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It began in 1953 as the Tournament of Champions, a title it kept singularly or attached to a sponsor for 41 years (Mony TOC 1975-90; Infiniti TOC 1991-93), and at that time had the swinging, high-rolling panache of the city in which it was played, Las Vegas when it was just beginning to become the world’s most gregarious fun town.
It was played at the Desert Inn CC, the only golf course in town owned by a casino, the Desert Inn. The casino/hotel itself became a Vegas icon, its main room entertainment provided by everyone from Sinatra and his Rat Pack to Buddy Hackett, Bobby Darin, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Liberace, and many, many more. It was the model for the casino the Corleones made an offer to buy that couldn’t be refused. It was originated by Wilbur Clark, a storied western real estate entrepreneur, but when he ran out of money during the construction it was taken over by the Cleveland mafia boss, Moe Dalitz.
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One afternoon in early ’53 Bessie lost all his money on the ponies at a track in south Florida. He had been planning to travel to Argentina to play in a tournament, but now had no way to get there. But, on his way out of the track he spotted a winning ticket on the ground, cashed it in and made it to Argentina, where he played well and won enough to get him to Vegas for the inaugural TOC. He won the tournament by a stroke, and was paid off with 10,000 silver dollar coins delivered in a wheelbarrow. They did things like that in those days. But Bessie did even better on the side. He bet $500 on himself to win the tournament, at 25-1 odds, and picked up another $12,500. It was long held that he lost it all that night at the tables, but he would later refute the story, claiming (and proving) he gave at least half to a charity. He never said what happened to the other half. It was also said that he had to sell his clubs the morning after his victory to get gas money for the trip to the next stop on the tour. Even if these anecdotes are apocryphal, they were close enough to the truth and if nothing else gave the Tour of those days a special character.
By the way, Chandler Harper finished second to Bessie in ’53. It began a cursed streak of two that year. In August of 1953, in the first golf tournament ever shown on national television, Harper appeared to have the $25,000 first prize locked up at Chicago’s Tam O’Shanter World Championship. But he was knocked out when Lew Worsham holed a wedge shot on the last hole of the tournament for an eagle two, to win by one.
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It was played for the next two years, 1967 and ’68, at the Stardust Hotel, in Vegas, and then moved to the La Costa CC, in Carlsbad, where it stayed for the next 31 renewals. However, it didn’t quite shed it “connection,” for the hotel was owned by the Teamsters Union, which as everyone knows had an association with the same crowd that got Vegas off the ground.
The players didn’t mind, and their wives were ecstatic. The La Costa course was (and is) an excellent test, but what really made the week was the pampering the player’s wives received. It was mud baths, massages, pate foie and champagne, and Arnold Palmer hanging around the big bar in the main dining room.
The TOC has been played in Hawaii since 1999, and is still a favored stop by the players who qualify, and their ladies, but somehow it doesn’t, or perhaps can’t have the special character of its earliest days.
