Singer heir helped Bobby Jones build Augusta National amid Depression

A wealthy man with a vast Augusta estate became the godfather of Bobby Jones’ dream even as the nation sunk into the Great Depression.

Alfred Severin Bourne, an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine Co. fortune, had the cash and a zeal for golf to help build the grand Augusta National Golf Club. Although his equity was hurt in America’s financial crash, Bourne contributed $25,000 to underwrite Augusta National’s construction.

“He wished to put up more but because of the crash he couldn’t,” said his granddaughter, Nancy Bourne Swan, of Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Bourne was the first person Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts approached about financing the course, Roberts said in his autobiography, The Story of Augusta National Golf Club. Roberts remembered him as a “shy person” who loved golf, admired Jones and welcomed the opportunity to help.

Bourne’s only regret was that he couldn’t give more money from the $25 million willed to him by Frederick Bourne, his father and head of the Singer company. The 1929 crash wiped out his investments a year earlier, Roberts wrote.

“How I wish I had one of those millions to offer you today,” Roberts quoted Bourne as saying.

Bourne was one of many Northerners who lived in Augusta during the winter months and played golf at the Augusta Country Club.

He purchased a large estate on Milledge Road across from the country club. The home, called Morningside, had 30 acres with extensive gardens that Bourne’s wife showcased to the city.

Bourne was a generous man but more private about his wealth, Swan said. He invested in Augusta National because he wanted to help the city and the game he loved, she said.

“He was a very philanthropic and very quiet person. He wasn’t a showy person at all,” Swan said. “He was a very keep-to-himself, gentle man.”

Augusta businessman Levi Hill IV has researched Bourne, met some of his family members and visited Singer Castle, Frederick Bourne’s hunting lodge on an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway.

His financial gift to the National saved Jones’ struggling dream and shaped the future of the course, Hill said.

“That was an important time for Augusta National because it wasn’t nearly the success it is today,” he said.

Bourne’s contributions to Augusta extend beyond the National, Hill said.

He was a benefactor of Augusta County Club where he donated the Wallace House, originally a pro shop now used for special events. Plaques inside the house record him as the winner of the club’s championship from 1922 to 1925.

In the Wallace House, rooms are named for Bourne, former Augusta Country Club president Fielding Wallace and David Ogilvie, the club’s head pro.

Bourne had a private room in the house – now a ladies’ and mens’ restroom – where he could sneak onto the driving range, Hill said.

Bourne donated a collection of photos featuring champions of the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur tournaments through 1930 that hung in the Wallace House. Now, they adorn walls in the country club’s main clubhouse alongside a large collection of golf memorabilia.

When not visiting Augusta, Bourne had a 40-room Tudor mansion in Washington, Conn. for the summer months. He had married Louise Barnes from a prominent family in the town, said Paula Krimsky, the archivist at The Gunnery, a prep school now housed in Bourne’s summer estate.

“Bourne always wanted for his estate to go to The Gunnery,” Krimsky said.

Krimsky said family stories recount that Bourne built a 5- to 7-foot-tall wall on the property at his wife’s request to provide jobs to the unemployed.

Bourne would be proud of his legacy even though he shied from the spotlight, Swan said. She visited Augusta Country Club and once attended the Masters Tournament, where she saw her grandfather’s portrait in the National’s club house.

The large, silver trophy for the Senior PGA Champion­ship bears Bourne’s name. He donated it to the tournament, which was held at the National for its first two years before touring courses across the nation.

“He’d be extremely proud and very overjoyed at what golf has become in the country,” Swan said.