Labor of love: The rebirth of Harding Park

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Editor's note: This article is reprinted courtesy of Boston Hannah, which produces The Presidents Cup program.

Like many public courses, Harding Park was built in response to a growing need for more recreational facilities, in this case because San Francisco was growing and the prosperity of the 1920s made golf -- heretofore largely thought of as a game for high society -- more attractive to a broader cross-section of the population, who found themselves with both some welcome time on their hands and money in their pockets.

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The city already had one public course, Lincoln Park, which had opened in 1916 but it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of play.

Civic and business leaders, eager to promote the city's virtues, and political leaders, eager to promote themselves, soon recognized the merits of creating another golf facility and the Lake Merced Municipal Links was created. The name was changed to Harding Park Golf Course following the untimely death of President Warren G. Harding in a local hotel in 1923. Harding loved his golf, so there is at least a certain historic symmetry to the honor.

As luck would have it, the sandy links-like land was perfectly suited to golf and in Sam Whiting and Willie Watson, the course was conceived by two celebrated local designers who had collaborated on what would become their masterpiece, the Lake Course at the neighboring Olympic Club.

Harding Park opened for play in 1925 and in true San Francisco fashion, what could be a better way to celebrate the occasion than to hold a golf tournament? In this case, an event that lasted a week and attracted more than 2,000 golfers from every nook and cranny of the population, from the mayor, "Sonny Jim" Rolph, who hit the opening tee shot to -- well, suffice to say that San Francisco's historic commitment to diversity extended to their latest civic treasure. For the record, the low score was shot by one Louis Navi, who turned in an even-par 73 and then took his trophy and happily returned to his day job as a caddie at The Olympic Club.

While that opening extravaganza remains an interesting footnote in Harding Park's history, the course went on to enjoy a rich and varied tournament history, most notably as the home -- along with Lincoln Park -- of "The City," as the San Francisco City Golf Championship is affectionately and universally known.

The tournament, which is believed to be the oldest, continually played championship in the world, began in 1917 and has grown to feature not only the best golfers -- male and female (beginning in 1958); professional and amateur -- in the Bay Area but also from across Northern California, as well as top national and international players.

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Ken Venturi left a footprint on San Francisco golf -- the 1964 U.S. Open champion grew up playing the city's famed municipal courses.

To get a sense for just how prestigious The City is, one only has to skim the surface of a listing of past champions and see that it includes the likes of 1964 U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi (three times), World Golf Hall of Fame member and 1999 U.S. Women's Open champion Juli Inkster (twice), and 1969 Masters champion George Archer.

The most celebrated final in the championship's history came in 1956, which coincided with the period of Harding Park's greatest glory in the days prior to its precipitous decline in the late 1960s. It featured Venturi against his close friend E. Harvie Ward, Jr. at a time when there were no national professional sports teams in San Francisco, making The City a huge event that attracted more than 10,000 people to the finals.

To set the stage, Venturi had been a member of the 1953 Walker Cup team (along with Ward) and had won the championship twice before serving a hitch in the Army. At that time, his game was so good that shortly after The City, he would lead the Masters Tournament going into the final round before losing to Jackie Burke, Jr. For his part, Ward had won the 1952 British Amateur and the 1955 U.S. Amateur (a title he would successfully defend). More to the point, he won The City the previous year, which would have set up a beautiful grudge match if only the two men didn't like and respect each other so much. Still, when they got to the first tee and shook hands, Venturi pointedly reminded Ward that he was there to take his title back -- which he did, with an impressive 5 & 4 victory that remains the stuff of legends to this day.

As a postscript, it is a testimonial to their friendship that just hours after the match, Venturi's wife, Connie, went into labor and Ward joined the father-to-be while he awaited word that his first child, Matthew, had been born.

While The City remained the tournament that was closest to the hearts of the area's golfers, Harding Park also hosted the 1937 and 1956 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships, as well as the PGA TOUR's San Francisco Open (which, in a rarity, Byron Nelson won in both January and December of 1944) and Lucky International Open, which ran from 1961 through 1968. Fittingly, Venturi's victory at Harding Park in the 1966 tournament was the last of his 14 TOUR titles before his competitive career was cut short by injuries, neatly squaring the circle that began as a child, where he learned the game at Harding Park because it was the only sport he could play by himself, without being subjected to the taunts and teasing that came with his stuttering.

It is not a coincidence that the Lucky International packed up and left town after the 1968 tournament. (The one-time-only San Francisco Open Invitational was won by Steve Spray in 1969, by one stroke over Chi Chi Rodriquez). This was because Harding Park had already fallen into decline. Like municipal courses across the country, Harding Park fell victim to the politics of the era. Spending public funds to subsidize golf was an increasingly difficult political sell, particularly in San Francisco. As funding dried up (in direct proportion to the fairways and greens, come to think of it) the course began to lose its appeal and detractors grew to vastly outnumber supporters. The same was true at courses like Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee (a U.S. Publinx site), Bethpage State Park on New York's Long Island (another Publinx site) and Ponkapoag outside Boston.

At Harding Park, the symptoms of the rot were painfully clear. The antiquated irrigation and drainage systems grew increasingly inadequate, leading to fairways that were muddy bogs in wet weather and dried, cracked hardpan when there were dry stretches. The greens were scarred with ever-expanding bare patches. The bunkers were left in shambles. Staff cuts continued unabated and much-needed upkeep on the clubhouse was ignored.

The ultimate indignity -- if, indeed, one single insult to the Harding Park faithful stands out above the rest -- came in 1998 when the U.S. Open was played at the neighboring Olympic Club and Harding Park was used as a parking lot.

All of which brings us to 1999 and the arrival on the scene of a most unlikely -- at least on paper -- savior: Frank D. "Sandy" Tatum, Jr.

Tatum is a respected lawyer in San Francisco and a man whose devotion to the game of golf runs deep. He attended Stanford from 1939-42, years when the school's golf teams were either NCAA champions or co-champions (1939, '41 and '42), the latter being the year he was individual champion. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar (1947-49) and played for Oxford's golf team.

Tatum served on the United States Golf Association's (USGA) powerful Executive Committee from 1972 to 1980 and was the organization's president from the years 1978-80.

In the course of a charmed life in golf, Tatum has played a seemingly endless list of magnificent courses, known a wealth of the game's greatest champions and shared thoughts and opinions with its finest writers, thinkers and observers.

Ordinarily, such a resume would not be one readily associated with a champion of public golf, but Tatum is no ordinary member of golf's ruling elite. He is a true believer in the benefits the game has to offer, particularly to the young and, more precisely, the young and underprivileged. He also has an affair of the heart with Harding Park that dates back to the first time he competed in The City, in 1939 -- one of at least 40 times he played in the championship.

With all that in mind, he set about helping to restore Harding Park to its former greatness.

To do this, it would take considerable tact, intelligence and a deft political touch -- all of which he honed during his time with the USGA, and which served as preparation for the murky waters he would face in San Francisco's halls of power.

"I have feelings about Harding that are quite intense," Tatum told then-San Francisco Chronicle's Brian Murphy at the time. "There are not many golf courses I've seen with more potential, and with the ability to provide a really first-class experience for public, muni golfers.

"This is a labor of passion and love for me, because I think the golf course has such huge potential ... for a great golf course in great condition for muni golfers to play at a reasonable price. That's the only reason I'm in it.

"I understand how much it matters to play a really great golf course in wonderful condition, what it does to the entire experience," Tatum said. 'I also understand there's a concept about muni golf that it's OK for muni golfers to be given a third-rate experience. That concept has just settled in, and it's just dead, dead wrong. One of the things this project can do is demonstrate just how dead wrong that is."

Beyond the often mundane nuts-and-bolts of the agreement that was painstakingly negotiated with the city, Tatum and his allies brought to the table three key assurances from the PGA TOUR. First, Harding Park would serve as home of the San Francisco Chapter of The First Tee, a national initiative dedicated to introducing kids that might not otherwise be involved in golf to the game. Second, the TOUR would bring one of its premier events, the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship, to Harding Park in 2005. And third, PGA TOUR Design Services would assist in the two-year long, $15-million redesign.

Chris Gray, an architect on the TOUR staff, directed the renovation. He kept the original design largely intact, moving the 13th green back and to the left to provide a better view of the Olympic Club's clubhouse. The move allowed the fourth hole to be lengthened, making it a par 5 of some 600 yards. The 18th hole was also lengthened by almost 50 yards. In all, some 500 yards were added to Harding Park while keeping the essential character of the course intact.

In all, the renovation met with nearly universal praise, particularly following the American Express Championship, where Tiger Woods beat John Daly in a playoff that featured two of golf's most popular -- if polar opposite -- characters.

Just how good was the newly re-born Harding Park? So good that when the time came to pick a site for the 2009 Presidents Cup, the TOUR had the perfect spot in mind: a place where golf history is both cherished and destined to be made well into the future.

Harding Park had, against the odds, emerged as one of the game's great comeback stories.