Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club is a championship

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 ...

club in the northwest United States, located in

North Plains, Oregon North Plains is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, off U.S. 26 on the northwest outskirts of the Portland metropolitan area. The population was 3,441 at the 2020 census. History Pioneer settlers first arrived in the North Plai ...

, northwest 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 ...

. The award-winning 36-hole club opened in 1992 and has hosted several major golf tournaments, including the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

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and 2003 and the Safeway Classic on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

from 2009 through

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. The Witch Hollow course is private; the Ghost Creek course is public.

History

In 1986, Gay Davis and Marv French were shown of farmland in rural Washington County just north of North Plains.Robinson, Bob. One slick layout, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', August 14, 1996. The same day they looked at the property they made an offer and by late in 1987 they had an option for the property. Then in 1989 Pumpkin Ridge Partners was formed with French, Davis, and Barney Hyde. Next, in 1991 the group secured additional financing by bringing in Shigeru Ito as a 50-50 partner. The Japanese investor from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

financed the $20 million golf club. In August 1990, construction of the course began with American Golf Construction Company as the general contractor.Robinson, Bob. Davis watches golf course dream turn into Pumpkin Ridge. ''

'', August 29, 1990. The club opened on April 1, 1992, with the Ghost Creek course in operation. When Pumpkin Ridge opened, membership cost $37,500. The first hole-in-one recorded was by Bob Staab of Portland in June 1992. In September 1997 National Golf Properties purchased a 50 percent stake in the golf club and then leased the property to American Golf Corporation. In 2003, the club had three of the top six best holes in the Portland area, including the best overall hole. LPGA hall of fame golfer

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three major championships. Amateur career Lopez won the New Mexico Women's ...

named the 18th hole at Pumpkin Ridge in 1997's Women's U.S. Open her favorite hole in the world in 2005. Escalante Golf purchased the course in October 2015.

Tournaments

Since 1993, Pumpkin Ridge has hosted nationally significant tournaments, which started with the

Nike Tour Championship The Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance is the year-end golf tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour. It has been played at a variety of courses; starting in 2019 it will be played at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh ...

that year and again in 1994 at Ghost Creek.Robinson, Bob. Two-year-old Pumpkin Ridge growing up fast. ''

'', October 9, 1994. In 1996, Pumpkin Ridge hosted the men's

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 ...

, where 20-year-old

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

won his unprecedented third consecutive title on the Witch Hollow course and then turned professional, with

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

founder

Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranke ...

on hand. This event had the highest attendance in the history of the U.S. Amateur, with attendance for the week at 65,353 to watch Woods rally and win the final over Steve Scott on the 38th hole. The

was played at Witch Hollow in

and 2003. The U.S. Junior Amateur (boys') and Girls' Junior Championships were held at Pumpkin Ridge in 2000, contested on both courses with the finals at Ghost Creek. And in 2006, Witch Hollow hosted the U.S. Women's Amateur, where

Kimberly Kim Kimberly Kim (born August 23, 1991) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Amateur career Kim was born in Hilo, Hawaii. She attended the University of Denver in 2009–10, leading the team with a 73.67 scoring average a ...

won the title as the youngest winner ever for that tournament. From 2009 to

, the Ghost Creek course hosted the Safeway Classic on the

, currently played in mid-August. In

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, the tournament was moved back to Portland, played at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. Beginning in 2014, the Witch Hollow course has hosted the

WinCo Foods Portland Open The WinCo Foods Portland Open was a golf tournament in Oregon on the Korn Ferry Tour. It debuted in August 2014 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, a suburb northwest of Portland. Northwest-based supermarket chain WinCo Foods was named ...

on the

Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. T ...

. In 2022, Pumpkin Ridge hosted the second event of the controversial

LIV Golf Invitational Series LIV Golf () is a professional golf tour financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The name "LIV" refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied and the num ...

Ghost Creek Golf Course

The Ghost Creek course was the first course to open, with play starting April 1, 1992.Robinson, Bob. Golf Talk: What's haunting about Ghost Creek is its Beauty, ''

'', April 15, 1992. It was then named the best new public course in the country for the year by ''Golf Digest''. Later it was named as the fifth best public course by Golf magazine in 1996. For 2007-08 Golf Digest ranked it 68th in the country public golf courses. The par 71 Ghost Creek Course has won several other national awards. This Robert E. Cupp and

John Fought John Fought III (born January 28, 1954) is an American golf course architect and professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Amateur career Fought (rhymes with "boat") was born in Portland, Oregon. Hi ...

designed

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

is 6,839 yards long. In

Zagat's The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

"2006/07 Guide To America's Top Golf Courses", the club's Ghost Creek course was named fourth most popular in the Northwest. On that same course the 14th hole was named one of the 100 toughest holes in golf in the book "Golf's 100 Toughest Holes."Robinson, Bob. Golf Talk: Pumpkin Ridge's No. 14 not as tough as a new book says. ''

'', February 5, 2006.

Witch Hollow Golf Course

In 1992 when the Witch Hollow course opened, '' Golf Digest'' selected it as the second best new private course of the year. This 18 hole course was designed by Robert E. Cupp. The par 72, 7,017 yard design has a rating of 75.1 and had two of the top 500 holes in the world in 2000 as rated by

Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the world ...

. ''Golf Magazine'' in 2005 and 2006 rated it as one of the 100 best modern course in America.

References

External links