Willie Anderson had already won the U.S. Open once before, in 1901, making him the first player to claim the championship twice. Born in North Berwick, Scotland, he had emigrated to the United States as a teenager and quickly established himself among the best players in the country. At Baltusrol in 1903, Anderson dominated the first three rounds, building what seemed an insurmountable six-stroke advantage through 54 holes. But championship golf has a way of humbling even the steadiest hands. His final round of 82 on Saturday afternoon was a disaster by any measure, and David Brown's closing 76 pulled the two men level at 307 -- still eight shots clear of everyone else in the field.

The playoff could not be held on Sunday. Baltusrol's members had reserved the course for their own play, so Anderson and Brown would have to wait until Monday. When they finally teed off, the weather had turned foul -- a heavy rainstorm lashed the course throughout the round. Anderson took a two-stroke lead at the turn, but Brown clawed back to level the match after fourteen holes. Then came the pivotal fifteenth, where Brown's tee shot sailed out of bounds. He carded a seven, yet Anderson three-putted for a six, gaining only a single stroke from his opponent's calamity. Anderson added another stroke at the sixteenth, and both men made fours on the final two holes. Anderson finished at 82, two shots ahead. It was not elegant, but it was enough.

Anderson's 1903 victory was the first of three consecutive U.S. Open titles, a feat no golfer has matched since. He won again in 1904 and 1905, giving him four Open championships in total -- a record that stood alone for decades before Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus each equaled it. Anderson accomplished all of this before dying at just 31 years old in 1910, a career cut tragically short. The 1903 field also included figures who would shape the game's future in different ways. Donald Ross, who would become one of America's most celebrated golf course architects, posted his best-ever Open finish in fifth place. And Baseball Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward, trying his hand at competitive golf, finished a distant 56th.

The Old Course at Baltusrol that hosted Anderson's playoff victory no longer exists. It would welcome the U.S. Open once more in 1915, then three years later, renowned architect A.W. Tillinghast was commissioned to redesign the property entirely. He plowed the Old Course under to create Baltusrol's Upper and Lower Courses, both of which went on to host major championships of their own. The Lower Course alone has staged seven U.S. Opens. Where Anderson and Brown once slogged through a rainstorm on a 6,003-yard layout, generations of golfers would later test themselves on Tillinghast's far longer, more demanding designs -- a physical palimpsest where one era of championship golf was literally built atop another.