Montague was a popular figure in the California golf and movie scene in the 1930s, winning golf matches while, for example, playing only with a shovel, a hoe and a rake, and winning lots of money, too.
TIGER WOODS GONE HOME PRO
"The Mysterious Montague," a k a John Montague, is one of those legendary figures from golf's more raucous earlier days, when raconteurs, hustlers and scam artists were, sometimes, just as good at golf as the guys on the pro tours. John Montague (left) - he doesn't look very mysterious, does he? - with his attorney in 1937. Three years later he was assassinated by killers whose identity remains unknown.
He was not subsequently convicted of anything, however. McGurn missed the cut, but the police had their man. The cops agreed! But McGurn stumbled from that point and finished at 86. McGurn, who was playing pretty good in Round 2, pleaded to be allowed to finish the round. A squad of policemen confronted McGurn on the seventh green, planning to arrest him there. 25, 1933, McGurn was playing golf at Olympia Fields Country Club in the Western Open, and carded a 13-over 83 in the first round.īy Round 2, local cops got suspicious of "Vincent Gebhardi," which was a variation of the mobster's birth name, Vicenzo Gibaldi. McGurn was a key member of Al Capone's Chicago mob, and was believed to be - although never proven to be - involved in the planning and, perhaps, the execution of the St. His name was Vincent Gebhardi.Įxcept that Vincent Gebhardi wasn't really "Vincent Gebhardi" - he was mobster "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn. Chicago History Museum/Getty ImagesĪt the 1933 Western Open (the tournament we now know as the PGA Tour's BMW Championship), one of the entrants was a local club pro representing Chicago's Evergreen Golf Club. 'Machine Gun' Jack McGurn, looking like a man with something to hide. With a broken jaw and missing several shot-out teeth, but, amazingly, astoundingly, having survived a Nazi firing squad. The firing squad members walked away.Īnd then Ado got up and escaped. And then Ado was sentenced to death and put in front of a Nazi firing squad.
"There are stories," Alliss, who later played with Ado, wrote, "of his having strangled Germans with his bare hands."īut either the Nazi occupiers or their Vichy collaborators tracked Ado down and he was arrested. But a truly amazing arrest record: During World War II, Ado worked with the French Resistance. He played the British Open five times, with a best finish of 38th in 1954.Ī nondescript golf career. According to Peter Alliss in The Who's Who of Golf, Ado was "a gentle man" remembered for "rolling how own cigarettes" as he walked down fairways.Īdo also was a booming driver. Ado was a French golfer who played in European tournaments mostly during the 1950s.
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