Tom -
Some finds on your man J.A.T. Bramston.
- He was a flaming redhead and considered the best golfer on the O&C team.
- He disliked the Haskell and insisted on playing his matches in the US with a guttie.
- He wrote "A Book of Golf" with Braid and Hutchinson. The book was published in 1903. Same year as Low's landmark book.
- He was ill when he went to the US and was the only member of the O&C team with a losing record.
- Bramston got gradually sicker during the matches, returned home very ill and died of tuberculosis about two years later.
- Darwin was supposed to play with the team but couldn't go. He called the team his best friends and contemporaries and regretted deeply that he didn't go. He wrote a beautiful article on the team in GI in 1915, expressing special fondness for Bramston. But he also wrote little bios of what each player did after his return to England and later. Sounds like Darwin and Low remained close friends at Woking. Great stuff.
Overall record of the matches - O&C 64 wins, US 39 wins.
Bob