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Publisher's
Essay
NW golf history revisited
Waverley celebrates the 100th anniversary of a shining moment in PNGA's annals
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John Bodenhamer
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Portland's Waverley Country Club is one of golf's special places.
Its magnificent golf course is one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River, opened in 1896, and has played host to many important championships over the years. Included in that list is Lanny Wadkins' 1970 U.S. Amateur victory and Tiger Woods' third consecutive U.S. Junior Boys' triumph in 1993. The first 12 Oregon Amateurs also were held at Waverley.
The club has produced a long list of golf's leaders who have served on the USGA Executive Committee and as President of the PNGA and OGA. Eight golfers from Waverley currently reside in the PNGA Hall of Fame. It is the course on which Peter Jacobsen cut his teeth.
Waverley also has produced more caddies and Evans Scholarship recipients than any other golf club in Oregon. Its stately white-pillared clubhouse overlooking the banks of the mighty Willamette River is a symbol of the club's proud tradition. While the clubhouse has been restored on several occasions, one could swear the ghosts of tournaments and dinner parties past still wander the halls.
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| Oregon Historical Society and its actors help Waverley remember its past. |
This past June 24, in cooperation with The Oregon Historical Society, the club took a glorious step back in time and held the 100th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Exposition Tournament, which it also played host to in 1905 as the PNGA Amateur Championship (men and women). It was a watershed event for the PNGA and Waverley in those days.
As a major part of the broader centennial celebration of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition, the tournament was marketed as the "Championship of the Pacific Coast" to help draw people from throughout the western United States. It was during this event the PNGA began the tradition of awarding expensive sterling silver trophies to each flight winner and runner-up.
The event also created a regional camaraderie among Northwest golfers, resulting in future PNGA events drawing larger fields of better players. Waverley member Roderick Macleay and Victoria, B.C.'s Violet Pooley, both current PNGA Hall-of-Famers, emerged victorious. It established a standard of quality to which future PNGA events and other major golf competitions would be compared for many years to come. Also noteworthy, it confirmed the PNGA would follow the USGA Rules of Golf in conducting its championships, something not always done in those days.
Charles Pooley accompanied his daughter Violet to the event, hoping to assist her from the sidelines. However, the PNGA Rules officials mandated that only her caddie could provide assistance during a round. Consequently, father Pooley lugged his daughter's bag around the entire week for each 36-hole match!
In true Waverley style, the club conducted a marvelous event a hundred years later. A full field of contestants enjoyed a golf course that has changed little since 1905.
Afterward, an awards ceremony included some unique prizes, replica branding irons from the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Remarkably, Waverley General Manager Scott Julien uncovered from the club's attic the original Lewis and Clark Exposition PNGA sterling silver championship trophy from 1905. It was restored and will now serve as the event's perpetual trophy.
Columbia Edgewater's Chris Holzgang won the renewal of the overall tournament with a 1-under-par 71. Fittingly, as the 2005 champion, his name is only the second on the trophy, inscribed immediately below Roderick Macleay, the 1905 winner.
As a charming gesture, the year 2105 was engraved on the trophy in anticipation of the next winner during the renewal of the event in 100 years. In true Waverley style, all who participated in 2005 were given an exemption to participate again in 2105!
While there have been many magnificent golf courses built in recent years and still more surely to come, I will take the old traditional ones anytime. Sure, maybe the golf ball has made some a bit too short on which to play the U.S. Open. Nevertheless, their heritage and tradition cannot be bought and sold, but can only be built over the course of time. Waverley is one of those special places.
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