Columbia's 50th City Championship
Celebrates our Inaugural Champion
Dan LaBruyer

In celebration of the 50th Columbia Golf Championship we are honoring champion Dan LaBruyer.  Dan won the inaugural city tournament in 1975. That year was the only time the event was contested over 72 holes.  The four courses played in the event were: Columbia Municipal (LA Nickell), Forest Hill (Lake of the Woods), Columbia Country Club and the Country Club of Missouri.  Dan LaBruyer shot 298 and bested Francis Hagen and Ray Jones by five shots.

​

Dan was introduced to golf while caddying at the Sunset Country Club in St. Louis.  Dan remembers: "Although I never had a formal lesson on how to play golf, I loved learning my golf from observation and constantly reading golf books."   He later become a member of the Vianney high school team that finished 12th inthe Missouri State Tournament.  After high school, Dan attended the University of Missouri.  He played on the golf team from 1967 to 1971.  Highlights from his days at Missouri included playing in the Big Eight Championship during his junior and senior years.  In 1971, Dan led the team to a second place finish in the 1971 Big Eight Championship.  That finish was rewarded with an invitation to the Houston All American Tournament.  The 1971 tournament featured future golf major winners Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, 
John Mahaffey, Bill Rogers, and that year's winner Andy North.  When thinking about his past performances, Dan reminisced: "It was an honor to be the low 72 hole score for the Missouri team against that caliber of competition in the All-American. I have only played in one other 72 hole tournament, that being the 1975 Columbia City Golf Championship."