{"id":48591,"date":"2026-06-12T05:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/hes-the-golfer-who-once-nearly-sparked-a-mass-boycott-after-playing-in-the-u-s-open-at-sinek-hills\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T05:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:35:42","slug":"hes-the-golfer-who-once-nearly-sparked-a-mass-boycott-after-playing-in-the-u-s-open-at-sinek-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/hes-the-golfer-who-once-nearly-sparked-a-mass-boycott-after-playing-in-the-u-s-open-at-sinek-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"He&#8217;s the golfer who once nearly sparked a mass boycott after playing in the U.S. Open at Sinek Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Sinek Hills is part of the US Open. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This legendary golf course hosted the second U.S. Open in American history in 1896 and has been a U.S. Open staple ever since. It&#8217;s still brutally challenging and represents everything a tournament should be.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>One of the men who helped build the golf course, John Matthew Shippen Jr., is thought to be the first American-born professional golfer. He was the son of former slaves and served as a minister on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation at the age of nine.<\/p>\n<p>But when he tried to play the 1896 U.S. Open at the age of 16 on the golf course where he had just grown up, he threatened the entire tournament.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" aria-modal=\"true\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>1913 &#8211; Golfer John Shippen becomes active.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Why John Matthew Shippen nearly sparked a boycott of the US Open<\/h2>\n<p>Before the 1986 U.S. Open began at Shinnecock Hills, some club members were so impressed by Shippen&#8217;s golfing skills that they paid to attend the tournament, along with his close friend Oscar Bunn, a Shinnecock native.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>This turned out to be a controversial move. Shippen played the U.S. Open at Shinnecock&#8217;s home course, but received a heated reaction from some in the field.<\/p>\n<p>Several professional players from England and Scotland threatened to go on strike to protest the inclusion of non-white players. Despite the possibility of a large-scale boycott, USGA President Theodore Havemeyer stood firm. He said the tournament would go ahead even if Shippen and his friend Vann were the only players on the course.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament took place, and young Shippen proved he was more than worthy of being on the field. They advanced to the final round in a tie for first place in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, a disastrous 11 on the 13th hole ended his chances, but he still finished T6 and earned $10 for his performance.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Shippen played in five more U.S. Opens, his best finish being a tie for fifth in 1902. He was essentially America&#8217;s first homegrown golf professional, but was banned from the PGA for life, even though the USGA fought in his corner.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"content-list\">\n<li\/><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sinek Hills is part of the US Open. This legendary golf course hosted the second U.S. Open in American history in 1896 and has been a U.S. Open staple ever since. It&#8217;s still brutally challenging and represents everything a tournament should be. advertisement One of the men who helped build the golf course, John Matthew [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}