When Steve Stricker won the RayFischerState Medal Play
Championship in 1989, he turned to tournament founder Gene Haas.
“This is a great tournament,”
Stricker told Haas. “But who is Ray Fischer?”
Haas, the former Wisconsin State Golf
Association executive director, heard that question before.
“Not many (present-day) golfers knew
him,” Haas said of the late Ray Fischer.
One who did, however, was Janesville
Sports Hall of Fame member Lyle Gifford, who served 12 years on USGA and Public
Links committees with Fischer.
Fischer got in on the ground floor of
the tournament that eventually took his name.
Surprisingly, Fischer did not earn
that honor for his play.
“If he broke 100, he had a good day,”
Haas said.
Fischer made his mark in state golf
by resolving disputes that developed during tournament play.
“He knew about the rules of golf,”
Haas said.
And that was his “in” to the amateur
tournament that will be held at JanesvilleRiverside for the 28th
consecutive year.
Many of the scheduled contestants—including
Dallas Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo—probably don’t know the history of one of the two biggest
state amateur tournaments of the year.
Haas started the tournament in 1967,
making this the 42nd year.
At the time, there was only one
72-stroke play tournament in the state other than the State Open, and that one
was limited to private club members.
“I thought, boy, we need a
tournament,” Haas said.
Milwaukee courses were ruled out because the county-owned courses would not
permit four days of tournament play. So Haas, who was a member of the Wisconsin
Public Links Association board of directors, turned to a new course, CherokeeCounty
Club in Madison.
Haas purchased the prizes for the
1967 inaugural event. Since he was participating in the tournament, Haas needed
starters and a rules official.
Fischer, who worked in Fitchburg, was
his choice as the tournament rules official.
Haas says Fischer did not get off to
a good start.
“His first ruling was wrong,” Haas
said. “And it involved two State Hall of Famers, Harry Simonson and Steve
Caravello. They are legends in Madison.”
Haas said that Cherokee was built on
a swamp, with canals on each side of the fairway on every hole. That helps
water drain into LakeCherokee, which flows into the YaharaRiver.
When it rains, the canals expand, and stakes mark the hazard lines.
Caravello apparently hit a shot, and
the ball plugged into the ground inside the hazard. While it was legal to lift
and clean balls plugged in the fairway, it is against the rules to do so while
in a hazard.
Fischer mistakenly gave Caravello
clearance to lift and clean.
“It was clearly inside the hazard,”
Haas said. “Word got around the course pretty quickly. Guys were asking, ‘Who
is he?’ ”
Fischer got past that gaffe and was a
fixture at the tournament. He also worked several national amateur tournaments.
The tournament then moved to LakeWindsor
CC near DeForst for two years and to Yahara Hills in Madison for one year.
Ralph Parker, who had been at
Cherokee when the event started, had since moved to Janesville
and was club pro at Riverside
and Blackhawk.
“He said he would like the tournament
in Janesville,”
Haas said. “He went to the Janesville
board, and we have been there ever since.
“Ralph Parker was the guy responsible
for the tournament coming to Janesville.”
Haas said another issue arose in 1973
when the Wisconsin Public Links Association
board questioned having both a State Amateur event and the 72-hole Stroke Play
Championship.
“The question came up, ‘Who is the
true state amateur champion?’ ” Haas said. “The executive committee decided we
would make the Janesville
tournament like the Masters.”
So the tournament had to have a name.
Greenfield’s Phil Plautz recommended the tournament be named after Haas.
Haas declined.
“I was still playing in it,” Haas
said.
Haas recommended it be named after
Fischer, and it stuck.
And as it does every year around the
end of June, the “rules guy” will be honored again when the top amateur golfers
in the state gather at Riverside
to play 72 holes in three days.
