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Lifelong Portsmouth resident was one of Virginia's all-time golfing greats.

by Jennings Culley

In his lifetime, Chandler Harper skillfully fashioned a golf game that left a trail of success around the world.

He first gained national attention by winning the PGA Championship in 1950. Later, he played on the Ryder Cup team and in the Masters Tournament. He won the World Seniors championship in Dundee, Scotland in 1968. And on several occasions, he traveled across Europe giving clinics and exhibitions for the armed forces.

But Harper, who died at 90 in Portsmouth in October, was really a low-key, home-loving guy who took special pride in his accomplishments in his native Virginia.

His dossier on the PGA Tour reflects the brilliance of his game. He won eight individual titles (and several two-man team events) and was runner-up in 10 others.

But from the time he won his first State Amateur championship as a 16-year-old in 1930, he was forever carving his name on some trophy in the Old Dominion.

His record 10 State Open victories are testament to his longevity and versatility. Those 10 titles were spread over five decades and won on nine different courses.

Harper, nicknamed “Old Bones” for his long, angular frame was never as flamboyant or spectacular as fellow Virginian Sam Snead, in whose shadow he played much of the time on the national scene. But few on tour could play the game with his finesse and steady manner.

The wedge and the putter were his brushes, and the rolling greens across the country were his canvas. His phenomenal short game left some masterpieces along the way.

Like the day at the Tucson Open in 1950 when he used only 20 putts and put his name the PGA record book for fewest putts in a round.

Or his run at the 1954 Texas Open when he had consecutive rounds of 63-63-63–189 that is still in the book for the lowest three-round score.

His putting was akin to the man himself – very basic, very simple, very steady.

Standing over a putt, he was a study in precision. His feet were together; he crouched slightly; his stroke was smooth and easy.

“I copied that stance from Bobby Jones,” Harper said once. “When I was a kid, he was everybody’s idol…we all tried to do it the way he did. I never changed.”

He stayed all his life, too, with the old-fashioned blade putter similar to Jones’ Calamity Jane.

Harper’s finesse game was never more telling than during his march to the PGA Championship at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. The event was played at match play then with the stymie rule in effect, meaning you had to play around or over your opponent’s ball on the green.

In a quarterfinal match with Lloyd Mangrum, Harper found himself all even on the 35^th green. He was 15 feet away and Mangrum 20 feet on a similar line. Harper knew if Mangrum’s putt came up short, it would be directly in his line.

That’s what happened.

Harper pondered the situation, pulled out a 9-iron and chipped just short of Mangrum’s ball. The chip bounced over Mangrum’s ball and into the cup. A perfect execution of the stymie.

Then on the 36^th hole, Harper rolled in a 20-footer for a halving birdie and went on the win the title that validated his game and earned him a spot in the PGA of America Hall of Fame.

A few years later in Chicago, Harper birdied the final hole in the World Championship and was being interviewed as the apparent winner. But Lew Worsham holed out a wedge for an eagle two and won by a stroke. The check was for $25,000, the largest purse ever offered up to that point.

The State Open always held a special place in Harper’s heart. He won the first while still an amateur in 1932, and for the next 10 years, either Harper or his friend Bobby Cruickshank of Richmond’s Country Club of Virginia captured the championship.

The 1941 tourney, the last before play was suspended for World War II, was Harper’s most memorable. He beat Snead by four strokes at Ocean View Golf Course in Norfolk.

The tourney’s renewal in 1946 turned into a classic duel between the two native sons at the Cavalier Yacht and Country Club in Virginia Beach.

Snead had a nine-shot lead going into the final round, but Harper fired a blistering 63 and tied him.

In the 18-hole playoff, Snead forged a four-shot lead in the early going, but Harper clawed his way back. By the time they reached the 15^th tee, Harper was up a shot.

Harper parred his way in, but Snead birdied the last four and finished with a 64 to Harper’s 67. It was the only State Open Snead ever won.

Harper’s dominance came after he retired from the tour and returned to Portsmouth in 1955 to build and operate the Bide-A-Wee Club. By then he had matched Cruickshank’s record of six Open championships and was playing golf sporadically.

In 1967, Harper came back for what he thought would be a last try at making the record his own. He did it, winning his seventh Open in a playoff with Herb Hooper at the Eastern Shore Country Club.

Inspired by his play, Harper proceeded to win the next three Opens, the last in 1970 at the Keswick Golf Club at age 56.

It was about the time Harper padded his resume’ by winning three PGA Seniors titles and the World Senior championship.

But Harper was more than just a player. He was a consummate club pro, a sound teacher and a willing helper to anyone who sought his advice and counsel.

Curtis Strange, winner of back-to-back U.S. Opens, was just 14 when his father, Tom Strange (a five-time State Open champion), died of cancer. Curtis turned to Harper, and the teacher-pupil relationship flourished into a lasting friendship.

“He was a big part of my career, especially starting out,” said Strange. “You need guidance as a youngster and you need encouragement, which Chandler always gave me. I trusted him and his advice because he had been there and done that.”

Asked once how he would like to be remembered, Harper suggested this simple epitaph: “He lived and loved golf and tried his best to provide it for others.”

Chandler Harper did that in Hall of Fame style.

Author Jennings Culley is a columnist for The Richmond Times-Dispatch and a frequent contributor to Virginia Golfer.

Virginia State Golf Association
600 Founders Bridge Blvd., Midlothian, Va. 23113
Phone: (804) 378-2300
Fax: (804) 378-2369 and (804) 378-8216

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