Esmeralda_Open
The Esmeralda Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played in 1945 and 1947 in Spokane, Washington. It was held at Indian Canyon Golf Course, a municipal facility designed in 1930 by Chandler Egan[1][2] on the west end of the city, and opened in 1935.[3] The Esmeralda Open was organized by the Spokane Athletic Round Table, a fraternal organization, headed by Joe Albi. The ART's emblem was a laughing horse named Esmeralda, which inspired the title of the charity tournament.[4][5] The Round Table would later be instrumental in the construction of the city's Esmeralda Golf Course, opened in 1956 in northeast Spokane.[6] It also was the driving force behind Spokane Memorial Stadium, named for Albi in 1962.
The Esmeralda Open was held annually for over a decade, but most editions featured local and regional golfers, and was not part of the PGA Tour. The first in 1943 was a 54-hole event played at Downriver,[7] and the 1949 tournament included Bing Crosby,[8] who was raised in Spokane. It was not held in 1944, when the 1944 PGA Championship was played at Manito Golf and Country Club in south Spokane.[9][10] In 1946, Spokane and the ART hosted the first U.S. Women's Open at the Spokane Country Club, north of the city.[11] An attempt was made to have the PGA Tour return in 1954,[12] but was unsuccessful.[13]