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Ryder Cup Began in Toledo
The 2016 Ryder Cup will be
held at Hazeltine Golf Club
near Minneapolis, Minnesota,
September 27-October 2.
The European Team has won
seven of the past nine Ryder
Cups contested and will
come to Hazeltine with a
strong contingent of players
once again.
The Ryder Cup has become
one of the biggest sporting
events in the world, but did
you know it had its beginnings
in Toledo, Ohio?
S.P. Jermain has been called
the “Father of Public Golf in
America.” He served four
terms as the Chairman of the
Board of Parks Commissioners
for the city of Toledo at the
end of the 19
th
century and
was responsible for the
construction of Ottawa Park
Golf Course. It opened for
play in 1898 and was the first
public golf course to open
west of New York City.
Jermain was the president of
the Inverness Club, when the
land was purchased on which
to build the course. He was
instrumental in convincing
the USGA to bring a U.S.
Open to Inverness in 1920
and again in 1931. An
18-year-old golf prodigy,
Bobby Jones made his first
appearance in the U.S. Open
at Inverness in 1920 and his
last in the 1931 U.S. Open
also held at Inverness.
Jermain is also remembered
for being the first to allow
touring professionals into
the locker rooms of private
golf clubs. In the early days,
golf professionals were not
welcome in the clubhouse
of the private clubs on which
they played. Jermain felt this
to be an archaic practice and
opened the Inverness Club
locker room to the participants
of the 1920 U.S. Open.
The great Walter Hagen was
so appreciative of Jermain’s
By
Fred Altvater
NWO Golf Links