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Merion is a title destination

Latest chapter will be played out this week

Before Merion hosted its first U.S. Open 79 years ago, the club had already been the site for six of what is about to become a record 18 USGA championships. (Colin Kerrigan / Philly.com)
Before Merion hosted its first U.S. Open 79 years ago, the club had already been the site for six of what is about to become a record 18 USGA championships. (Colin Kerrigan / Philly.com)Read more

BEFORE MERION hosted its first U.S. Open 79 years ago, the club had already been the site for six of what is about to become a record 18 USGA championships.

The association started in 1904, with the U.S. Women's Amateur, which was won by Georgianna M. Bishop, 5 and 3 over Mrs. E.F. Stanford. The competition was held on the original Haverford course, when it was still the Merion Cricket Club (the official separation didn't happen until 1941). And in those days the event was called the Women's National. Five years later it returned, and this time the champion was Dorothy J. Campbell, 3 and 2, over Nonna Barlow. Campbell would repeat the following year at Homewood Country Club in Flossmoor, Ill. Be sure to store that away for trivial pursuit.

The Women's Am came back in 1926 (Helen Stetson over fellow married mother Elizabeth Hardin Gross in the final, 3 and 1), this time in Ardmore on the East Course, which had opened 14 years earlier. By then the men also had held two U.S. Amateurs there, in 1916 and '24. Both were notable because of Robert T. Jones. As would be the case in the 1930 Am, only on a much grander scale.

In 1916, Charles "Chick" Evans, who 3 months earlier had won the U.S. Open at Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, finally added the Amateur title after several close calls, including a runner-up 4 years before. It was the first time anyone had claimed both the U.S. Open and Amateur crowns in one year, and only the second time someone had won two of the game's majors in the same year (joining John Ball, who swept the British Open and Amateur in 1890). Yet that was almost upstaged by Jones, a 14-year-old from Atlanta who was making his USGA debut. Who knew that over the next decade-and-a-half he would redefine all of the standards for posterity?

Evans eventually got the trophy by beating another Chicagoan, Robert A. Gardner, 4 and 3. The championship was played on both the East and West (now better known as the "member") layouts. Four-time champ Jerome Travers did not play due to an illness. Neither did Francis Ouimet, who had just been controversially stripped of his amateur status 3 years after his landmark U.S. Open victory at The Country Club. But the storyline soon became Jones, who made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Gardner, 5 and 3. Nevetheless, a legend had been born. It just took awhile to fully mature. And when he did . . .

Eight years later, he came back and captured the first of his record five Amateur titles (in 7 years). Jones had won his first major, the first of his four national Opens, the previous year. His closest match came in the second round, 3 and 2 over medalist Rudolf Knepper. In the semifinals he crushed Ouimet, who had his amateur status reinstated, 11 and 10. Then he cruised past George Von Elm, 9 and 8. Jones was only 3-over par in his last four matches. He would win 11 more majors before retiring 6 years later.

His last and most memorable, of course, took place at the 1930 U.S. Amateur, again back in Ardmore, where he completed the Grand Slam, something no one else has done before or since. Jones already had won his only British Amateur title at St. Andrews (7 and 6 over 1923 champion Roger Wethered) at the end of May. Three weeks later, he claimed his third British Open in 5 years, but first in three, at Royal Liverpool by two shots over Leo Diegel and Macdonald Smith. In July, he repeated as U.S. Open champ, to match Willie Anderson's record of four (later equaled by Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus). That left the Amateur, in late September. Was there really a doubt?

Jones, who won medalist honors by shooting 142, had what turned out to be his closest match in the opening round. And that was still a 5 and 4 win over Canadian Amateur champ Sandy Sommerville. In the final he won, 8 and 7, when Eugene Homans conceded a short par putt after missing a 25-footer for birdie on the 11th hole of the second 18. A plaque on the tee commemorates the feat, which many consider to be the greatest of the 20th century not just in golf but maybe any sport. Jones retired from competition and later gave us Augusta (Ga.) National and the Masters, which will forever remain his enduring gift to the game.

Four years later, Merion would finally get the first of what will soon be five Opens. A couple of those became moments in time as well. In addition, Merion has been the venue for the 1954 Curtis Cup, the 1960 World Team Amateur, three more Amateurs in 1966, 1989 and 2005 (which gave us Gary Cowan over future PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman, Chris Patton and Edoardo Molinari, respectively), the 1998 Girls' Junior and most recently the 2009 Walker Cup.

It has been some kind of timeline. And it will continue with the latest chapter to be played out this week. But it assuredly won't be the last. Merion simply has too much going for it.