Looking Back: LPGA's Pacific Ladies Classic/Eugene Open

The Pacific Ladies Classic, also known as the Eugene Open, was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour during the 1960s. It took place in Oregon in the first or second week of September.

First played: 1962

Last played: 1968

This event began as the Eugene Open and was named either that or Eugene Ladies Open its first four years. Its final three years, it was called either the Pacific Ladies Classic or Pacific Golf Classic.

The tournament began as a 72-hole event and remained that length its first five years. Its final two years the format switched to 54 holes.

Winners of the Eugene Open/Pacific Ladies Classic

1962 — Shirley Englehorn, 292
1963 — Marilynn Smith, 295
1964 — Mary Mills, 289
1965 — Mary Mills, 294
1966 — Mickey Wright, 284
1967 — Clifford Ann Creed, 211
1968 — Sandra Haynie, 214

The tournament's 72-hole scoring record was 284, set by Mickey Wright in 1966. Clifford Ann Creed, runner-up to Wright that year, won the following year with the tournament's lowest 54-hole winning total, 211.

Wright shares the record for margin of victory, seven strokes, with Shirley Englehorn. Englehorn was the inaugural champ, winning by that margin over runner-up Jackie Pung in 1962. That win was the second of Englehorn's 11 career LPGA victories.

Mary Mills was the tournament's only double-winner. Her victory in 1964 was also her second career win, wedged between wins in two majors: the 1963 U.S. Women's Open and 1964 LPGA Championship.

The tournament took place at Eugene (Oregon) Country Club all but one year: In 1967, Eugene's Shadow Hills Country Club was the site.

Sources:
LPGA.com. LPGA Tournament Chronology, 1960-69, https://web.archive.org/web/20120324123338/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology60-69.pdf
LPGA Tour. LPGA Player Guide 1974.