David,
Sorry, but you really need to take this up with George Bahto (sorry George...God bless you, my friend!).
From George's book, page 68, titled, "The First Invitational", George and Gib write, in a chapter titled "The First Invitational";
"On July 2, 1910, 14 months before the official opening, the course was FINALLY ready for a test run (emphasis mine)."
An informal Invitational Tournament was held for a select group of founders and friends invited to participate.
A qualifying round was played the first day, followed by two days of match play. The course was still rough with temporary tee boxes, and a few bare spots on fairways and greens. (emphasis still mine, with more to come) MACDONALD WAS STILL ALTERING AND REFINING THE COURSE. IN FACT, A NEW 9TH GREEN (current 18th) WAS ALREADY UNDER CONSTRUCTION BEFORE THE COURSE EVER OPENED."
....
(Even more emphasis added)Besides the 9th (Current 18th), soon expanded by 60 yards, Macdonald CHANGED HIS MIND AND STRETCHED THE SAHARA HOLE (current 2nd) FROM A SHORT 215 yards to 261 yards uphill over an extended sandy waste area."
IT WAS NOTED THE TOURNAMENT SERVED THE PURPOSE OF REVEALING ANY DESIGN SHORTCOMING THAT NEEDED CORRECTING. All holes received high praised, except the Road Hole, "WHICH DID NOT PLAY AS ANTICIPATED (emphasis yet mine again). Apparently, the corner hazard in the driving area was not what it would later become."
In the book 16 players are photographed, entitled "A Who's Who of American golfers at the time participated in a 1910 tournament to see how good the course really was.
Among those in attendance included Fred Herreshoff, Max Behr, Walter Travis, CB Mac, Dev Emmet, Joseph Knapp, John Ward, and frankly David...if you try to call this out as being anything but an Invitational Tournament for the purposes I described exactly, then I'm really not sure what the heck you're talking about.
And, furthermore David...if you think CBM was just sitting around in the second half of 1910 and 1911 watching grass grow, then "CONJECTURE" my rear-end.
By trying to hold onto the timelines about Macdonald, NGLA, and his activities you originally envisioned, against ALL available physical evidence and contemporaneous reporting, you really just end up putting CBM on the same failed level as the half-hearted, paper-job, 18-stakes-on-a-Sunday-afternoon hacks who came before him, and I think such faulty and foolish characterizations serve his memory egregiously poorly and extremely erroneously.