A round of 18 memorable moments from Pebble Beach Pro-Am history.

In 1934, Bing Crosby – a gifted amateur golfer and young celebrity – invited some of his friends to play golf and party on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore. In 1937, that party moved south to Rancho Santa Fe, just north of San Diego. That’s when Crosby introduced the celebrity pro-am concept to the world, and hosted the first Bing Crosby Pro-Am. Sam Snead won, earning $500, which Crosby put up himself. (See story, below.)

But the real legend begins with a beach party on the last night of that tournament, which became known forever after, even when the tournament moved north to Pebble Beach in 1947, as “The Clambake.”

This week the tournament is celebrating its 70th year on the Monterey Peninsula. One of its most colorful stories while here will find new life with the cover of this year’s program, painted by studio artist Geoff Cunningham of Oceanside.

In 1987, on the 16th hole at Cypress Point Club, actor Jack Lemmon hit a ball that bounced off the green and settled in a slippery patch of ice plant on the edge of a cliff. Clint Eastwood then provided an assist, holding Lemmon’s belt to stabilize him for the shot and save Lemmon from a fall. Peter Jacobsen, Lemmon’s longtime tournament playing partner, then grabbed Eastwood’s arm to save them both. Eastwood’s partner Greg Norman followed suit by grabbing Jacobsen’s belt, and then a caddie grabbed Norman’s.

“Jack’s ball is a foot from the edge of a cliff,” Jacobsen recalls in a statement provided by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. “I’m talking about 70 feet straight down to the water. There’s no way he can even try to hit it. That ice plant is slippery.”

Lemmon’s semi-miraculous shot made it onto the green and the moment was dubbed “The Human Chain,” and serves as a nice metaphor for the pro-am spirit: People coming together and having a good time for a good cause. (It matters less that Lemmon skulled his next shot into the sea.)

Below appear 18 memorable moments from the tournament’s history, many pulled from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation’s 2009 book about the Pro-Am’s history, Cover Stories: Celebrating Tournament Program Cover Art.

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1947: After a four-year hiatus due to World War II, Crosby agreed to move the tournament – at the behest of local leaders – to Pebble Beach. Pro golfer Sam Snead, a three-time winner of the tournament’s pro competition, won the team competition that year with Roger Kelly, “a decorated amateur golfer and professional drinker who started things off by throwing up in the bushes alongside the first tee.” At the time, Crosby gifted every contestant a fifth of liquor each day.

1951: “Crosby favorite” Phil Harris, a bandleader “who never met a joke or a drink he did not like,” and who called Jack Daniels Country Club his home course, sunk a 90-foot putt and turned to Crosby and said, “How about that, Bing. Ain’t this a helluva blow to clean living?”

1958: For the first time, the Pro-Am is broadcast on national television, just in time for the tournament debut of a future legend: “a young, handsome, made-for-TV star named Arnold Palmer.” This year the AT&T “honors” him with Palmer’s Club Eighteen luxury suite, where membership is $8,000 per couple.

1962: Snow blanketed the state, including Monterey County, and play on Sunday, Jan. 21, was canceled. The Jan. 20 death of famous Carmel poet Robinson Jeffers was given less space on the front page of the Herald than the weather.

1963: Pro-am debut of Clint Eastwood who, reportedly, had previously joked he wasn’t invited to the tournament because Crosby might not like cowboys. Eastwood’s invitation that year included a note from Crosby that read: “P.S. By the way, I do like cowboys.” Eastwood has gone on to be a longtime tournament director.

1967: First year the newly designed Spyglass Hill Golf Course was in the tournament rotation. Crosby bet Jack Nicklaus he couldn’t shoot a 72 or better on the course in his practice round; Nicklaus took the bet, shot a 70 and won $5. Then he won the tournament.

1973: Crosby is hospitalized for pleurisy, and Bob Hope fills in as host. “It’s great to be here,” Hope quipped in his welcome to the players, “to play this benefit for Jack Nicklaus.” Nicklaus won the tournament, earning $36,000.

1977: On Jan. 20, former president Gerald Ford, having just left Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, flew straight to the West Coast and finished his day on the driving range at Pebble Beach. Ford played with Arnold Palmer, and was “all smiles.”

1978: Crosby passed away three months before the tournament on a golf course in Madrid, Spain. His 16-year-old son Nathaniel took over as host. “My mother asked if I thought we should continue the tournament. I said, ‘It’s what Dad wanted.’”

1980: Defending pro champ Lon Hinkle had to smash the window of his rental car – in which he’d locked his keys – in order to retrieve his golf clubs.

1986: AT&T took over as the sponsor of the tournament, which has been known ever since as AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Like many years before, it rained.

1992: The debut of Bill Murray, who downed a Polish sausage and a beer at the first tee at Spyglass. His irreverence gave some traditionalists pause, and they didn’t want him back, but 1987 U.S. Open champ Scott Simpson requested Murray be his partner in the 1993 Pro-Am, and Murray has been a tournament fixture nearly every year since.

1996: Tournament canceled after 36 holes due to torrential El Niño-driven rains. It marked the only time the event was called off, and was the first time since 1949 that a PGA Tour event was canceled.

1997: The first go for Tiger Woods, who finished with three consecutive birdies, which was only good enough for a tie for second place, as Woods’ neighbor and friend Mark O’Meara claimed a tournament record fifth title.

1998: El Niño again set the tourney back, as Sunday and Monday play were both rained out. The tournament was postponed until August, making it the longest event in PGA Tour history, and was won by Phil Mickelson.

2000: Tiger Woods stages an epic comeback in the last round, shooting a 64 and winning by two strokes. It was his sixth PGA Tour victory in a row.

2011: D.A. Points wins his first-ever PGA Tour victory, and wins the team competition with partner Bill Murray, who also took his first title. Cinderella story.

2017: These feel like historic times, and the AT&T – with its mixing of celebrities and the masses – feels poised for an epic year.