Bemidji Town & Country Club Celebrates 100 Years of The Birchmont Golf Tournament

The 100th edition of The Birchmont Golf Tournament, one of the premier amateur golf tournaments in the Midwest, begins this Monday at the Bemidji Town & Country Club.

“I think for any event, regardless of sport, regardless of activity, to last 100 years is pretty special,” said Rick Grand, BTCC Director of Golf Operations.

Pegged as a six-day match-play extravaganza, The Birchmont was first held in 1925 under the name of The Birchmont International. The tournament pitted Canadian and American golfers against one another in a Nassau-style tournament. A.G. Denman was crowned the champion that year, but the first widely recognized winner of The Birchmont was Harry Legg in 1926, when the format switched to individual stroke play. Then in 1927, the tournament changed to the match-play format that is still used today.

“To compete in The Birchmont is exhausting,” stated Curt Howard, the tournament’s committee chairman and a five-time winner in the senior and executive classes. “Every shot is important, every shot has to be thought through completely. This is a very difficult golf course. It’s a very short golf course, but people don’t tear it apart because of the complexity of the layout.”

Yet the golfers continued to come back year after year. They brought their families, built friendships, and slowly morphed The Birchmont into something more than just a summer golf tournament.

“At the end of July every year, you know it’s going to be different, you know it’s going to be exciting,” said Grand, who’s spent 37 years in and around the annual tournament.  “When people walk up from the parking lots, it’s a completely different atmosphere.”

“We are the largest family reunion that you’ll ever stumble across,” added Howard with a smile. “The tournament is very important while you’re playing, but after that, it’s the last thing on your mind. It’s, ‘What are we doing later on tonight? Where are we meeting up?’ Things like that. It’s very special.”

Ahead of its centennial competition, The Birchmont continues to stand as a beacon for competition, family, and friends, all of whom hope its tradition and legacy will continue for the next hundred years, and beyond.

“I just want to make sure that after I’m gone,” starts Howard, “that the next generations that are coming up are having just as much fun and laughing just as much as I’ve been able to laugh in the last 62 years out here.”

“There’s got to be something,” added Grand, “whether it’s the golf course, whether it’s the event itself, whether it’s the people, all those things, to sustain itself and to be in some ways at its peak at the 100-year mark, is pretty exceptional.”

The Birchmont starts Monday with men’s qualifying and will continue Tuesday with the women beginning their qualifying round. Match play will start Wednesday and finish on Saturday afternoon with the championship matches.