On that day in the late 1960s at the old Stardust Country Club in Mission Valley, Bill Osgood thought he'd finally done it. For years, he had been trying to beat his dad, Russ Osgood, a renowned figure in San Diego golf circles.
Bill remembers being around 17 at the time, at the top of his game. His dad was in his mid-50s. They were dueling each other in one of their favorite events, the Father-Son Tournament. They came to the 18th hole, a monster, 210-yard par-3, with the son leading the father by one.
Then Russ Osgood did something that thoroughly flustered his son at the time, but became a cherished memory over the decades. Russ stuffed in a birdie, Bill made bogey, and Dad prevailed again.
“I thought I had him,” Bill Osgood remembered with a laugh. “But that son of a gun was so competitive, he wasn't about to let me beat him.”
It's not easy overtaking a local legend, and Russ Osgood was just that. After badly mangling his left hand in a car accident in 1934, Osgood went on to win many of San Diego's most prestigious golf titles. He captured three County Amateurs, the first Southern California Interscholastic individual championship, two Caliente Amateurs, the City Championship and several San Diego Country Club championships.
Probably his most notable triumph was teaming up in 1940 with Utah pro John Geersten to win the Bing Crosby Pro-Am at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. The Crosby moved to Pebble Beach in 1947, and Russ Osgood is listed on the Pro-Am winners' plaque behind Pebble's first tee.
“I was up there for the U.S. Open in 1992 and saw Dad's name,” Bill Osgood said. “It's something that will be up there forever.”
Bill, 58, a longtime golf teaching pro in San Diego, was reminiscing through the heartache. Russ Osgood died in his sleep early yesterday at Bill's home in Jamul. Russ Osgood was 95, with his birthday coming up Aug.
30. That is now the day Bill Osgood would like to hold a memorial service, although plans are still pending.
Russ Osgood had such a full life in golf, he was still playing at the Bonita Golf Course he once owned until he was 94.
“When he played 18 holes, there was a good chance he was still going to shoot around his age,” Bill said. “I think his best round is when he was 89 and shot 83.”
As a young man, Russ Osgood thought he was on track for a glorious playing career. But a rollover accident in his Model A Ford crushed the last three fingers on his left hand. It took him years to physically recover, and though he returned to win local championships, he often thought about what might have been.
“It sure hurts inside,” Osgood said wistfully in a 2002 interview with the Union-Tribune.
For many years, Osgood ran the golf league for his employer, Convair, and he served as tournament director for the San Diego Open from 1954 to 1956.
In 1956, Osgood was among five investors in the building of the “Little Bonita” golf course. That facility closed in 1980 when the Plaza Bonita mall was built, and Osgood and others replaced it with the existing Bonita Golf Club.
Osgood sold his share of the club in the early '80s, but his sons, Bill and Bob, carried on the family tradition by working there. Bob Osgood died in 2003.
Russ Osgood's first wife, Kay, died in 1968, and he was raising the boys when he married Estelle Sprouse, who had a daughter, Linda, and son, Rick.
Rick Sprouse is now the head pro at the Borrego Springs Golf Resort. Like his stepbrother Bill, he knew what it was like to be bested by Russ. Sprouse said he won the County Amateur at the age of 20 and was thrilled to be taking home the trophy to show his stepdad. Then he looked at the engraved names of the past winners.
“Son of a gun, he was on there three times!” Sprouse said.
Notes
San Diego State sophomore
Matt Hoffenberg's excellent summer ended on the highest of notes last week. The 19-year-old from Simi Valley made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to close out Poway's
Josh Dupont 3 and 1 and win the inaugural Southern California Golf Association Match Play Championship at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara.
It was not a good first round for the five San Diego-area golfers competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship, which began yesterday at Pinehurst, N.C. The best showing was by Jamie Lovemark of Rancho Santa Fe, who shot a 4-over 74 to tie for 135th place. Jamie Puterbaugh of Encinitas and Carlsbad's Don O'Connor each shot 77, and San Diegans Alex Grieb and Tom Isaak came in at 78. The second round of stroke play is today, after which the low 64 scorers will advance to match play.
Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com
