History - The PGA Tour
It is not always easy to discover the exact
beginning of something. So it is with the PGA TOUR Certainly there were
professionals who competed against each other from the earliest days of
the game.
In 1895, 10 professional golfers and one
amateur played in the first U.S. Open in Newport, RI. Shortly
thereafter, tournaments began to pop up across the country. There was
the Western Open in 1899. But this was not 'tour' golf. The events
lacked continuity.
Interest in the game, however, continued
to grow. American professionals were rapidly improving. And when John
McDermott became the first American-born player to win the U.S. Open,
enthusiasm for the game blossomed.
Adding to this growth was a commercially
backed exhibition by Englishmen Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. The duo
traveled across the country and attracted good crowds wherever they
stopped during the warmer months of 1913. A 20-year-old, Francis Ouimet,
defeated the pair in a playoff for the United States Open Championship
at Brookline, MA. Suddenly golf became front page news and a game for
everyone.
In the early'20s, the PGA TOUR saw its
first development, Tournaments were held on the West Coast, Texas and
Florida. These events were held in the winter, and the golfers played
their way east and up to Pinehurst in the spring. By the middle of the
decade, the TOUR was doing relatively well-- offering $77,000 in total
prize money.
The TOUR became more structured
following World War 11 and exploded in the late 1950s and early '60s.
Flip through the Facts and Figures section of this book and look at such
areas as leading money-winners and rising tournament purses to witness
the continuing growth.
When television became a player in the
game, the eyes of the world were on golf. This exposure inspired
millions to try the game and, at the same time, TV rights fees sent
purses soaring. The bulk of these rights fees, which are distributed by
the PGA TOUR to all co-sponsors, have gone back into the purses,
accounting for the tripling of prize money in the last decade.
The touring professionals began to gain
control of the TOUR in late 1968. Joseph C. Day was the first
Commissioner of what was then called the Tournament Players Division. He
served from early 1969 through February 28, 1974, and was succeeded by
Deane R. Beman, who took office March 1, 1974.
During Beman's administration, the value
of tournament purses escalated at an unprecedented rate: PGA TOUR assets
grew from $730,000 in 1974 to over $200 million, and total revenues
increased from $3.9 million to $229 million in 1993.
Timothy W. Finchem, previously the
TOUR's Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, became third
Commissioner on June 1, 1994. In 1995, Finchem undertook a restructuring
program designed to strengthen the PGA TOUR's core business, which is
its competitions; expand the TOUR's international scope and prepare it
to enter the 21st Century.
Since 1938, PGA TOUR events have made
donations approaching $300 million to charity. Of that total, more than
$134 million has been raised in the 1990s. The 1994 season produced a
one-year record $24,701,631 for charity; in 1995, the total was yet
another record: $25.2 million.
The competitive scope of the PGA TOUR
also is much broader today. The Senior PGA TOUR is considered by many
the sports success story of the 1980s. In 1996, the NIKE TOUR will enjoy
its seventh season as a proving ground for professionals, taking golf to
30 additional markets and paving the way for the future John Dalys, Jeff
Maggerts, Tom Lehmans and David Duvals of the PGA TOUR.
Also continuing to grow is the
Tournament Players Club Network. When the PGA TOUR opened the Tournament
Players Club at Sawgrass in 1980, it introduced the era of Stadium Golf
and record- breaking attendance. Owned and operated by the TOUR, the
concept means these courses are the only major league sports arenas
owned by the players themselves.
The TPC Network now includes facilities
in Japan, Thailand and China as well as the United States. In November
l995, the TPC at Mission Hills, near Shenzhen, served as the venue for
the 4lst World Cup of Golf, the first major international golf
competition held in the People's Republic of China.
From:
http://www.worldgolf.com/wglibrary/history/tourhist.html
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