As best anyone can recall, the Snohomish County Amateur golf tournament has visited Everett Golf and Country Club for one of three rounds throughout the tournament’s entire 84-year history.
That will change in 2015.
Everett G&CC has announced that it will no longer host the Memorial Day-weekend County Am because of legal concerns stemming from a recent Spokane County Superior Court case involving Spokane Country Club.
Four Spokane CC female members filed a lawsuit claiming gender discrimination at their club. A central issue in the suit, which was decided in favor of the women last year, was whether Spokane CC was truly a private club or a public accommodation subject to state discrimination laws.
Because the County Am is open to the public, Everett G&CC officials fear a continued association with the tournament will jeopardize its private-club status.
Even so, the decision to part company with the County Am was difficult and, in some cases, unpopular.
“The County Am has been a big part of all our lives,” Everett G&CC board president Doug Lauer said. “I’m a past winner (1976 and 1984) and I was part of it for 25 years. … But to be in compliance with being a private club, we’ve decided to cut back on outside tournaments that are open to the public.
“It’s a tough decision for all of us,” he said. “We love the tournament. But the most important thing for us is to protect the private status of the club.”
Attorneys Don Carter and Mike Ferring, both recent Everett G&CC board members, said the Spokane decision left the club little recourse but to alter its policy regarding outside tournaments.
“If you hold the club open to the public in a number of ways, and if you’re not practicing some exclusivity, it opens it up to be considered a public accommodation across the board,” Carter said. “When we examined it, the County Am creates a number of problems.”
Private clubs are treated differently from public accommodations with respect to taxes, liquor sales, “and just about every portion of the business the club does as a private entity,” Carter said.
Though a future court decision “could change” this interpretation, Ferring added, “our responsibility as a board was to protect that (private club) status.”
According to Lauer, Everett G&CC is not alone. Fircrest Golf Club in Tacoma has dropped its decades-long association with the Tacoma Amateur golf tournament for the same reason, he said.
Still, Everett G&CC’s decision will no doubt be disappointing to longtime County Am participants, including many club members. It is believed that one round of the tournament has been played at Everett G&CC every year since the tournament began in 1931, and in most years the club has hosted the final round.
“It’s kind of a shame,” said Bob Whisman, a five-time County Am winner in the 1950s and 1960s, and later the longtime pro at Everett’s two public golf courses. “I’ll bet it’s been at Everett (G&CC) every year since it started.”
For Alex Stamey, the tournament’s other five-time champion and an Everett G&CC member, the board decision “is a sad direction for the club to take. I’ve been playing in the tournament since 1998 when I moved here and it’s always a fun tournament. The tradition is obviously one of the great things about the County, and not being able to (play at Everett G&CC) because the club is being held hostage for something that might or might not happen from a lawyer’s perspective, it’s sad.”
The decision by Everett G&CC’s nine-member board “is kind of catering to this unknown that might happen. … It doesn’t make sense to me,” Stamey said.
Lauer understands, calling the decision “one of the toughest we’ve had since I’ve been a part of the club, and this is my second time on the board. (The County Am) is important to the community and it’s important to us … but we have to protect our club.”
For now, Snohomish County’s other private golf club, Mill Creek Country Club, is not taking the same stance as Everett G&CC. Mill Creek CC has hosted the County Am off and on in recent years, including this year’s tournament, and will continue to do so in the future, though not in 2015.
“We still want to be involved (with the County Am),” Mill Creek CC general manager Cory Carper said. “We just don’t want to be involved every year.” Club officials are still evaluating the Spokane CC case, he added, “but we still haven’t made any decisions on it.”
The County Am has two courses already committed for 2015 — Everett’s Legion Memorial Golf Course and Mukilteo’s Harbour Pointe Golf Club. According to tournament director Jason Himple, a third course will be announced at a later date.
The loss of Everett G&CC from the tournament rotation “is a concern,” Himple said. “Losing Everett is probably going to hurt on a participation level. But the tournament itself and the notoriety the tournament has should be enough to keep it going and keep it successful.”
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