The statue depicts Ouimet at the U.S. Open with his 10-year-old caddy, Eddie Lowery. This is one of the best known iconic images American golf; it was used as the logo for the U.S. Golf Association's Centennial celebrations. A plaque on the wall near the statue states "His astounding victory over the British greats Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff for the 1913 U.S. Open Championship at the County Club, Brookline, Mass., transformed golf into a popular sport."
From Wikipedia:
"Francis DeSales Ouimet (May 8, 1893 – September 3, 1967) was an American golfer. He is widely known for winning the 1913 U.S. Open, and was the first American elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He married Stella M. Sullivan on September 11, 1918, with whom he had two daughters: Jane Salvi and Barbara McLean.
Early life
Ouimet was born to Arthur and Mary Ouimet of Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a French-Canadian immigrant, and his mother was an Irish immigrant. When Francis was four years old, his family purchased a house on Clyde Street in Brookline, directly across from the 17th hole of The Country Club. The Ouimet family grew up relatively poor, and found themselves near the bottom of the economic ladder, which was hardly the position of any American golfer at the time. As far as the general public was concerned, golf was reserved for the wealthy. Ouimet found an interest in golf at an early age and started caddying at The Country Club at the age of nine. Using clubs from his brother and balls he found around the course, Ouimet taught himself the game. Soon enough his game caught the eye of many country club members and the caddie master. It wasn't long before Ouimet was the best high school golfer in the state. When he was a junior in high school, his father insisted Francis drop out and finally begin to do "something useful" with his life. He worked at a drygoods store before a stroke of good luck helped him land a job at a sporting goods store owned by the future Baseball Hall of Famer, George Wright.
Career
In 1913, Ouimet won the Massachusetts Amateur at the age of 20; this was his first significant title. He would go on to win that event five more times. Soon afterward he was asked personally by the president of the United States Golf Association, Robert Watson, if he would play in the nation's championship; the U.S. Open. The event was played at the course Ouimet knew best, The Country Club. He went on to win the 1913 U.S. Open over Britons Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. Ouimet's victory after an 18-hole playoff against Vardon and Ray was widely hailed as a stunning upset over the strongly-favored Britons who were regarded as the top two golfers in the world. He was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open. His achievement was front-page news across the country.
He also won the U.S. Amateur Championship twice, in 1914 and 1931. He played on the first eight Walker Cup Teams, and was Captain of the next four for a team record of 11-1. In 1951, he became the first American elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and in 1955 was the first-ever winner of the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Ouimet has been named to many golf Halls of Fame, and has a room named after him in the USGA Museum.
His wish was to remain an amateur for his whole career: he had decided before his U.S. Open success that he wanted to work in the world of business. However, in 1916, the USGA, in one of the most controversial decisions in their history, stripped Ouimet of his amateur status. Their reasoning was that he was using his celebrity to aid his own sports goods business, and was therefore making a living from golf. This was at the time when caddies were not allowed to continue caddying after they reached the age of sixteen years old unless they declared themselves professionals. The decision was greeted with uproar from Ouimet's fellow golfers. In 1918, Ouimet enlisted for the U.S. Army, and the USGA quietly reinstated his amateur status at the same time. He would go on to win his second U.S. Amateur Championship 13 years later in 1931. He did not bear a grudge against the Association, and served on several committees. Ouimet was also a golf member of Charles River Country Club, in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Woodland Golf Club of Auburndale, Massachusetts.
Effect on U.S. golf
Ouimet's U.S. Open success is credited for bringing golf into the American sporting mainstream. Before his surprising win over Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, golf was dominated by British players. In America, the sport was restricted to players with access to private facilities. There were very few public courses (the first, Van Cortlandt Golf Course in The Bronx borough of New York City, had opened in 1895). Ten years after his 1913 victory the number of American players had tripled and many new courses had been built, including numerous public ones.
One of Ouimet's greatest continuing contributions to the game of golf is the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. Since its founding in 1949, the Fund has awarded over $20.5 million in need based college tuition assistance to young people who have given at least two years of service to golf as caddies or worked in pro shop or course superintendent operations in Massachusetts.