History of the Oregon Amateur

PAST CHAMPIONS

While many state Championships have become stroke play competitions, the Oregon Amateur, one of the nation's oldest, remains true to its roots playing the same traditional match play format that's used to this day to determine the best amateur champions even at the national level. It's also one of the few men's and women's amateurs held concurrently, always played at the same time at the same site.

The inaugural Oregon Amateur was held at Waverley Country Club in 1904, the only course in Portland at the time. A total of 11 men and 13 women teed it up, with Roderick Macleay taking the Men's title and Carrie Flanders winning among the Women. Macleay went on to win the three more times with victories in 1905, '07 and '09.

Waverley hosted the event every year until it moved to Gearhart Golf Links on the northern Oregon Coast in 1917. The event was cancelled in 1918 due to World War I, but returned to Waverley and then Portland Golf Club and Tualatin Country Club from 1919-23.

As popularity of the sport grew so did the number of players in the Championship. By 1924 it became evident that help was needed to run the tournament, the area clubs formed the Oregon Golf Association.

Over the years, the Oregon Amateur was an important stepping stone for many to illustrious international amateur and professional careers.

WOMEN'S DIVISION
The list of women champions reads like a who's who of Northwest golf and includes several Hall of Famers.

Violet Pooley won the event just one time (1909) but had an illustrious Northwest career including seven PNGA Women's Amateur titles and nine B.C. Women's Amateur crowns. In large part this was due to her consistent ability to outdrive the competition, propelling her gutty ball up to 175-yards with a hickory shafted driver.

Another prolific champion was Marian McDougall who took two Oregon Junior Amateur crowns in 1930 & '31. By 1940, she added four Oregon Amateur, five PNGA Amateur, as well as Oregon and Western Open titles to her resume.

Grace DeMoss was among a handful of women who dominated the American Golf scene in the '50s including notables such as JoAnne Gunderson (Carner) and Carol Jo Kabler (Skala). She was the first northwest woman to play in the Curtis Cup (1952, '54), and followed that success adding 3 Oregon and Florida Amateur titles.

In 1955, Kabler won the Oregon Junior Amateur, Oregon Amateur and also the U.S. Girls Junior Championship. She went on to play professionally on the LPGA, and was inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame in 2009.

Marcia Fisher's seven titles spanned three decades (1980-2000), but the most prolific champion was 8-time winner Mary Budke. The 3-time Oregon Junior Champion won her first adult title in 1971 and added a U.S. Women's Amateur crown in '72. She also played on the Curtis Cup (1974) and captained the winning team in 2002. Now, an emergency room physician, the event's Perpetual Trophy is named after her.

MEN'S DIVISION

On the Men's side two early players pitched epic battles whenever their paths crossed. First of note was Rudie Wilhelm of Portland Golf Club, with five titles between 1915 and 1927 along with three runner-up finishes. His chief rival, Waverley's Dr. Oscar F. Willing, also collected five trophies and was runner-up twice over a 17-year span from 1921 to 1938. In 1923, he was the first Northwest golfer selected to represent the United States on the Walker Cup Team, playing again in 1924 and in 1930 after finishing as runner-up in the 1929 U.S. Amateur.

Frank Dolp and Don Moe, two youngsters who learned the game as caddies at Eastmoreland Golf, also began their dominating runs in the mid-1920s. Dolp won the Amateur five times from 1925 until 1932 and also notched Western Amateur and PNGA Men's crowns. Moe won the 1928 and 1937 titles and was runner-up three times, was also a two-time winner of the Western Amateur (1929 and '31). Moe joined Willing on the 1930 Walker Cup against Great Britain.

Also noteworthy during these halcyon days was H. Chandler Egan. A member of the 1934 Walker Cup Team, he was credited with the still much-heralded redesign of Pebble Beach in the late 1920s along with architect-partner Alister MacKenzie.

Egan was already a two-time winner of the U.S. Amateur before moving to Medford, Ore. He designed Rogue Valley Country Club and became a big part of the golf scene in the Beaver State. He designed or had a hand in re-designing several noteworthy Northwest tracks, including Eastmoreland, Oswego Lake, and Riverside in Portland, Tualatin, Eugene, and Bend Country Clubs, as well as Indian Canyon in Spokane and West Seattle.

Dick Yost and Bruce Cudd distinguished themselves in the 1950s. Yost won the 1950 Amateur and Cudd won the event soon thereafter in 1953 and 1954. Together, they played in the 1955 Walker Cup. It was only the second time in history that two members of the same club (Columbia Edgewater) played on the team (the others being Bobby Jones and Watts Gunn of the Atlanta Athletic Club).

Three time winner Don Kreiger later turned his attention to the administrative side of the OGA, serving in various capacities for 25 years including a term as President beginning in 1987.

The most recent Walker Cup member was Jonathan Moore who sank the winning putt for an American victory in 2006 over the GB&I team, the year he also won the NCAA Division I Men's title at Crosswater in Sunriver, Ore. Moore was the youngest winner ever of the Oregon Amateur, winning in 2001 at his home course, Royal Oaks, at the age of 15. He has since turned professional.

Several notable players played in both the Walker Cup and the Oregon Amateur, but never won. These included Lawson Little, a player Depression-era scribes considered the best amateur since Bobby Jones. Little's father was in the Army, and while he was stationed at Fort Vancouver across the Columbia River from Portland in the 1920s, Lawson played in the Oregon Amateur out of Waverley. Then there is John Fought, now a notable golf course architect responsible for tracts including Langdon Farms, the Reserve (South), and Pumpkin Ridge in the Portland area, Centennial in Medford and Crosswater in Sunriver. He played on the 1977 Walker Cup team before turning professional.

Several other players who cut their teeth in Oregon Amateur matches went on to stellar careers as professionals, notably Mike Davis, Fred Haney, Peter Jacobsen, Pat Fitzsimmons, Steve Rintoul and Bob Gilder. Casey Martin, now the Men's Golf Coach at University of Oregon, won the 1993 Amateur, a year after his brother Cam took the crown.

More recently, Jeff Quinney won the 2000 Oregon Amateur and went on to win the 2000 U.S. Amateur and play on the Walker Cup team that year. In his 2007 rookie season he was 51st on the PGA Tour money list and nearly topped $2 million in earnings last year.

Of course, not everyone has the desire to turn pro. One of the more notable players was Kent Myers, who won four titles over three decades (1965 to 1983). The wily veteran, now 76 and who regularly breaks his age at Oswego Lake, also played on more Hudson Cup teams than any other player (19 times!). Myers, with an inimitable and mind-boggling between-the-legs putting style, was featured in the USGA's Golf Journal and Golf Digest after playing in the 1991 U.S. Senior Open.