CARLING GOLF TOUR – 1966 – 1970
In 1953, John Jay Hopkins, President of the General Dynamics Corporation, began a movement to use golf as a mechanism for players to create better international relations through golf. He started by hosting the Hopkins Cup matches that pitted twenty America professionals against a similar group from Canada. In 1954 he founded the Canada Cup matches where two professionals from various countries around the world met to compete. The Canada Cup evolved into the World Cup. The USGA started a similar movement in amateur golf through the World Amateur Team Championships – “Golf’s Gathering of Nations.”
“ In April, 1963, The Charrington United Breweries of Great Britain, The Carling Brewing Co of the USA and The Carling Breweries of Canada announced their sponsorship of a new golf tournament called the Carling World Golf Championship.”
Their aims were: to stage a true world championship for golf and to make another contribution: “to international understanding by bringing together golfers of all races, creeds and colours in friendly competition.”
In 1966 the brewery tournament board expanded the qualifying field to include the champions from eight zones. Zone 1 USA, Zone 2 Canada, Zone 3 Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, Zone 4 Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Zone 5 Europe, North Africa, The Middle East, Zone 6 Africa, Zone 7 Asia, and Zone 8 Australasia.
The Canadian Amateur Champion, the Canadian professional who won the Open championships for Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, the Millar Golf Championship, and the Canadian Professional Golfers Championship filled the eight positions for Canada. In the event a foreign professional won any event the highest Canadian professional in the field qualified. If a Canadian professional recorded a second provincial open the next highest non-qualified Canadian professional received the spot. .
In Canada Carling formed the Carling Golf Tour to offer Canadian players the opportunity to qualify for the Carling World Championship. For the first time Carling brought order to the various professional events held in Canada each summer from June –August. After the formation of the Carling Tour Canadian and foreign professionals could plan their summer schedule to attempt to earn a living playing on a professional golf tour similar to the American PGA. The Carling Tour offered experience to these aspiring professionals. By honing their skills on the summer circuit many professionals hoped to gain entrance to the PGA Tour through the fall qualifying schools.
CARLING WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS.
DATE CHAMPION VENUE
1964 Bobby Nichols Oakland Hills CC USA
1965 Tony Lema Pleasant Valley CC USA
1966 Bruce Devlin Royal Birkdale GC Great Britain
1967 Billy Casper Board of Trade GC Canada
Each qualifying player earned a minimum of $500.00 pay for expenses to attend the event.
THE ALCAN GOLFER OF THE YEAR CHAMPIONSHIP
With the aim to replace the Carling Championship, on March 21st, 1966 Alcan of Canada announced the creation of a new world golf championship. The headlines read: The Grand Design Comes to Golf. The new Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship poses the greatest demands for a champion plus the richest reward in golf history.” Thirty major championships around the world joined hands to produce the ALCAN CHAMPION.
Particularly in Canada the player accumulating the most points in the Ontario Open, the Quebec Open, the Canadian PGA Championship and the British Columbia Open became Canada’s representative in the Alcan Championship.
“Why did Alcan sponsor this championship?” Alcan, like many major world corporations, competed in a world economy. Golf was the businessman’s game. This tournament offered Alcan Corporation the opportunity to gather their clients, their suppliers, their shareholders, and their contractors at a worldly event, namely; the event to crown the world’s best golfer.
ALCAN GOLFR OF THE YEAR
DATE CHAMPION VENUE
1967 Gay Brewer Old Course St. Andrews, Scotland
1968 Gay Brewer Royal Birkdale GC, England
1969 Billy Casper Portland GC, USA
1970 Bruce Devlin Portmarnock GC, Ireland
Each player earned a minimum of $2,000.00 to cover their expenses.
In Canada at the close of the 1970 Carling Golf Tour, Carling removed their sponsorship of the Canadian Tour. Imperial Tobacco filled the void providing the sponsorship for the Canadian Golf Tour. The company formed the Peter Jackson Tour. This new Peter Jackson Tour raised the profile of the Canadian Golf Tour to new heights.