Newport C.C. Traces Championship History To Inaugural U.S. Open, Amateur

By David Shefter, USGA

Far Hills, N.J. – The game of golf wasn't invented at Newport Country Club nor was it the first course constructed in the United States.

But U.S. championship golf at the highest level was born in 1895 at the links-style Rhode Island venue.

The inaugural U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open were conducted in the same week, in October. Charles Blair Macdonald, one of the pioneers in American golf course architecture, won the Amateur, while a day later Englishman Horace Rawlins triumphed at the Open in four loops around what was then a nine-hole course.

Newport, here hosting the Sixth Annual Invitation Golf Tournament, was one of the founding member clubs of the U.S. Golf Association. (USGA Photo Archives)

As one of the five original founding member clubs of the USGA, Newport Country Club played an integral role in the early history of American golf. The actual golf course traces its roots to 1894, which was the same year the USGA was formed, mostly as a means to conduct national championships under one governing body.

Yet after those first championships, Newport went dormant from the national scene in regard to USGA competitions. In fact, it would be 100 years before the Association returned to the club. As part of the USGA's Centennial celebration, the 1995 U.S. Amateur was held at Newport C.C.

Now the national – and international spotlight – will be aimed at Newport again this summer when the U.S. Women's Open is conducted over this classic layout June 29-July 2.

"This is a great recognition for the golf course, and a great thing for the club members and the state of Rhode Island," said Barclay Douglas Jr., president of Newport C.C. "We are excited and looking forward to hosting the best women players in the world."

None of its members were around when the inaugural Amateur and Open were waged here 111 years ago. While the U.S. Amateur currently attracts 7,000-plus entries, just 32 players signed up to compete in 1895.

Back then, the club was just in its infancy stage. As the 19th century was coming to a close, some of Newport's most prominent individuals, including John Jacob Astor and the three Vanderbilts – Cornelius, Frederick and William – helped found the club, along with Theodore Havemeyer, a sugar mogul who first played the game on a trip to France.

The course itself was constructed on a site that featured few houses or trees. Many decades of Colonial land clearing, followed by firewood cutting during the British military occupation of 1776-78, left the area virtually devoid of trees. It is believed that the ridges on the current 10th fairway possibly represent a former encampment site where the later French occupying forces kept watch against a possible British attack from the sea.

Scottish-born William Davis became the club's first professional and he later designed the first nine holes before Donald Ross was hired to lay out an additional nine holes in 1915. A.W. Tillinghast, whose works include 2006 U.S. Open site Winged Foot among other classic layouts, redesigned the course that was completed in 1924.

One of the club's first big events was an exhibition match between Davis and Shinnecock Hills pro Willie Dunn. Newport members donated the purse for the nine-hole competition won by Dunn, 45-46.

When Newport helped organize the USGA in December of 1894, Havemeyer was chosen as the Association's first president and the U.S. Amateur trophy was named in his honor.

It was Havemeyer who presented the trophy to the USGA's first champion, Macdonald, whose claim to fame would be golf course architecture with such gems as Chicago Golf Club and National Golf Links of America. Macdonald handily defeated Charles E. Sands in the final, 12 and 11.

One humorous footnote to that championship was competitor Richard Peters of Newport C.C. who used a billiard cue as a putter. The strategy didn't pan out well as Peters was eliminated in the first round by Reverend W.S. Rainsford of St. Andrews Golf Club of New York, 5 and 4. Not long after the competition, the USGA acted quickly by outlawing the use of this "pool cue" implement.

The day after the Amateur concluded, Rawlins, who had come to Newport C.C. to serve as the assistant pro the previous January, held off 10 other competitors in the one-day, 36-hole marathon to win the U.S. Open by two strokes over Shinnecock Hills pro Dunn. The 21-year-old took home the $150 first-place prize. In addition, he received a gold medal and the Open Championship Cup, both of which are still given out today, although the first-place check has significantly increased.

When the USGA returned to Newport in 1995, a 19-year-old took center stage. Tiger Woods had become the youngest champion in U.S. Amateur history with his come-from-behind victory in 1994 over Trip Kuehne at the Tournament Players Club of Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Woods was the clear favorite when 312 competitors began play that August and the Stanford University standout didn't disappoint the huge crowds.

Woods worked his way through the 64-player match-play draw to earn a spot in the 36-hole final against Pennsylvania career amateur George "Buddy" Marucci Jr. Marucci more than held his own against the future superstar, but Woods prevailed in the end, 2 up.

Newport C.C. only waited 11 years before deciding to host another USGA championship, this time for

A baby-faced 19-year-old named Tiger Woods won the second of his three straight U.S. Amateur titles at Newport Country Club. (USGA Photo Archives)

the world's best female golfers.

"To say we're excited about being back in Newport is the understatement of the year," said Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director for Rules and competition. "We're ecstatic about it.

"Newport might be the perfect setting for the [Women's] Open Championship. It is a case study of natural golf. And a case study of golf history. It's the ‘anti-modern' course. What you see out there is what Mother Nature gives you."

For the Women's Open, Newport C.C. will play either 6,576 or 6,616 yards depending on which set of tees are used on the fifth and 13th holes (both par-3s that can be stretched to 180 and 211 yards, respectively). That would rank Newport just second behind altitude-friendly Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado, site of last year's championship, in terms of being the longest Women's Open venue.

Newport's routing followed the natural contours of the land with the ocean breezes – or occasional gales – being the course's main line of defense. Its dynamics are quite similar to that of Shinnecock Hills, another links-style layout on the eastern end of Long Island that has played host to four U.S. Opens.

"This course is a throwback," said Davis. "It's as if golf in Newport hasn't changed. You almost expect the spectators to come out wearing long dresses, or coats and ties."

That likely won't happen, but you can bet the 2006 Women's Open will supply plenty of classic moments and the champion will add just another chapter to the club's lore.