The Course Opens
The Santa Anita Golf course opened in two stages. Nine holes were opened in April 1938 and the complete 18 opened on October 12, 1938.
1938 also saw the birth of the Santa Anita Open—held each year until 1955, in the middle of October, to celebrate the opening of the Golf Course and to start the official Winter Golf Tournament season in Southern California. Prize money that first year was $1,000. Frank Moninger personally underwrote the first two tournaments. The Santa Anita Golf Club with the help of a few individual golfers underwrote the next few events. The County donated the Golf Course for the Santa Anita Open. The Course Record established in the days of "The Open" is 62 - held by Ellsworth Vines. Lloyd Mangrum won the first and second Opens with 274 and 278. Par at that time was 70.
The current record is held by Blake Moore of Monrovia, California who shot a 9 under par 62 on Sunday, July 20, 2003. Moore is attributed with the current record as several holes have been changed since "The Open" era and the course is now a par 71 rather than the original par 70.
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Famous quotes containing the word opens:
“When man
enters woman,
like the surf biting the shore,
again and again,
and the woman opens her mouth in pleasure
and her teeth gleam ...”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)