Hole Overview

Architects Notes by Gil Hanse

While the template for this hole is derived from the aerial photo of the original hole, we made some concessions in this restoration of 16 to visibility and drama.  The conceit to vision came by not restoring the original blind nature of the punch bowl green setting.  We did however use the height of the left hand bunker and the length of the right hand “river” bunker to create the visual deception of hiding the approach.  Golfers who want to attempt to run a ball on to this green need to play close to the edges of either bunker to gain the maximum benefits of the slopes that will feed balls on to this green.  As for drama, perching the green close to the river and providing an infinity backdrop will make getting balls all the way to the back hole locations an exercise in courage!

History

The origin of the historical name “Punchbowl” recognized the design of the 16th green.

1952 USGA Women’s Amateur Championship… The edge that Jackie Pung had over the field was her drive. The gallery watched her play the 34th hole on Sunday, August 31st in the championship final against Shirley McFedters. The 16th which had been a jinx all week to McFedters was won by the Long Beach girl when she chipped ten feet past the pin and dropped her putt for a par, while Pung overshooting the green chipped past coming back and took two putts. McFedters was now two down with two to play. Emotion had become a powerful ingredient during that August championship final along the Willamette River.

1964 USGA Senior Amateur Championship… Higgins was nursing a significant advantage going to the 217-yard 16th, a hole which had given him fits in previous tournament rounds. Again, Murphy put on the pressure by belting a wood 10 feet from the hole while Higgins was short of the green 40 feet away. Higgins was up to the challenge. He nursed his chip shot four feet from home and made the putt for a saving halve as Murphy left his key 10-footer short. 

1970 USGA Men’s Amateur Championship… The tough 206-yard par three was passed impressively when both Lanny Wadkins and Tom Kite both birdied the hole – Wadkins from 15 feet and Kite from five feet. This hole was the first in a three-hole series that Waverley Country Club members remember vividly. “I felt as if I had to make the putt at 16,” Wadkins said. “It was the one that would keep the momentum with me.”

1981 USGA Women’s Amateur Championship… Inkster found no miracles on Waverley’s 16th. She lost the hole to Goggin’s par when her pitch shot from the bottom of the hill to the left of the green rolled 15-feet past the hole and she missed the putt. This hole set the stage for the putts Juli had to make on the 17th and 18th. Anticipation left Waverley members emotionally drained under the uncharacteristically scorching Oregon sun.

1993 USGA Junior Amateur Championship… In the 1993 USGA Junior Amateur Championship, the 16th  hole nearly proved Tiger Woods undoing. This 206 yard severely downhill hole with its Willamette River backdrop saw Tiger Woods approach the tee trailing by one. He hit his ball to 26 feet outside the nearly dead center pin placement, well inside Ryan Armour’s 42-foot putt. Wood’s double breaking putt wandered four feet past. He fanned his next putt for a bogey to lose the hole. Two down with two holes to go Bobby Jones’ dubious record continued to weigh on Tiger. “I knew I had to play the two best holes of my life and go birdie-birdie if I wanted any kind of chance to win”. At this point, R.T. “Bobby” Jones was only one of two players in U.S.G.A. history to win back-to-back titles in match-play championships and then miss a third straight by blowing the final. He had done it with the 1924-1925 victories and 1926 loss. Woods was aware of the magnitude of his impending doom. He saw a flash of anger after his three-putt bogey putting him at the wrong end of a 2 down score against Armour. “I wasn’t pumped, I was mad,” Woods said of the stabbing four-footer that slid by the hole. Armour said in a later interview, “I thought two pars and the national title is yours.” Armour would follow the game plan perfectly. Tiger did not plan to follow Armour’s plan.