Frederick Guthrie Tait was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 soldier

Soldier

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

 and amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

 golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

er.

Born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, the third son of eminent physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and fanatical amateur golfer Peter Guthrie Tait

Peter Guthrie Tait

Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE was a Scottish mathematical physicist, best known for the seminal energy physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy, which he co-wrote with Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory, which contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical...

, Frederick was educated at the Edinburgh Academy

Edinburgh Academy

The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...

 and Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...

. He entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

 at the second attempt and is credited with introducing golf there. Tait joined the 2nd battalion, the Leinster regiment (109th foot) and then the 2nd battalion, the Black Watch

Black Watch

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....

.

Tait was an extremely powerful and long hitter of the ball. At The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest and most prestigious golf clubs in the world . It is based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and is regarded as the worldwide "Home of Golf"...

 on 11 January 1893, he hit the ball 250 yards, the ball then rolling on frozen ground and coming to rest 341 yards from the tee

Tee

A tee is a stand used to support a stationary ball so that the player can strike it, particularly in golf, tee ball, American football, and rugby.- Etymology :...

, thereby refuting his father's calculation that 190 yards was the maximum possible flight. Tait won The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...

 twice (1896 and 1898), finished third in The Open Championship

The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

 twice (1896 and 1897) and was leading amateur in the same competition on six occasions.

Tait was killed in action

Killed in action

Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...

 at Koodoosberg during the Second Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

.

Tournament wins

• 1896 The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
  
  
• 1896 St. George's Challenge Cup
• 1898 The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
  
  
• 1898 St. George's Challenge Cup
• 1899 St. George's Challenge Cup

Amateur wins (2)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Runner-up
1896	The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...	8 & 7	Harold Hilton Harold Hilton Harold Horsfall Hilton was an English amateur golfer.-Biography:Hilton was born in West Kirby. In 1892, he won The Open Championship at Muirfield, becoming the second amateur to do so. He won again in 1897 at his home club, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake...
1898	The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...	7 & 5	S. Mure Fergusson

Results timeline

Note: Tait played in only The Open Championship

The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

 and The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship

The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...

.

Tournament	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...	T30	T21	DNP	9 LA	T15	T3 LA	T3	5	T7 LA
The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...	DNP	R32	SF	SF	SF	1	R32	1	2

LA = Low Amateur

NYF = Tournament not yet founded

NT = No tournament

DNP = Did not play

WD = Withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place

DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion

R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Source for British Open: www.opengolf.com

Source for 1892 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, May 12, 1892, pg. 11.

Source for 1893 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, May 12, 1893, pg. 11.

Source for 1894 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, April 28, 1894, pg. 11.

Source for 1895 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, May 10, 1895, pg. 11.

Source for 1897 British Amateur: The Scotsman, April 29, 1897, pg. 4.

Honours

• The Freddie Tait Cup is awarded annually to the leading amateur in the South African Open.