Background
Strath was born in Street Andrews, Scotland, circa 1849, the son of Alexander Strath and Susan Strath (née Reid).
Strath was born in Street Andrews, Scotland, circa 1849, the son of Alexander Strath and Susan Strath (née Reid).
He finished in second place in the Open Championship three times: 1870, 1873, and 1876.
His golf career was highlighted with a trio of second place finishes in the 1870, 1873 and 1876 Open Championships. In 1876, he lost the playoff to fellow countryman Bob Martin. Strath toured Scotland and parts of England in the 1870s—both on his own and with fellow countryman Tom Morris, Junior.—playing exhibition matches on his own account, without official sanction.
This was the first time this had been done.
The Strath family of four brothers all died, except George, of consumption as young mentor When in the autumn of 1878 he fell ill, he decided on the advice of doctors in the Scottish town of North Berwick to embark on the 84-day voyage to Melbourne, Australia, to recover.
Many people assumed he had died on the ship when he did not return to Scotland. lieutenant was later discovered that Strath suffered acute laryngitis on the voyage and arrived in Melbourne in a weakened state, dying just 20 days later.
He died in a house on Royal Terrace in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton next to the residence of a Professor Halford, who had studied at Street Andrews University in Scotland and eventually founded the medical school at Melbourne University.
Strath died on 28 January 1879 in Melbourne, Australia. With the collaborative efforts of the golf club of Street Andrews and the Golf Society of Australia, funding was provided to erect a proper stone grave marker for Strath in January 2006.