You likely have not heard of C. Arthur Thompson, who never won the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or British Open. In fact, the Canadian amateur golfer never won on the PGA Tour, yet his single greatest accomplishment is as remarkable as anything achieved by professionals.
In 1973, over 18 holes at the 6,215-yard Uplands course in Victoria, British Columbia, Thompson shot his age.
He was 103.
Thompson’s feat, which is a Guinness World Record for the oldest man to shoot his age or lower – the women’s record belongs to Kayoko Fukui of Japan, who shot 70 at age 70 – put him in select company. The USGA does not track the specific data, but it is estimated that less than 1% of all golfers ever shoot their age. Anecdotal analysis puts the number at fewer than nine occurrences per million rounds played on standard-length courses.
Lest anyone assume that shooting your age is easier for the best players in the world, think again. The average age of PGA Tour players is 32, and only foreign dictators and U.S. presidents are capable – ahem – of scoring that low. The last professional to shoot his age at a PGA Tour event was 71-year-old Arnold Palmer, who shot 71 at the 2001 Bob Hope Classic.
Older Champions Tour players able to shoot their age
But a caveat exists. Or perhaps it is an anomaly? The Champions Tour, comprised of golfers ages 50 and up, has witnessed a handful of players shoot their age or lower during competition, led by the well-preserved 68-year-old Bernhard Langer, who has done it 43 times. The German golfing god first matched his age in 2021 when he shot 64 on his 64th birthday. The last time happened this year when he shot 66 at the Senior PGA Championship.
Other Seniors who have turned the trick include Gary Player, Hale Irwin, Fred Couples, Jay Haas and Vijay Singh.
Might a few more players shoot their age during the U.S. Senior Open, held July 2-5 at Scioto Country Club in Upper Arlington? Perhaps 72-year-old Jay Haas or 66-year-old Mark Calcavecchia? Unlikely, because Scioto’s course setup should preclude low scoring.
But if there is a sport in which older players can still pull a rabbit out of their logo-emblazoned hat, it is golf. The game is funny that way. Viewed from a certain perspective, the U.S. Senior Open is a puzzler for sports fans who don’t know golf, or assume the game was invented by the same people who think music comes out of bagpipes.
Watch 156 guys who grunt when getting up out of their chairs compete for a prize as prestigious as a national championship? Celebrating graying golfers vying for an actual trophy and $4 million purse? What’s the point? Think about it. Do baseball old-timers games get this much serious attention? Imagine if the NFL played a Seniors Super Bowl, with 59-year-old quarterback Troy Aikman avoiding the rush from 67-year-old Lawrence Taylor. Or how about 66-year-old Magic Johnson trying to dunk on 50-year-old Kevin Garnett.
Silly and ridiculous, right?
Except golf is different. Players in the half-a-century-and-up crowd may not be able to compete week in and week out with their flat-bellied brethren on the PGA Tour, but more than just occasionally they can hold their own. Check out the 2025 PGA Championship, at which 54-year-old Padraig Harrington tied for 18th.
Paddy is no threat to overtake 30-year-old Scottie Scheffler as the No. 1 player in the world – he missed the U.S. Open cut by 11 strokes last week – but his game remains impressive enough to slay most country club champions. He is the defending U.S. Senior Open champion, having defeated 53-year-old Stewart Cink by a stroke at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Golf is a game that ages well
What makes golf different from other sports is that older players can still play the game, and many at a high level. Updated equipment helps. Seniors are hitting the ball as far or farther than they did 10 years ago, mostly due to improvements in driver launch capability and golf balls that fly longer with less spin.
More players are working harder to keep in shape, too. The hefty paychecks on the Champions Tour – the winner at Scioto collects $800,000 – mean it pays to maintain the flexibility and strength of their youth.
But it’s not just the pros who can keep playing well as the years roll ahead. Older amateurs may not hit the ball as far as the 20-somethings, but there is something to be said for experience.
As 63-year-old Rocco Mediate explained it to Champions Tour media, “People ask, ‘You guys are much older now. How can you still play so well?’ Because we know more.”
Younger players don’t know what they don’t know, which can be good – less mental scar tissue to deal with – but what they do know they tend to ignore in favor of a grip-it-and-rip-it attitude. Work on your short game? Boring. Golf is more fun when you go for broke.
Ernie Els, 56, and Cink won’t wow anyone with how far they drive the ball, at least compared to the young guns, but they are more dangerous around the greens than they’ve ever been. Because they have to be.
Neither will shoot their age at Scioto, but their scorecards will top most anything seen at the Upper Arlington course since the last U.S. Open held there in 2016.
Underestimate the old fogies at your own risk.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Older golfers still pack punch as U.S. Senior Open comes to Scioto CC
Reporting by Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
