Robert Abbe Gardner was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 multi-sport athlete best known for winning the U.S. Amateur in golf twice.

Gardner was born in Hinsdale, Illinois

Hinsdale, Illinois

Hinsdale is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois; it is located partly in Cook County and mainly in DuPage County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 17,349 at the 2000 census. The town's ZIP code is 60521. The town has a rolling, wooded topography, with a quaint downtown and is a 30-minute...

. He spent most of his life in the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 area. He attended Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 in Andover, Massachusetts

Andover, Massachusetts

Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

. He graduated from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1912, where he was a member of Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....

.

While a sophomore at Yale, Gardner won the 1909 U.S. Amateur golf tournament over Chandler Egan

Chandler Egan

Henry Chandler Egan was an American amateur golfer and golf course architect of the early 20th century.-Early life and college:...

 at the Chicago Golf Club

Chicago Golf Club

Chicago Golf Club is a private golf club in Wheaton, Illinois in the United States. It is the oldest 18-hole course in North America and was one of the five clubs which founded the United States Golf Association in 1894. Its founder, Charles B. Macdonald, won the first official U.S...

. He was the youngest winner, at 19 years, 5 months, of the U.S. Amateur. His record stood for 85 years until Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

 won his first of three Amateurs at age 18 years, 8 months.

Gardner would make the finals of the U.S. Amateur three more times, winning in 1915 and losing in 1916 and 1921. He also lost in the finals of two other prominent amateur events, the 1911 Western Amateur

Western Amateur

The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association....

 and the 1920 British Amateur.

Golf was not the only sport Gardner excelled at. On June 1, 1912, at an intercollegiate track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 competition in Philadelphia, he set the world pole vault

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

 record at 13 feet, 1 inch (3.99 m). This record would be short lived as Marc Wright

Marc Wright

Marc Wright was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault.He was born in Chicago and died in Reading, Massachusetts....

 vaulted 13 feet, 2 inches (4.02 m) one week later at the Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 trials in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

.

Gardner also was national champion in another sport, racquets. He and Howard Linn won the national doubles racquets championship in 1926 and 1929.

Gardner enlisted in the Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 in 1917 and served in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as a lieutenant in a field artillery unit. After the war he returned to Chicago and joined a stock brokerage firm where he spent the rest of his career. He served as president of the Chicago District Golf Association (CDGA) for many years and also served on several United States Golf Association

United States Golf Association

The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...

 committees. He won the CDGA Amateur Championship three times (1916, 1924, 1925).

Gardner died in Lake Forest, Illinois

Lake Forest, Illinois

Lake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...

 at the age of 66.

Wins

• 1909 U.S. Amateur
• 1915 U.S. Amateur
• 1916 Chicago District Amateur
• 1924 Chicago District Amateur
• 1925 Chicago District Amateur

Runner-up finishes

• 1911 Western Amateur
  Western Amateur
  The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association....
  
  
• 1916 U.S. Amateur
• 1920 British Amateur
• 1921 U.S. Amateur

Winning team

• 1922 Walker Cup
  Walker Cup
  The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in odd numbered years between teams comprising the leading amateur golfers of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland...
  
  
• 1923 Walker Cup (playing captain)
• 1924 Walker Cup (playing captain)
• 1926 Walker Cup (playing captain)

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Runner-up
1909	U.S. Amateur	4 & 3	Chandler Egan Chandler Egan Henry Chandler Egan was an American amateur golfer and golf course architect of the early 20th century.-Early life and college:...
1915	U.S. Amateur	5 & 4	John G. Anderson

Results timeline

Tournament	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...	DNP	DNP	T23	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	DNP
U.S. Amateur	1	DNQ	R32	DNP	R32	QF	1	2	NT	NT	R16
British Amateur	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT

Tournament	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Amateur	R16	2	R16	SF	R32	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNP	DNP
British Amateur	2	DNP	DNP	R256	DNP	DNP	R256	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934
U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Amateur	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	R256
British Amateur	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

LA = Low Amateur

NT = No tournament

DNP = Did not play

"T" indicates a tie for a place

DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion

R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database

Source for 1920 British Amateur: The American Golfer, June 19, 1920, pg. 8.

Source for 1923 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1923, pg. 10.

Source for 1926 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1926, pg. 58.

External links

• Yale University biography
• New York Times article on his golf and pole vault abilities