Welcome to the 52nd Pacific Coast Amateur Championship
at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, CA

 

The present history of the Pacific Coast Amateur only dates back to 1967, however the roots of the Championship make it one of the oldest amateur golf events in North American history. On April 6, 1901, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “after many setbacks, the Pacific Coast Golf Association has at last been formed, and before the end of the present month the coast will possess a bona-fide golf champion.”

Inaugural Championship 

 

The first Championship was held on the links of the San Francisco Golf Club at The Presidio, April 24-27, 1901. Championships were held annually through 1911, all being conducted in California except for the 1909 championship, which was held at Seattle Golf Club in Washington.
 

The Pacific Coast Amateur then ceased to exist, only to be reconstituted at Seattle Golf Club on August 10-12, 1967. The modern era of the PCGA occurred following a meeting of representatives of several golf associations throughout the western United States at Pebble Beach in November, 1965.
 

The objective of this meeting was to start a golf Championship with the stature that would attract the attention of the USGA and display the ability of amateur golfers in the western United States for possible Walker Cup Team selection. Dr. Ed Updegraff of Tucson, Ariz., was the only western player who had recently participated (1963 and 1965) in the Walker Cup matches.
 

The Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Oregon and Arizona golf associations participated in the inaugural Pacific Coast Amateur Championship at Seattle Golf Club in 1967. Today, 15 member associations comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association, including 13 from the United States and two from Canada.

 

The Olympic Club

 

In 1918, The Olympic Club assumed operation of the financially-troubled Lakeside Golf Club and its 18-hole course designed by Wilfrid Reid. The Club quickly realized that they would need to expand their country home and purchased enough acreage to replace the original course with two new 18-hole golf courses (the Lake and Ocean Courses), as well as build a new clubhouse. The courses first opened in 1924 with the clubhouse following in 1925.

 

The Olympic Club at Lakeside has fostered serious golfing talent over the years. Several have been inducted into the OC Hall of Fame including Dorothy Traung, Bob Roos, Bill Higgins, Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller and John Abendroth. Three of these gentleman, all of whom were previous OC golf champions, won USGA national titles in the same year. In 1964, Venturi won the U.S. Open, Higgins won the USGA Senior Amateur and Miller won the U.S. Junior Amateur — a unique accomplishment to this day.

 

This is the 8th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship to be held at The Olympic Club. For more information on past champions and sites, please click here