Edward Harvie Ward, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – September 4, 2004) was an American golfer best known for his amateur career. He is best known for winning both the U.S. Amateur (twice) and the British Amateur.
Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, Ward attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. As a Tar Heel, he won the NCAA Division I individual title in 1949, and graduated with a degree in economics.
Ward’s win in the British Amateur came in 1952 (he finished runner-up in 1953), and his consecutive U.S. Amateur wins came in 1955 and 1956. He also won several other significant amateur events including the Canadian Amateur, making him one of two golfers to win the U.S., British, and Canadian Amateurs (the other is Dick Chapman). Ward is the only player in history to have won those three titles along with the NCAA Championship. He finished runner-up in the 1952 Western Amateur. He also won the 1977 North Carolina Open as a professional.
Ward played on three winning Walker Cup teams (1953, 1955, 1959), winning all six of his matches.
In 1956, Ward and fellow amateur Ken Venturi famously played in “The Match” against professionals Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan at Cypress Point where Hogan and Nelson fired a best ball 57 (15 under par) to slip past Ward and Venturi 1 up. This was chronicled in a book by author Mark Frost in 2009.
In 1957, Ward lost his amateur status, in a controversial ruling by the United States Golf Association, for accepting expense money from sponsors for golf tournaments. The ruling was reversed in 1958. His primary sponsor, Eddie Lowery, who was serving at the time on the USGA’s Executive Committee, had incorrectly claimed income tax deductions for the money he was spending to sponsor Ward, one of his car dealership employees in the San Francisco area. Ward was unaware of this situation, and was not personally at fault. Following the ruling, Ward’s life went into a tailspin, and he took several years to recover.
Ward played in 19 professional majors. In 11 Masters Tournament appearances, he finished in the top 10 twice (4th in 1957 and tied for 8th in 1955), in the top 25 five times, and only missed two cuts. In the U.S. Open, he made the cut in five of eight appearances, including a tie for 7th in 1955. (wikipedia)
