LEWISTON, NEW YORK | It was a quiet week at Niagara Falls Country Club for the seventh Women’s Porter Cup.
In fact, were it not for a few sparse signs around the golf course and the police officers working as crossing guards, you wouldn’t have known a golf tournament was anywhere nearby.
On the 18th green on Friday afternoon, Jackie Rogowicz won the 2019 installment of the women’s amateur tournament in front of a gallery of no more than 50 people. And many of those were other competitors who had ventured out to watch a playoff between Rogowicz and Australian Isabelle Taylor. Afterward, Rogowicz was doused in water by her Penn State teammates who also had competed. But as she was tapping in her par putt for the biggest tournament victory of her life, a group of male Niagara Falls Country Club members stood on the tee of the par-3 18th hole tee waiting to finish their round of golf – fidgeting, marching, hands on hips, appearing almost disgusted that the women weren’t done yet.
These women deserve better.
Unlike the men’s Porter Cup, which is typically played the last week of July, with the final round held on a Saturday, the women’s event is contested in the middle of the week – like a Tuesday ladies’ day or a hit-and-giggle classic left over from the days when housewives didn’t work and most clubs limited the times they could play.
That’s right: The host club for a prominent women’s amateur tournament can’t bring itself to close the course on a Saturday morning in June to accommodate it.
Kids are still in school in upstate New York in June, so other than the players’ parents or college coaches, there was almost no one watching some of the best female amateurs in the region – no dads bringing daughters out to see great golf; no future women’s college players running around asking for autographs; no groups from USGA-LPGA Girls Golf or PGA Junior League or any of the myriad organizations promoting girls in the game. The few spectators who were not relatives, coaches or fellow competitors were club members who had wandered out to see what the fuss was all about.
So, why play the Women’s Porter Cup at a time of year and during a part of the week when no juniors or working moms can attend? One of the main reasons is so the country club doesn’t take away member play on Saturday morning.
That’s right: The host club for a prominent women’s amateur tournament can’t bring itself to close the course on a Saturday morning in June to accommodate it.
Granted, the season is short in western New York, seven months maybe. That is especially true this year, as it rained 25 of 31 days in May.
But if it’s OK for the final round of the men’s Porter Cup to be held on a Saturday in mid-summer, why not afford the women at least the courtesy of one weekend day? Is it too much to ask to offer young girls and their parents the chance to watch the tournament?
At the very least, don’t have members standing on the tee on the final hole when the tournament is on the line.
The Women’s Porter Cup brings in money for the club, tournament director Brian Oakley shared, but not all members care about the financial aspect. Nor, apparently, do they care about the optics of a disgruntled-looking group on the 18th tee as the tournament finished.
“This tournament is hard for them to accept,” Oakley admitted. “There will always be that old-school membership that doesn’t understand it.”
Oakley has plans to keep growing the Women’s Porter Cup. This year’s tournament had 77 competitors, up from 36 in its first year.
Oakley believes if more members become involved, they will realize this tournament is not just successful, it is something the club should be proud of and should keep around for a long time.
But if the attitude among Niagara Falls’ membership doesn’t change, there is a chance the tournament will vanish, despite Oakley’s optimistic wishes. And that would be a blow to the women’s game.