THE ROSE BOWL

The History of the Rose Bowl

 

In 1925, Captain W.W. Rose donated the Maritime Provinces Golf Challenge Cup in an effort to foster golf and camaraderie amongst Maritime golf clubs. The first challenge for the cup took place in 1925 and was won by the Ashburn Golf Club. In the years that followed the cup became known as the Rose Bowl in honor of Captain Rose and has been a competition between five of the oldest golf clubs in the Maritimes

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• Ashburn Golf Club, Halifax NS

• Belvedere Golf Club, Charlottetown PEI

• Brightwood Golf Club, Dartmouth NS

• Moncton Golf Club, Riverview NB

• The Riverside Country Club, Rothesay NB

 

The Rose Bowl continues to be challenged for to this day with 2024 marking the 99th anniversary since the first competition.

 

How the event works

The Rose Bowl is played twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. The club who last won the Rose Bowl has an obligation to defend its title against the club next in the rotation at the course of the challenger leaving the club in possession of the Rose Bowl to always defend it on the road. After each challenge, the losing team moves to the bottom of the Rose Bowl challenge rotation and awaits their next turn while the winner moves on to defend the Rose Bowl the following spring or fall against the team next up in the rotation. 

 

The competition is a two-day event and each team is comprised of 16 of the best players from their respective clubs. Day one of the event is 8 alternate shot team matches and day two is 16 singles matches. The first team to win 12.5 of the available 24 points wins the Rose Bowl and get to keep it in their possession until they can defend it at the next challenge. In the event of a tie, the defending team retains the Rose Bowl. 

 

The Rose Bowl has seen many golfers compete over the decades and is an event with many long lasting traditions that have continued on from one generation to the next. It truly continues to be about camaraderie, sportsmanship, and building friendships amongst the clubs as Captain W. W. Rose had originally intended back in 1925. 

 

The current holder of the Rose Bowl is Ashburn with Moncton hosting them in the next challenge set for the weekend of June 22nd & 23rd, 2024. The challenge order after Moncton is Belvedere (in fall 2024), Riverside, and then Brightwood.