Golf at the 1900 Summer Olympics

Charles Sands, representative of the St. Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York finished the 36 hole tournament with 82-85 defeating Walter Rutherford of Jedburgh, Scotland by a mere one stroke.[2] Finishing third for the men's division and receiving the bronze medal was David Robertson. Sands started playing golf in 1895 and three months later participated and made it to the final round of the first U.S. Amateur only to be beaten badly by Charles B. MacDonald. The only other golf tournament Sands ever competed in was the 1900 Summer Olympics.

The women's division was a stage for many firsts that occurred in the Olympic games. Not only was this the first time women were ever able to compete in the Olympic games, the women's division was won by Margaret Abbott of Chicago Golf Club. Abbott shot a 47 to win and became the first ever American female to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games,[3] though she received a gilded porcelain bowl as a prize instead of a medal. She is also the second overall American woman to receive an Olympic medal. Abbott's mother, Mary Abbott, also competed in this Olympic event and finished tied for seventh, shooting a 65. They were the first and only mother and daughter that have ever competed in the same Olympic event at the same time. [4]

Margaret never knew that they were competing in the Olympics; she thought it was a normal golf tournament and died not knowing. Her historic victory was not known until University of Florida professor Paula Welch began to do research into the history of the Olympics and discovered that Margaret Abbott had placed first. Over the course of ten years, she contacted Abbott's children and informed them of their mother's victory. [5] [6]