Oscar Frederick "Doc" Willing (October 16, 1889 – March 2, 1962) was an American amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er. He played in three

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

matches.

Early life

Willing was born in

Sellwood, Oregon Sellwood-Moreland is a neighborhood on a bluff overlooking the Willamette River in Southeast Portland, Oregon, bordering Brooklyn to the north, Eastmoreland to the east, and the city of Milwaukie to the south. The neighborhood is linked to Southw ...

(now a part of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

), and caddied and learned to play golf at the nearby

Waverley Country Club The Waverley Country Club is a country club located in Clackamas County, Oregon United States. Chartered in 1896, the club was the second private golf club established west of the Mississippi River. History The club was established in April 1896 ...

. He became a dentist, earning his DDS at North Pacific Dental College (later incorporated into Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry). Soon afterwards, he was drafted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

where he became a military dentist. He married Helen Wadsworth and they had three children.

Golf career

Following the war, Willing returned to Portland to set up a dental practice. His interest in golf was still strong, as he had been able to play golf while stationed on the

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during the war. He began to compete in Northwest amateur tournaments, and his first win came in 1919 at the Oregon Coast Invitational in

Gearhart, Oregon Gearhart is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,462 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. History The ci ...

. He followed that up with back-to-back Portland City Amateur tournaments at

Eastmoreland Golf Course Eastmoreland Golf Course is a golf course in southeast Portland, Oregon. Designed by golf architect Chandler Egan, the course is the second oldest in Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States ...

in 1920 and 1921. Willing also played in the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

in 1921, losing in the second round to a young Bobby Jones. That same year, he returned to Oregon to win the Oregon Men's Amateur for the first of five times. In 1928, Willing won two major Northwest tournaments, the

Oregon Open The Oregon Open is the Oregon state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Pacific Northwest section of the PGA of America. The tournament was first played in 1905 and has been played annually ...

and the

Northwest Open The Northwest Open is golf tournament played in the Pacific Northwest, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Pacific Northwest section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1905 at a variety of cou ...

, and also took his second Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur title. A year later, he had his biggest national finish at the

played at

Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Regarded by ''Travel and Leisure'' blog as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastlin ...

, where he defeated two-time champion and fellow Portlander

Chandler Egan Henry Chandler Egan (August 21, 1884 – April 5, 1936) was an American amateur golfer and golf course architect of the early 20th century. Early life and college Egan was born in Chicago, Illinois, which at the end of the 19th century was th ...

in the semifinals before losing to Jimmy Johnston in the finals. Willing was the first

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

erner to be selected to the prestigious United States

team in 1923, and was also chosen in 1924 and 1930. He was undefeated in all his matches and his victory in 1923 clinched the tournament for the Americans.

Legacy

Willing continued to golf competitively into his 60s. He died in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

in 1962. He was named to the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1993, and was an inaugural inductee of the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1980.

Tournament wins

*1921 Oregon Amateur *1922 Oregon Amateur *1924 Oregon Amateur,

Pacific Northwest Amateur The Pacific Northwest Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is one of the oldest amateur tournaments in the United States having first been played in 1899. It is organized by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) and the tournam ...

*1928

*1929 Oregon Amateur *1938 Oregon Amateur

Tournament runner-up finishes

*1923 Oregon Men's Amateur *1926 Oregon Men's Amateur, Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur *1929

*1931 Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur

Results in major championships

"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play Source U.S. Amateur
USGA Championship Database
Source for 1923 British Amateur
The American Golfer, July, 1923, pg. 48.
Source for 1930 British Amateur
The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1930, pg. 4.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

: 1923 (winners), 1924 (winners),

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

(winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willing, Oscar F. American male golfers Amateur golfers Golfers from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American dentists Oregon Health & Science University alumni 1889 births 1962 deaths