James Edmundson

Born Ballywatt, Portrush 1886: 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). 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.

Back row (Left to Right)
Front row (Left to Right)
Irish International team who played Scotland for Springvale Bowl in 1907 prior to the inaugural Irish Professional Championship.

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.

Following this he emigrated 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. 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.

According to the American annual golf guide 1930/31 James Edmundson was vice-president of the Philadelphia Professional Golf Association.