Arnaud Massy at La Boulie © Digitalsport UK

He carried for many well known players including Horace Hutchison, Charles Hutchings and Everard Hambro. It was Hambro who brought Massy to North Berwick when he was twenty-one, and he immediately struck up a friendship with Ben Sayers sen.

Massy was a popular figure with a keen sense of humour, and returned to the West Links on six occasions, teaching for four months during the summer season. He used a two-handed grip and an open stance. A powerful man, he was a long hitter and highly thought of as a cleek player. Massy played regularly with the best Scottish 'cracks', amateur and professional, until he gained the necessary experience to compete at the highest level. He entered his first Open Championship from Biarritz G.C in 1902, and finished eleventh.

He had a distinctive twirl at the top of his backswing which dated back to when he played left handed as a youngster.

In 1904 he married a North Berwick girl, Janet Henderson, daughter of Captain Henderson and in 1905 entered the Open Championship at St. Andrews from North Berwick, where he finished in 5th place and received £7-10s. The following year he won the inaugural French Open at La Boulie where he was later appointed professional, this was his first of a record four wins in the French Open.

He finished in 6th place at the 1906 Open at Muirfield, and in 1907, Massy described by the press as a " Frenchman with the soul of a Scot " became the first overseas player to win the Open Championship. The weather was appalling at Hoylake in 1907, but Massy had the game to combat the strong winds and torrential rain. He led, or tied for the lead, throughout and scored 76, 81, 78, and 77, for an aggregate of 312, two stokes ahead of J.H. Taylor one of the best bad-weather players of them all.

The entry for the 1907 Open was over subscribed, and a qualifying round was introduced for the first time, which Massy also won. During the championship, his wife gave birth to a daughter, and he cut short his celebrations to return to Scotland. He arrived back in North Berwick accompanied by Ben Sayers and was greeted at the railway station by a large cheering crowd. They christened the baby Hoylake after his triumph.
As part of the summer season in North Berwick many of the local golfers and visiting personalities took part in a putting competition in aid of the North Berwick Parish Church Funds. In 1908, Dorothy Campbell, the current Scottish Ladies Champion, Arnaud Massy, and Ben Sayers were among the competitors. The tournament was played over a week on the nine-hole putting green at the Royal Hotel, now occupied by Craigleith View. Sixpence being charged per round with seven hundred rounds played, raising over £17.

Massy tied for first place along with another five on 21 strokes, but scratched to his opponents in the play-off. Campbell tied for second place in the Ladies competition, which was won with 23 strokes by Miss Faith Laidlay Invereil House, the sister of the famous amateur golfer John E. Laidlay.

Massy came close to winning another Open on 30th June 1911, when he made up four strokes on Harry Vardon to tie at Sandwich. In the playoff, however, he conceded on the 35th. He bounced back quickly, crossing the channel to win his third French Open, by seven strokes with all the top players in the field. The following year he entered the Open at Muirfield from La Nivelle Golf Club, where he finished in 10th place. Arnaud Massy had an outstanding record in the Open Championship, consistently finishing in the top twenty from 1902 until 1922. He wrote a book titled "Golf" which was translated into English in 1914. On 9th October 1925 he won his record fourth French Open.

It has been written that golf was first played in France by members of a Scottish battalion based a Pau during the Peninsula War in 1814, where they played their game on the Plains of Billere. Later a number of Wellington's Officers returned to the area on holiday and along with the Duke of Hamilton from an ancient golfing family were active in forming the Pau Golf Club in 1856.

David Grant was appointed the first professional at the Dinard Club in Ille-et-Villaine, designed by Tom Dunn the former clubmaker at North Berwick. In 1902, Grant was based at the Maloja G.C in Switzerland and in 1904 at the Bad-Nauheim course in Germany. At the opening of that course he played an exhibition match with Henry Longhurst from Ascot. Ben Sayers Jnr. was also based on the continent, spending some time in Copenhagen and Berlin. By 1911 the number of golf clubs in Europe had increased to; France (42), Germany (19), Italy (10), Belgium (8).

In 1913, Massy was involved in the first matches between France and the United States. He was wounded in the First World War at Verdun, and during the 1930s was the private professional to the Pasha of Marakesh in Morocco. He lived in Edinburgh during the Second World War and died in 1951. Arnaud Massy remains to this day the greatest French golfer ever.

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