Classic crooner Bing Crosby
started the Crosby National Pro-Amateur Tournament in 1937 at Rancho Santa Fe
Golf Club outside San Diego. Professionals played for free while invited
amateurs paid $3. A whopping $3,000 in prize money was awarded, and the proceeds
went to charity.
The popular tournament was
suspended because of World War II, but it started up again in 1947 at Pebble
Beach. By 1950, all the high-calibre pros were showing up and celebrities were
climbing over one another to get in on the fun.
Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Van
Johnson, Lefty O’Doul and Joe DiMaggio were among the 1951 competitors.
From a 2001 report by former
Chronicle golf writer Pat Sullivan: “In 1958, the Crosby was televised
nationally for the first time to a snowed-in nation, thus beginning one of the
longest-running sports-ratings winners in the history of the medium.”
The name-dropping doesn’t stop
there: Dean Martin, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Johnny Weissmuller, Sean Connery,
George C. Scott, Mike Douglas, John Brodie, Charles Schulz, Willie Mays, Clint
Eastwood and many other big names would go on to play in the clambake.
Crosby died of a heart attack on
a Spanish golf course in 1977, and his son Nathaniel and wife, Kathryn, kept
the pro-am thriving for years — until AT&T took over sponsorship in 1986.
No comments:
Post a Comment