As defending champion, Willie came a very credible fifth the following year, having already won his first (of four) Western Opens, then seen as a major. His 299 in winning the 1902 Western Open was the first time anyone had broken 300 in a seventy-two-hole event, and he became the first player to win both events.
In 1903, at Baltusrol in New Jersey, he blew a six-shot lead after thirty-six holes and had to grind in the final round before he repeated his feat of winning the US Open in a play-off, this time beating fellow Scot (and 1886 British Open champion) Davie “Deacon” Brown by two shots. Willie had become the first man to win the title twice, and also became the only player to win the US Open with both the old gutta-percha and the new rubber-cored ball.
In 1904 at Chicago's Glen View Course, Willie dispelled any notion that he had been fortunate to win twice in play-offs by blowing away the field and winning by five strokes from American Gilbert Nicholls, which set the tournament scoring records including a record low 72 in the final round. He now had his third US Open title, and his second in a row.
It’s often said that he never played in the Open Championship, but he actually did enter in 1905 at St Andrews. He scored poorly and missed the cut for the final two rounds, although he did catch up with many of his old friends.
Arriving back in the US, at Myopia Hunt Club (the club where he had his first win in 1901) he overcame an unusually slow start to beat his old rival Smith by two and achieved the unthinkable – three US Open wins in a row, never achieved before or since. He was only twenty-five. His total of four wins have since been matched by Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus, but never surpassed.
