San Diego Open | From "Sleepy" To Wild Party ⛳
How the San Diego Open Went From "Sleepy" to a Wild Party
In the middle to late 1960s the regular stops on the PGA Tour were transitioning from events with modest purses put on by chamber of commerce type organizations who were trying to promote their city, to events with much larger purses thanks to the sponsorship of large corporations and the attraction of having a celebrity's involvement.
Bing Crosby started it all with his famous Clambake that once it moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 1947 and then began being televised in the 1960s, things began to take off. Bing's old friend Bob Hope (Desert Classic) got in on the action as did Jackie Gleason (Inverrary Classic), Glen Campbell (Los Angeles Open), Dean Martin (Tucson Open), Sammy Davis, Jr. (Greater Hartford Open), Joe Garagiola (Tucson Open), Ed McMahon (Quad Cities), Danny Thomas (Memphis Classic) and even Frank Sinatra (Frank Sinatra Open played only one year in Palm Springs). The Frank Sinatra tournament played a part in the players breaking away from the PGA of America to form the PGA Tour which we've written about before and you can read HERE.
When the sleepy San Diego Open wanted to update the tournament and offer a bigger purse they turned to the crooner Andy Williams who added his name to the event in 1968. What Williams did was create an attraction and that attracted money. The purse more than doubled to $150,000 with the winner getting $30,000 (up from $13,200 in 1967). The event moved to Torrey Pines the same year and it was now nationally televised showing off the great ocean views.
Williams liked to have a good time and the tournament afforded him the opportunity to do just that for the week. He created the pro am package for the tournament and with two courses at Torrey being used he was able to recruit a wide array of stars, titans of business and industry, and politicians (Gerald Ford).
He also added a dinner show that he organized himself and featured Bob Hope performing. It was a wonderful pro am package and they had no problem selling it at a premium to golfers who wanted to rub shoulders with the celebrities and professional golfers. It was a primary way to raise funds for the benefactors, the Century Club, who used the funds to promote San Diego as a winter destination.
The group of celebrities that Williams brought down to San Diego were quite wild. Organizers put the party crowd up at La Costa where the party would go on all night.
"Some of the wild parties Andy had at La Costa were infamous," said Steve Horrell of the Century Club. "When Andy had a party, he had a party."
In 1972, Paul Harney won the Andy Williams San Diego Open, his first win in seven years. In 1963 Harney fulfilled a promise to his wife that he would play only part-time on the PGA Tour once his oldest child started school. Harney played well in major championships finishing in the top 10 six times. He won a total of six times on tour, with his last win at the AWSDO. The $30,000 first prize helped him purchase his own course in East Falmouth, MA which he owned and operated until his death in 2011.
Alas, the era of the celebrity PGA tournament gave way to the economics of corporate sponsorship which would just hand over money for the commercial exposure. Sure was easier than throwing a big dinner show.
How cool does Arnold Palmer look in this week's vintage ad?
Don't forget that we will be featuring guest posts every third Thursday of the month in the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest. Send your pictures of your favorite golf holes to larry@9acespublishing.com. If we use your pic, you'll win a prize.
Enjoy!
Larry Baush
WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Send us your picture of your favorite hole and if we feature it, you win a 2021 WHAT HOLE IS IT? Wall Calendar.
Email to larry@9acespublishing.com
We'll post guest submissions on the third Thursday of the month starting in January.