Source: VT Golf Magazine | Issue: Summer 1998 | Author: Bob Labbance
Synopsis: This article is about Hall of Famer Joe Kirkwood and his accomplishments within the golf community.
Joe Kirkwood was born April 3, 1897, in Sydney Australia. At the age of 10, he departed for points uncharted without a compass, roosting at a farm 370 miles from Sydney where he was hired as a sheep herder. There he golf on a three-hole course, designed by his boss, and the game instantly became his life.
Kirkwood won the Australian and New Zealand Opens in 1920, the Illinois Championship and the California Open in 1923, the North and South Open and the Canadian Open in 1933. He competed in the 1948 U.S. Open, placing 28th. Part of the first team of American professionals competing against a British team, he helped create the Ryder Cup. These are just come of this Hall of Gamer’s accomplishments.