22nd September 2025
John Harris, who represented USA in the 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2001 Walker Cup matches, died on 17th September 2025. He enjoyed an impressive P14 W10 L4 D0 record albeit USA only won two of these contests.
He was just 73 and had been ill for some time with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a type of blood cancer that affects the bone marrow.
John Harris (Photo: USGA Archives / John Mummert)
John Richard Harris was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 13th June 1952.
He played ice hockey and golf for the University of Minnesota. In 1974 he won the NCAA Championship with his team in the former and the Big 10 Championship individually in the latter.
After college Harris played both sports professionally but ice hockey, in the minor leagues, for only a short time.
After two years he lost his PGA Tour card at the end of the 1976 season. He regained his amateur status in 1983.
Harris, 41 at the time, was the last mid-amateur to win the U.S. Amateur, taking the 1993 Championship in Houston with a 5&3 victory over Danny Ellis in the Final.
He also won four Minnesota Amateur Championships (1974, 1987, 1989, 2000), the Sunnehanna Amateur (1995), the Porter Cup (1997) and the Terra Cotta Invitational (2002).
The University of Minnesota inducted Harris into its M Club Hall of Fame in 1994 for his sporting achievements, with the Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame also inducting him in 1998.
He eventually turned pro again when he reached 50 to compete on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. He played in 53 events over a 10 year period enjoying one victory at the 2006 Commerce Bank Championship after a play-off with Tom Jenkins.
ME.
Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.