the gold medal, the ten pounds in prize money and earned himself the title of first Irish Professional Champion.

Edmundson didn't repeat the feat in the 1909 Professional Championship but this was blamed upon his suffering a serious illness just prior to the championship and while he played the eventual winner was Moran, the first of five consecutive wins.

Edmundson continued to show good form in the other prestigious event in the Irish professional calendar - The News of the World - Irish Sectionals of the Professional Golfers Association which allowed the top player to compete in the matchplay stages in England for one of the top prizes in golf at the time. In 1910 Edmundson beat Moran by two strokes to take the top position at Bangor GC it was two years since Edmundson had achieved such a victory over Moran. In the same event in 1911 at the Castlerock Golf Club Edmundson was part of a three-way group tied at the end of the thirty-six holes the other being Moran and Charles W. Pope. The golfing correspondent noted it was a shame that such a find player as Edmundson should be without a club. In 1912 he again represented Ireland together with Moran at Sunningale and it was here Edmundson's reputation was given a tremendous boost by taking Sandy Herd to the twentieth hole.

The 1908 Open Championship at Prestwick proved to be his best showing in that Major but still finished in joint eleventh place nineteen strokes behind the eventual runaway winner James Braid whose nearest challenger was eight shots further back. Edmundson shot a 72 in the second round which was only bettered by Ted Ray on the day. In the 1908 championship at Hoylake he trailed Arnaud Massy by twenty-five strokes. In 1912 Edmundson entered but failed to qualify (sixty-two qualified) by a single stroke at this stage he was enagaged by Bromborough Golf Club.

Appointed professional at Portrush in 1905 leaving in 1908/9 to take up an engagement as professional in Bangor Golf Club but may also have had some connection with Malone prior to this. According to the 1911 census he resided at 19 May Avenue, Bangor, County Down and was Church of Ireland. By 1911 he was unattached but later moved to Bromborough Golf Club near Liverpool in 1911/1912 where he stayed until 1920. He married Clara Price in (July?) 1917. In 1921 they had their first child Jack P. while still in England. As the professional at Bromborough he instructed Gladys Ravenscroft who won the British ladies championship in 1912 and the United States Women's Amateur Championship in 1913. Edmundson served in the artillery division of the British army seeing action in France for two years during World War.

Following this he emigrated in 1921 arriving into Philadelphia on 3 March 1921 aboard the 'Haverford', a White Star Liner at the time, (Clara and presumably Jack followed in 1922) to the US and was a professional at the North Hills Country Club, about fifteen miles outside Philadelphia between 1921-1930 and won the Pennslyvania Open Championship in 1923 (27 June) at the Huntingdon Valley C.C.

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Edmundson quickly made his presence felt in the 1921 Philadelphia Open at Oak Ridge when he was in the top five at the half-way mark, as was his brother John, but both faded badly in the final two rounds recording a joint tenth and fourteenth respectively.

In c. 1924 James and Clara had their second child James D. In 1925 and 1927 he tied for the East Falls Open only to be beaten both times in the playoff. He likely followed John Edmundson (his brother) who was a professional at the Country Club of Lansdowne , near Philly at least since 1917 and who later moved to Llanerch County Club in Delaware county. Edmundson was one of the founding members of the Philadelphia Section PGA where he served as an officer for three years before becoming its sixth president in 1930. According to the American annual golf guide 1930/31 James Edmundson was vice-president of the Philadelphia Professional Golf Association. At this time they lived in Abington, Montgomery, Pennsylvania

James Edmundson died 25 Aug 1950 while resided in Drexel Hill, Delaware, Pennsylvania, United States. His son Jack lived in Aldan for sixty years and was mayor for seventeen of those and there is a park named after him there.

"An Army veteran of World War II, he was with the 28th Artillery Division in the Battle of the Bulge and occupation of Berlin. Mr. Edmundson served 33 years on active duty and in the reserves, rising to the rank of colonel. Jack passed away on 5 September 2010 but still survived by his brother James. He was affiliated with the Boy Scouts for more than 50 years, earning the Silver Beaver and Order of the Arrows awards."

Source:The Daily Times - http://www.delcotimes.com