Golf historian Herb Graffis credits Bing Crosby with revolutionizing the game of golf with the first celebrity pro-am tournament in history, adding that the crooner “caught charity lightning in a bottle.”
Crosby thought it was his greatest accomplishment.
“I’m frequently asked, by journalists and others, what event, achievement or success has been most gratifying to me in my lifetime. Well the answer is immediate. This golf tournament,” Crosby wrote in the prologue to the 1975 book, The Crosby: Greatest Show in Golf, by Dwayne Netland.
“Here’s the game I’ve played and loved for 45 years, being played in the most beautiful environment imaginable on three world-famous links, by the best professionals, amateurs, sportsmen, and friends, and all for the substantial benefit of the most estimable charitable causes,” wrote Crosby, just two years before his death on a golf course in Spain. To date, the tourney has raised upward of $120 million.
“When I think I’ve had a hand in all this,” he added, “my cup runneth over.”