Grace DeMoss

Grace DeMoss Zwahlen (born 1927) is a former competitive women's American amateur golfer from Oregon. One of the most successful female golfers from the Pacific Northwest, she was the first Pacific Northwesterner to be named to the prestigious United States Curtis Cup team in 1952 and 1954. After retiring from competitive golf, Zwahlen was named to numerous golf halls of fame and is now a high school golf coach.

Early life and career

DeMoss was born in Corvallis, Oregon, one of five daughters of Ray DeMoss, a Corvallis businessman.^[1] She started playing golf as a teenager at the Corvallis Country Club, though she was initially more interested in equestrian sports.^[1]

She entered her first tournament, the Portland Open, in 1945 and came in last place. In her next major tournament a year later, the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Amateur, she made the semifinals, and then a year after that, lost in the finals. Her first tournament victory came in the 1947 Portland City Amateur.^[1]

Golf success

After her win in Portland, she entered tournaments across North America, primarily on the west coast. In 1949, she won her first major tournament, the Canadian Women's Amateur. Following that win, she played throughout the winter in California to keep her game sharp. In 1950, she won the Pacific Northwest Amateur Championship played at Capilano Golf and Country Club in West Vancouver, British Columbia. She followed this victory with a semifinalist finish at the U.S. Women's Amateur, and was a finalist at the Canadian Women's Amateur, the Women's Trans-Mississippi, and the Oregon Women's Amateur, and was a medalist at the Women's Western Open.^[1]

In 1952, she was named to the United States' Curtis Cup team, the first golfer from the Northwest to receive the honor. However, that year, the American team lost the cup for the first time since its inception. Two years later, in 1954, DeMoss was again named to the team. This time, DeMoss and her team reclaimed the cup at the matches contested at Merion Golf Club.^[1]

Following her early success, she relocated to Florida to play golf year round where she won Florida state women's amateur championships in 1955, 1957, and 1958. She returned to the Northwest to claim three straight Oregon women's amateur titles from 1956 to 1958.^[1]

She continued to play competitively into the 1960s before retiring due to neck pain. Since the 1970s, she has been the girls' golf coach at Crescent Valley High School in her hometown of Corvallis.^[1]

Personal

DeMoss graduated from Oregon State University in 1952, but did not compete collegiately as Oregon State did not have a women's golf team until the 1970s.^[2] Following her graduation, DeMoss married Howard Smith and golfed as "Mrs. Grace DeMoss Smith" or "Mrs. Howard Smith" for several years.^[3] She was later married to Fred C. Zwahlen Jr., who was the Founder and Chairman of the Department of Journalism at Oregon State, from the late 1950s until his death in 2004.^[4] Her family is linked to at least two other Oregon sports heroes: her sister Maxine married Oregon State football Rose Bowl MVP Don Durdan, and another sister, Rae Ardis, married Durdan's Rose Bowl teammate Quentin Greenough.^[5]

Honors

She was named to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1986,^[6] the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1991,^[7] and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1993.^[1]

Tournament wins (10)

• 1949 Canadian Women's Amateur
• 1950 Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur
• 1954 Curtis Cup (team)
• 1955 Florida Women's Amateur
• 1957 Florida Women's Amateur
• 1958 Florida Women's Amateur
• 1956 Oregon Women's Amateur
• 1957 Oregon Women's Amateur
• 1958 Oregon Women's Amateur

Tournament runner-up finishes (8)

• 1946 Oregon Women's Amateur
• 1950 Oregon Women's Amateur
• 1952 Curtis Cup (team)
• 1947 Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur
• 1950 Canadian Women's Amateur
• 1950 Women's Trans-Mississippi Amateur
• 1951 Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur
• 1953 Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur

Team appearances

Amateur

• Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 1952, 1954 (winners)

References