This month marks the 50th consecutive year Hoag Hospital has operated a professional golf tournament at the Newport Beach Country Club.
From the inaugural Crosby Southern Pro-Am in 1975 to the 2025 Hoag Classic on the PGA Tour Champions, the venerable hospital and staple of Newport Beach has changed its name a few times through the decades, but will always have a distinguished legacy thanks to community and philanthropic leaders Charlie Hester and Marshall Duffield.
Because of their efforts and connection with friend and golf buddy, singer, actor and entertainer Bing Crosby, they started a mini-tour event and pro-am, which lasted for 23 years. It was a “drop area” for pros not making the cut at Crosby’s famous National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour. An avid golfer, Crosby wanted to offer a place to play for those with an unexpected open weekend.
Upon giving Hester and Duffield authorization to use his name, the two Newport Beach businessmen and Hoag Hospital volunteers (through the fundraising 552 Club) quickly scrambled to launch the inaugural Crosby Southern, or “Little Crosby” as golfers referred to it.
The Crosby Southern Pro-Am provided good golf theater on a tight budget, supported fully by volunteers, as the field featured PGA journeymen, up-and-coming stars and older players trying to extend their careers. Crosby presented the check, a whopping $1,700, to the first winner, Billy Ziobro, in 1975.
Once in the 1970s, for a bit of flare, a sponsor came up with an idea of “pop-out cups” in the hole on each green.
It was an invention that didn’t last, but for a while golfers in the Crosby Southern could stand over the hole and catch their ball as it popped up.
“You wouldn’t have to bend over and get the ball out of the hole,” said former PGA Tour rules official Mike Crosthwaite, who served at the Crosby Southern.
“What we were concerned about was, if you hit the ball into the hole (from a long distance), it wouldn’t stay. It would hit the bottom of the cup and bounce out,” Crosthwaite said. “But this guy, who I think was a member (at the club), thought the pop-up cups would be great notoriety for the tournament. It was something else.”
There will be no pop-out cups at the Hoag Classic on March 21-23, but a star-studded field will be vying for a piece of the $2 million purse. Among those committed to play are Fred Couples, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker.
Prior to its rebranding to the Hoag Classic in 2019, the event was called the Toshiba Classic, and before that, the Toshiba Senior Classic, which began in 1995. The former Crosby Southern and its crew of Hoag volunteers merged with the Toshiba Senior Classic in 1998.
In addition to ranking among the longest-running events on the PGA Tour Champions, the Hoag Classic has raised more than $1 million for charity each year since 2000.
The Hoag Classic holds the distinction of having the longest tenure at the same club, the Newport Beach Country Club, on the tour.
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, who played once in the event in 2004, will serve as keynote speaker at the Hoag Classic Community Breakfast on March 18 at the Balboa Bay Club. Tickets for all events are available on the Hoag Classic website.
The Senior PGA Tour was formally established in 1980, mainly to keep players like Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead relevant in the public eye and cash in on their prestige. In October 2002, the tour was rebranded as the Champions Tour and in 2015, it was adopted as the PGA Tour Champions.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Dunn: Hoag Classic marks 50th year for Newport Beach on golf tour )
Also on site :
- 25 Spring Desserts Starring Strawberries, Lemons & Pineapple
- Hezbollah leader says Lebanese gov’t must do more to end Israeli attacks
- Una señora de Coachella perdió sus pertencias en el incendio de la casa que rentaba; no contaba con seguro de inquilino