Vardon was born in Jersey, the son of an English gardener (Philip George Vardon) and a French mother (Elizabeth Augustine Bouchard), into a family of six boys and two girls. Both he and his younger brother Tom spent most of their summer holidays caddying on the local links.

Along with Ted Ray and a few others, the Vardons were part of a group that become known as the 'Jersey School' which emanated from the Caddies Competitions run by Royal Jersey Golf Club, allowing youngsters to learn to play the game on the course without a membership.

Tom Vardon turned professional first and headed off to England in search of golfing fame and fortune (he would later emigrate to the United States where he worked for twenty-five years until he died in 1938) with Harry following him across the Channel in 1890.

His first appointment in England was as the professional/greenkeeper at Studley Royal Golf Club in Ripon then he moved on to Bury Golf Club for a short time before taking up a plum position at Ganton in 1896.

That year, after the County match between Hampshire and Yorkshire played at Ganton, club members raised money for a challenge match between Vardon and J.H. Taylor, the 1894 and 1895 Open Champion.

Vardon won this match then went on a month later to win the Open at Muirfield, after a play-off against Taylor. He also won another two Opens whilst at Ganton (Prestwick in 1898 and Royal St George’s in 1899) then finished runner-up the following three years.

There were many big money, winner-takes-all challenge matches arranged in those days, with Vardon playing against others such as Ben Sayers and Willie Park Jr. His 1899 match play tussle against Willie took place over 36 holes at North Berwick and 36 holes at Ganton. Harry carried a 2-hole lead into the second game at his home club in Yorkshire, winning 11 &10 and collecting the purse of £200.

Vardon was at the height of his powers when he made his first tour of the United States and Canada in 1900 (he would later visit in 1913 and 1920). His sponsors, AG Spalding, had just brought out the "The Vardon Flyer" and they wanted their man to promote the new ball.

In effect, Harry became golf’s first international celebrity when he made this tour and it lasted almost twelve months, covering many thousands of miles. He played literally dozens of matches and exhibitions and it’s said he only ever lost two games (both against Boston professional Ben Nicholls) during the tour.

It was a highly successful overseas venture for Vardon, culminating in his 2-stroke victory in the 6th edition of the US Open at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois in October 1900, with J.H. Taylor in second place and eight Scotsmen occupying all of the other Top 10 positions.

After leaving Ganton in 1903 (succeeded by Ted Ray, his fellow Channel Islander, good friend and rival, who also sent on to become an Open Champion and US Champion) he joined South Hertfordshire Golf Club, where he remained for the rest of his golfing career.

Vardon won the 1903 Open at Prestwick from his brother Tom, though he was ill during the tournament and subsequently spent more than six months at Mundesley Sanatorium in Norfolk battling tuberculosis, a condition he would continue to fight for years to come.

He challenged strongly every year for the Open up until the First World War and he won the tournament twice again, in 1911 and 1914. Together with James Braid and J.H. Taylor, Vardon formed what was dubbed “The Great Triumvirate” of golf, with these three claiming sixteen of the twenty-one Opens contested between 1894 and 1914.

Vardon toured North America again in 1913, accompanied by Ted Ray, and they played an extensive series of forty-five exhibition matches, winning thirty-six of them. He finished second in the US Open that year in a 3-way play-off against Ted Ray and eventual winner Francis Ouimet.

His last trip across the Atlantic came after the Great War in 1920, aged 50, and he was accompanied once more by Ted Ray, playing a gruelling schedule of nearly 100 exhibition and challenge matches over a 6-month period. He again finished second in the US Open, a stroke behind the champion, Ted Ray.

During his career, Vardon won forty-nine individual titles and thirteen team events, nine of which were when representing England against Scotland. It’s said that over the two-year period of 1898 to 1899, he won fourteen of the seventeen events he played in, finishing as runner-up in the other three.

He struggled with health problems in his later years, turning to coaching and writing golf instruction books.

Further biography details to follow…