On June 9, just six days before the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, Golf House was pleased to welcome home Horace Rawlins' gold champion's medal from the first Open in 1895. The addition of the 105-year-old medal represents one of the proudest acquisitions in USGA history, especially considering that its arrival coincided so closely with the Open's 100th playing.

The first Open medal stands as a fitting symbol of much more than the triumphs of a champion or success of a championship. It represents a convergence of events upon which the governing body of the game in the U.S. evolved - a symbol of organized golf in America.

Rawlins' solid gold medal, produced by New York jeweler John Frick, contains an ornate gold overlay of a golfer encircled by a wreath of laurels. The etched detail on the face of the medallion includes grassy terrain, distant hills, birds, trees and even a white golf ball. The medallion, ribbon, and three engraved bands are connected with bilateral gold chains. Because the prize was preserved in a leather and silk presentation case for the majority of the past 105 years, it remains in pristine condition.

"I can think of no other item that best exemplifies the traditions of the USGA than its very first U.S. Open championship medal," says USGA President Trey Holland. "We are pleased it has come back to us."

The Rawlins medal will be placed on display at Golf House alongside the 1896 and 1898 U.S. Open medals won by James Foulis and Fred Herd.

Then there is the case of Mrs. Charles S. Brown, who captured the inaugural U.S. Women's Amateur in 1895. She received a medal, but until now, her true identity was a mystery. The USGA Record Book and Media Guide list her as Mrs. Charles S. Brown. For years, USGA officials searched archives and club histories in an attempt to uncover her maiden name. Even historians at her home club, Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y., had no record of Brown's given name.

In his article, "The Hole Story - Golf and the Social Register," James Gaynor of the Social Register Observer, a biennial publication, writes that Mrs. Charles S. Brown was the former Lucy N. Barnes. Gaynor uncovered this while searching the Social Register of that era.

David Goddard, a club historian at Shinnecock Hills, confirmed that in the 1890s, there were club members with the last name of Barnes and it's likely Lucy was the daughter who married Charles S. Brown. Barnes only participated in the inaugural amateur and produced a winning score - 132 for 18 holes - that by today's standards would be considered novice at best. Only 13 women competed, with nine holes played in the morning and nine more in the afternoon.

Charles Brown founded a highly successful real estate company that remains in business today under the title Brown/Harris/Stevens. One of the couple's children became a prominent New York City architect and president of Shinnecock Hills, Archibald M. Brown, who married the daughter of Shinnecock founder and ex- USGA Executive Committee member Samuel Parrish.

But recent descendants of the family can't offer much about Lucy Barnes or her husband. "I wish I knew more," says Hope Brown Acquavella, Lucy's great granddaughter.

For a decade, Palm Beach County spent millions buying 100 acres in West Palm Beach's former Hillcrest neighborhood in order to develop the land into a public-access course. In December, a judge seemed to seal the deal, authorizing the county to seize the only three remaining homes. Two of those homeowners now are leaving town.

But the Zamecniks, whose 1920s Spanish mission-style home sits on the southernmost tip of the course property, refuse to go, and have filed an appeal of the judge's "order of taking" in a rare challenge to the government's eminent domain powers.

"The county has not demonstrated that it must take this house in order to build the golf course or that the taking satisfies a proper public purpose," argues Kevin Wagner, the lawyer representing the couple.

The Zamecniks are also challenging a plan, which county officials say has been dropped but which the judge still considered, to transform their home into the future course manager's residence. Wagner claims that such use also fails to satisfy the eminent domain laws' "public purpose" requirement.

County officials claim that they virtually are required to build a course on the property - and to take the Zamecnik's home in the process.

"We are simply not permitted by law to allow the property to just sit there and not be profitable," offers Bob Inman, properties manager for Palm Beach International Airport, which is charged with overseeing the airport-area project. "A municipal golf course would be the most profitable public use of that land."

County officials have attempted to ease homeowners' residential transitions, from extending move-out dates to agreeing not to seek the Zamecnik's eviction until after their appeal is complete. That may take months or years. Meanwhile, the county moves forward with its preliminary course development while the Zamecniks hold onto their home.

Net proceeds from the event began at a modest $35,000 in 1984 and peaked at $1.8 million two years ago. Recent editions of Fore Love have involved 108 foursomes playing on four different courses in the Richmond area.

"For years, it was the biggest one-day fund raiser for cystic fibrosis anywhere in the country," says Debi Golden, executive director of the CF Foundation's Virginia chapter. "It's going to be very difficult to replace."

Why does it need replacing? The event was the original project of Troy Peery, a member of the USGA's Sectional Affairs Committee and the former president and CEO of the Heilig-Meyers chain of furniture stores. Peery retired from the company last year, knowing his successors would eventually change the tournament structure.

"We had a unique chemistry," says Peery. "It was one of the few times, outside a trade show, where people in the furniture and electronics industries could get together.

It was a purely social occasion and it just became very popular. We wound up expanding it every year because we didn't want to turn anyone away."

The Heilig-Meyers golf outing will continue, but its identity will be more corporate. Peery is exploring his options in organizing a replacement event.

Entry fees for the Fore Love, which was headquartered at Hermitage Country Club, stabilized at $3,000 per player with only $150 per player spent on prizes. Other adjuncts included two dinners and an auction, but never more than 18 holes of golf.

In a 13-page opinion, Judge James King concluded that at the time of the complaint, the club was a private organization not covered by the state Human Rights Law and that Saunders waited too long to file her complaint. King also wrote that her claim that the club revoked her membership is "implausible," and that she failed to prove the club retaliated against her husband for her pursuit of the case.

The recommendation goes to Jerome Blue, the state human rights commissioner. His approval would mean Saunders can take her case to the state Appellate court.

"I am very disappointed in the Division of Human Rights," says Saunders. "But all the media attention brought this issue to the forefront. I know women are still getting the short end of the stick."

King cited a section of the Human Rights Law that says complaints must be filed within one year of the alleged violation. After reviewing the club's standing as measured by the five standards set forth in the New York Court of Appeals 1983 ruling on U.S. Power Squadron v. State Human Rights Appeal Board, King said the club was "distinctly private."

Enter club member Fran Weber, a board member of the Women's Golf Association of Northern California. Weber meticulously organized a program, establishing a set of criteria to accept four girls from public facilities in Sonoma County to become junior members of the club. "I just wanted to give back and provide kids an opportunity," says Weber. "The goal is to eventually send them to college on a golf scholarship."

Six girls answered the ad in a local paper. After a thorough interview process, which included a background check of their academics (the girls must carry a GPA of 3.0 or better), Ashley Craddock, 16, Alison Taylor, 15, Danielle Buckman, 13, and Tara Seymour, 12, were selected. The girls, who also participate in the Sonoma County Junior Golf Tour, are allowed to play the course on a space-available basis at no cost. In addition, they get full use of the practice range and complimentary lessons from the professional staff. The girls also play with the club's women's golf league during its weekly outings.

"Because of the scholarship, I feel more comfortable with golf," says Taylor, who played on the Ursuline High School team as a freshman last fall. "I've really improved a lot in my short game."

Adds Buckman, on the verge of breaking 100, "The club pro also helps me out with different problems that come up on the course, like when I'm stuck in the rough. (The scholarship) gives me more practice time."

Four months after Weber started the program, Bob Ringo established a similar one for boys, drafting a parallel set of regulations and adding a few more. "I know it sounds funny, but they couldn't have been convicted of a felony," says Ringo. "They couldn't have a tattoo, they can't use tobacco and they couldn't have ever been suspended from school." Thirty-three boys interviewed, with one exception made in the final selections. Dan Maier, a 13-year-old who suffers from dyslexia and is attending a public school for the first time this year, did not meet the 3.0 grade-average requirement. After talking with his counselor, the school thought golf might be therapeutic. Since joining the program, Maier has seen his GPA rise nearly a full point. "He's the most effervescent kid we have," says Ringo.

That's important because the boys play with the men's league on Saturdays. Joining Maier were 16-year-olds Zach Christ and Zach Makilan, and Anthony Proctor, 14.

The regional organizers of the tournament, in ruling against the cart request made by Michael Russell, cited walking as an integral part of the game and stated that carts give players an unfair advantage.

"I was quite angry about it," a story by the Associated Press reported Russell as saying of not being able to participate in the June 18-20 competition in Long Beach. "It's supposed to be the handicapped Olympics. They act like we're some kind of All-America, top-shape people."

The 33-year-old construction worker from suburban Dallas used his 5-wood out of greenside bunkers, and every other lie he faced, in a one-club tournament at Willow Springs Golf Course in Haslet, Texas. The contestants were limited, as the name implies, to one club from their first shot to their last.

"No, I'd never tried it out of a bunker," he conceded. "I just opened the face a little, hit down on it and, voila!"

Walsh was similarly adept with his choice of weapon at two short par 3s over water: the 123-yard 11th and the 105-yard seventh. He easily hit the green at one and reached the fringe of the other. "I may have to use this (club) more often," he reasoned.

Nevertheless, the course reopened its front nine on May 18 with the back nine put into play four days later. While golf might be a welcome distraction, Hoffer said many residents -25,000 were forced to evacuate - are still trying to recover from the shock of losing their property.

Born in Ince, England, and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Jones, who died in his sleep last month at the age of 93, designed or rebuilt over 450 courses in 45 states and 28 foreign countries. Included in that body of work was a series of complexes in Alabama known as the Robert Trent Jones Trail. "Alabama is a better place to live, thanks to Robert Trent Jones," said Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

The 1999 list of Golf Digest's top 100 courses lists 14 Jones designs, including Spyglass Hill and Hazeltine National.

Jones' foresight preceded his contemporaries. Not long after World War II, he predicted that livelier balls and clubs, and improved maintenance practices, would require longer courses. When Atlanta's Peachtree Golf Club opened in 1948, it measured 7,400 yards. The horseshoe-shaped par-5 13th hole at his Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., has been reached in two only twice.

When Jones transformed a 120-yard par-3 into a 192-yard challenge for the U.S. Open at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., the club thought he made the hole too difficult. Playing from the 165-yard member tee, Jones borrowed a 4-iron and promptly holed his shot. "Gentlemen," Jones told a group that included club pro Johnny Farrell, "the hole is fair, eminently fair."

Jones wanted holes to be a tough par but an easy bogey. His legacy survives through the work of his two sons, Robert Jr. and Rees, both well-known golf architects in their own right.