Portland Open Invitational

The Portland Open Invitational was a professional golf tournament in the northwest United States on the PGA Tour, played in Portland, Oregon. Established by Robert A. Hudson with a $10,000 purse in 1944, it was played from 1944 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1966. The event was hosted eight times at the Portland Golf Club,[4] and four times at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club.[5] First played as the Portland Open, the revived 1959 event played as the Portland Centennial Open Invitational, in honor of Oregon's centennial of statehood.[6]

Portland Open Invitational

Tournament information
Location	Portland, Oregon
Established	1944
Course(s)	Portland Golf Club, Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Par	72
Length	6,445 yards (5,893 m) (PGC in 1965)[1] 6,435 yards (5,884 m) (CECC in 1966)[2]
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	$50,000
Month played	September
Final year	1966
Tournament record score
Aggregate	261 Ben Hogan (1945)
To par	–27 Ben Hogan (1945)[3]
Final champion
Bert Yancey

Portland

Location in the United States

Portland

Location in Oregon

Sam Snead won the inaugural event in 1944,[7] and Ben Hogan won in 1945 by fourteen strokes,[3][8] and also won the 1946 PGA Championship, then a match play event, held at the Portland Golf Club.[9] The club also hosted the Ryder Cup in 1947; the U.S. team was captained by Hogan and won 11–1. Hogan was a runner-up in 1948, a stroke back in an 18-hole playoff.[10][11]

The tournament was dominated by three-time winners Billy Casper (1959–61)[12] and Jack Nicklaus (1962, 1964–65).[13][14] Nicklaus' $3,500 win during his rookie season in 1962 concluded three weeks of victories;[15] he took the massive winner's share of $50,000 in the exhibition World Series of Golf in Ohio,[16][17] and then won his second tour title at the Seattle Open Invitational, which paid $4,300.[18][19] Both Casper and Nicklaus won at both courses.

Bert Yancey won the last edition in 1966 and took only 102 putts.[20] It stood as the tour's 72-hole record for fewest putts for over a decade, until Bob Menne had only 99 at the Tournament Players Championship in 1977,[21] but tied for 47th.[22]

Tournament hosts

Venue	Years
Portland Golf Club	1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965
Columbia Edgewater Country Club	1961, 1962, 1963, 1966

Winners

Year	Date	Winner	Country	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share ($)	Purse ($)	Notes
Portland Open Invitational
1966	Sep 18	Bert Yancey	United States	271	−17	3 strokes	Billy Casper	6,600	50,000	[20]
1965	Sep 19	Jack Nicklaus (3)	United States	273	−15	3 strokes	Dave Marr	6,600	50,000	[14]
1964	Sep 20	Jack Nicklaus (2)	United States	275	−13	3 strokes	Ken Venturi	5,800	40,000	[13]
1963	Sep 22	George Knudson	Canada	272	−16	Playoff	Mason Rudolph	4,300	30,000	[23]
1962	Sep 23	Jack Nicklaus	United States	269	−19	1 stroke	George Bayer	3,500	25,000	[15]
1961	Sep 24	Billy Casper (3)	United States	273	−15	1 stroke	Dave Hill	3,500	25,000	[12]
1960	Sep 25	Billy Casper (2)	United States	266	−22	2 strokes	Paul Harney	2,800	27,500	[24]
Portland Centennial Open Invitational
1959	Oct 4	Billy Casper	United States	269	−19	3 strokes	Bob Duden Dave Ragan	2,800	20,000	[6]
Portland Open Invitational
1949–1958		No tournament
1948	Oct 3	Fred Haas	United States	270	−18	Playoff	Ben Hogan (2nd) Johnny Palmer (3rd)	2,450	15,000	[10][11]
1947	Aug 17	Charles Congdon	United States	270	−18	6 strokes	Clayton Heafner Herman Keiser Johnny Palmer George Payton	2,000	10,000	[25]
1946	No tournament, hosted  PGA Championship
1945	Sep 30	Ben Hogan	United States	261	−27	14 strokes	Byron Nelson	2,666	14,333	[3][8]
Portland Open
1944	Nov 26	Sam Snead	United States	289	+1	2 strokes	Mike Turnesa	2,675	16,000	[7]

Playoffs

• 1963: Knudson chipped in for eagle on the first playoff hole, a par-5, for the win; Rudolph nearly matched it, but his bounced out.[23]
• 1948: 18-hole Monday playoff: Haas 70 (−2), Hogan 71 (−1), Palmer 75 (+3).[11]

See also

• WinCo Foods Portland Open, a current event on the Korn Ferry Tour
• Cambia Portland Classic, a current event on the LPGA Tour

References

1. "Nicklaus storms into lead in Portland golf tourney". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 19, 1965. p. 7, sports.
2. Kurtz, Larry (September 16, 1966). "Casper, trio have margin in Portland". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 2B.
3. "Ben Hogan wins Open with new PGA record". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). United Press. August 26, 1946. p. 6.
4. "Golf & Tournament History". Portland Golf Club. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
5. Tradition finds new home, title sponsor Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
6. Harvey, Paul, III (October 5, 1959). "Billy Casper Open winner by 3 strokes". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 2B.
7. Dunlap, John W. (November 27, 1945). "Sam Snead wins Portland Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). United Press. p. 8.
8. "Hogan's record 261 wins Portland Open tournament". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 1, 1945. p. 9.
9. Strite, Dick (August 26, 1946). "Ben Hogan stages great comeback to take PGA title from Ed Oliver". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 2.
10. "Portland Open ends in tie". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 4, 1948. p. 11.
11. "Fred Haas tops Portland Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). United Press. October 5, 1948. p. 18.
12. "Casper beats out Hill for Oregon title". Chicago Daily Tribune. Associated Press. September 25, 1961. p. 3, sec. 4.
13. "Nicklaus overtakes Venturi to triumph". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 21, 1964. p. 4B.
14. "Jack wins; sets PGA loot record". Spokesman-Review. (Spokesman-Review). Associated Press. September 20, 1965. p. 11.
15. "Open won in Portland by Nicklaus". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. September 24, 1962. p. 2B.
16. "World Series won by Jack". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 10, 1962. p. 3B.
17. "Nicklaus wins $75,000 exhibition; Palmer fades". Chicago Daily Tribune. Associated Press. September 10, 1962. p. 1, sec. 4.
18. "Nicklaus wins Seattle Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 17, 1962. p. 3B.
19. "Nicklaus wins Seattle Open by 2 strokes". Chicago Daily Tribune. UPI. September 17, 1962. p. 4, sec. 4.
20. Wetzel, Frank (September 19, 1966). "Putts propel Bert Yancey to Open title". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 3B.
21. Missildine, Harry (May 22, 1977). "Putting game? you want to bet?". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
22. "While leaders stumble, Mark Hayes eases home". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 21, 1977. p. 17.
23. "Knudson winner of Portland Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 23, 1963. p. 6B.
24. "Casper cops first place at Portland". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 26, 1960. p. 11.
25. Strite, Dick (August 18, 1947). "Washington golfer garners Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 5.