The Tam O'Shanter Golf Course is located in

Niles, Illinois Niles is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located in the townships of Maine Township, Cook County, Illinois, Maine and Niles Township, Cook County, Illinois, Niles, directly neighboring Chicago's far northwest border. Per the 2 ...

. The north branch of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

flows through the course. The course and clubhouse were previously owned by George S. May and are currently under the ownership of the Niles Park District. Under May's ownership, the course hosted several prominent

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournaments on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

All American Open The All American Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s. It was played at the Tam O'Shanter Country Club in Niles, Illinois. It was run by George S. May and was originally known as the Tam O'Shanter National Open. From ...

(1941–57) and

World Championship of Golf The World Championship of Golf was a championship played on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s that, in its latter years, had a purse that dwarfed every other event on the tour, including the U.S. Open. It was played in August of each year at th ...

(1946–57) and the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

(1943–57) and

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(1948–57). In 1953, May's associate, Chet Posson, approved the presence of television cameras at the World Championship of Golf, and allowed for one hour of the tournament to be televised, a broadcast that drew approximately 2 million viewers, and marking the first time that golf would be viewed live on American television. While

Chandler Harper John Chandler Harper (March 10, 1914 – November 8, 2004) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1950. He won seven times on the PGA Tour and played in the Ryder Cup in 1955. Harper was born, raised ...

was being declared the winner for the television audience, they saw

Lew Worsham Lewis Elmer Worsham, Jr. (October 5, 1917 – October 19, 1990) was an American professional golfer, the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open champion Early life Worsham was born on October 5, 1917, in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He grew up in Long ...

use a wedge to hit an eagle from 104 yards for an unexpected win. In 1964 and 1965, the course hosted the

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

. In 1971, the course was sold to a developer and reduced to 9 holes. The Niles Park District reopened the course in 1973. Severe storms over the course of September 12–14, 2008 caused over $100,000 in damage to the course. Niles Park District Director Joe LoVerde was quoted "This is the biggest hit we've ever taken. That was one tough storm."

References

External links

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GolfLink
club information {{DEFAULTSORT:Tam Oshanter Golf Course Golf clubs and courses in Illinois Sports venues in Cook County, Illinois Niles, Illinois