‘Quad’ event tees it up for 100th year
Tradition is longest running golf contest in North America
Pictured is the Quadrangular Match championship team from Dunkirk’s Shorewood Country Club in September 2015.
Jeff Passafaro, Shorewood team captain.
Brad Smith, Shorewood Club professional.
Pictured is the Tureen Trophy, awarded to the winning team of the Quadrangular Golf Match each year.
Pictured is the Quadrangular Match championship team from Dunkirk’s Shorewood Country Club in September 2015.
Jeff Passafaro, Shorewood team captain.
Brad Smith, Shorewood Club professional.
Pictured is the Tureen Trophy, awarded to the winning team of the Quadrangular Golf Match each year.
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A tradition dating back a century will call the town of Dunkirk home this weekend.
The 100th annual Quadrangular Golf Match will be at Shorewood Country Club from today through Sunday.
"The Quad" is the longest running team golf event in North America. It features four teams -- two from Ontario, one from Lockport, and this year's host, Shorewood Country Club of Dunkirk. Shorewood's team has been involved in the event since its inception in 1923.
Jeff Passafaro, Shorewood team captain stated, "We are pleased and honored to host our fellow Quad competitors for this historic event that celebrates the game of golf, its traditions and continues this grand international fellowship."
Each Quad team consists of 18 players, with 12 players each tournament day that count in the scoring system.
Players compete in singles and are paired in best ball matches against each of the other clubs.
No handicaps are utilized in the scratch scoring system. Once selected to a Quad Team, each club typically allows for lifetime membership.
Ron Passafaro, a member of the Quad Team for more than 30 years, will again play alongside his brother, Jeff, this weekend.
Becoming part of the team more than three decades ago was a source of great pride for Ron, as he once worked at the club's pro shop and witnessed the event every four years when it returned to Dunkirk.
"If you belonged to Shorewood, one of the big things you wanted to achieve in your golfing life was to make the Quad Team," Ron Passafaro said. "... I just grew up with this whole tradition of the Quad Matches."
The event has featured five teams over the years, including Lockport Town and Country Club of Lockport; and St. Catharines Golf and Country Club of St. Catharines, Ontario; each of which have also competed since its inception. Also competing in this year's event -- as it has since 1961 -- is Lookout Point Country Club of Fonthill, Ontario, which joined the event in place of Niagara Falls Country Club in 1961.
Jeff Passafaro referred to the competition as an "absolutely unique relationship between our two countries and this fellowship of golf."
Over the past century, St. Catharines leads all clubs with 27 victories, with Shorewood's 25 victories and Lockport's 24 wins not far behind. Niagara Falls had 14 victories before it was replaced by Lookout Point, which has 11 first-place finishes. First place was shared in a tie on two occasions, with only a 2020 pandemic-imposed hiatus interrupting competition for one year. The competition was held through the Great Depression and World War II.
"The history of it is kind of overwhelming," Ron Passafaro said. "When you think back to the commitment the fellas had to make back in the '20s and '30s just to even travel ... it wasn't easy."
In 1963, the four clubs created the Quad Professionals competition, in which the club professionals from Western New York compete against the Canadian club professionals in a best ball match. Among the notable club professionals to carry their teams in the past include Shorewood's Jack Shubert, St. Catharines' John Irwin, and the duo of Gord McInis Sr. and Gord McInis Jr., of Lookout Point Country Club.
This year's Quad Professionals match will feature Brad Smith of Shorewood and Daniel Vanill of Lockport attempting to defend their title against the Canadian duo of Cameron Thin of St. Catharines and Dan Roud of Lookout Point.
As tradition holds, the winning team of the Quadrangular Match celebrates by sipping champagne from the Quadrangular Tureen Trophy, with small cups presented alongside the larger bowl-shaped trophy. Dunkirk's hometown members hope to celebrate the club's 26th victory this weekend.
"It really is about alliances across the water -- becoming closer with our Canadian friends and our friends from Lockport. It's really a very fulfilling event that allows you to expand your horizons through relationships with people from other places and other cultures," Ron Passafaro said.