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Merion Golf Club, in the elite section of Philadelphia's suburbs known as the Main Line, has hosted more national United States Golf Association (USGA) championships than any other club. As the 20th century came to a close 16 different titles had been contested at legendary Merion.
The members of the Merion Cricket Club, founded in 1865 and one of America's oldest sporting clubs, played a number of sports including cricket, croquet and lawn tennis. They also played golf but sought a championship course worthy of its venerable standing in American sporting society.
To design the new course in 1911, the club selected a 32-year old member named Hugh Wilson. Wilson was a Scottish immigrant who brought a talent for golf with him when he came to America. As an 18-year old Princeton University freshman, Wilson won the first club championship at Aronimink golf Club in 1897, one of Philadelphia's leading clubs.
Wilson traveled to Scotland and England to study the great links courses. Upon his return he set about adapting the wonders he saw to a cramped piece of Main Line property. When he was finished in 1912, his new East Course would be stuffed into only 126 acres of land (some golf courses use more than 300 acres). Wilson imbued his new course with 120 steep-faced, Scottish-style bunkers which came to be known as the "white faces of Merion." Wilson's bunkers would influence generations of architects.
Wilson also dipped into his notes from the British Isles to create the distinctive red wicker baskets to mark the holes instead of flags. The wicker baskets were once common in Britain where they could be seen from any angle in the high winds and would not give away any secrets of that wind's effects to the player. The wicker baskets are now a tradition at Merion Golf Club and for many years they were woven on the premises in the maintenance shop. If a ball would somehow become lodged into the inverted basket, the player can remove the ball without penalty and place it on the edge of the hole.
Hugh Wilson would go on to design most of Philadelphia's first public golf course, Cobbs Creek, and help at Pine Valley Golf Club but he died at age 46 and was never able to pursue his new vocation of golf architecture. The East Course at Merion Golf Club remains the only complete course that the amateur designer ever authored.
The East Course was tested by America's best golfers almost immediately. In 1914 the United States Amateur championships were held at the East and West (old) Courses at Merion. There would be two rounds of qualifying play before individual matches determined a champion. There was a surprise leader after the first round on the West Course - a chunky, 14-year old from Atlanta, Georgia named Bobby Jones. Jones led the field with a 74, which included a putt he knocked past the hole, off the green and into a brook. Speedy greens have been a hallmark of Merion Golf Club ever since. Walter Hagen, a great professional of the deftest touch with a putter, once putted too boldly and watch his ball roll down a slope, off the green and into the street and out-of-bounds.
"The Kid from Dixie" got his first taste of competitive golf on the East Course the next day. He shot an 89. His two-day total still qualified for match play but was dusted by reigning champion Bob Gardner in the quarter-finals. Eight years later Bobby Jones returned to Merion and won the first of his record five United States Amateur titles. But it was his last appearance in Philadelphia that entwined the history of Bobby Jones and Merion forever.
In 1930 Bobby Jones had already captured the United States Open, the British Open and the British Amateur so when he came to the United States Amateur at Merion he was chasing unprecedented history, the completion of the Grand Slam of golf, or the "impregnable quadrilateral" as it was colorfully known. Jones performed splendidly, sweeping through his matches and winning the Grand Slam. He left the course under a phalanx of marines protecting him from the well-wishers in the immense gallery and promptly retired from golf at the age of 28. The last competitive hole (save for a few ceremonial appearances in his own tournament, the Masters) Bobby Jones ever played was the 11th at Merion's East Course. A plaque commemorating one of golf's historic moments is placed on a large stone to the left of the 11th tee.
This would be enough history to cement any club's history in the annals of American golf, but at Merion Golf Club (it split form the Merion Cricket Club in 1941), Jones' triumphs are just an appetizer. In 1949 immortal golf pro Ben Hogan collided head-on with a bus on an Arizona highway. Hogan was scarcely expected to live, let alone walk again, let alone play competitive golf again.
Hogan indeed returned for the 1950 United States Open at Merion. Four rounds of golf played at the highest level are difficult enough but in those days the final 36 holes were contested in a single day. Hogan played superb golf and led the tournament into the last day. He reached the back nine on his second round of the final day needing only to shoot an even par 36 to win by five strokes.
His legs began to falter. He had his caddie pick his ball out of the hole to ease the pain of bending over. He considered withdrawing but struggled home with a score of 287, good enough to get into a three-way tie for the title. The next day, with a chance to rest, he won the United States Open. A picture of Hogan hitting a 1-iron to the 18th green to win the championship is the most famous in golf.
There was another playoff for the United States Open in 1971 when Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus. There has not been another Open at the East course since 1981 and there may never be again. There is not room for spectator parking on the cramped Main Line and USGA officials fear that Merion, which measures only 6.544 yards will not be long enough to challenge today's golfers. But the tradition of national championships at Merion Golf Club will not end as it remains a popular destination for the USGA to hold tournaments for amateurs, seniors, women and juniors.
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