Created in 1952 under the name of San Diego Open, the Farmers Insurance was the theater in this same year of an historic event which was going to transform golf.
With 7 titles to his credit, Tiger Woods is the record winner at the Farmers Insurance Open. At each of them (his last date of 2013), he is grateful to a legendary boxer who had broken the barriers of segregation on the PGA.
Created in 1952, the tournament was then called the San Diego Open and was played, not in Torrey Pines as today, but at the San Diego Country Club. As a promotion, the local Chevrolet dealer invites a sports star, the boxer Joe Louis (1914-1981). Problem: he is black.
World boxing champion for 11 years
His brilliant career has just come to an end. His matches against Max Schmeling have entered into legend. And it was in 1936, in full preparation for the fight against the German, that he put on the golf glove for the first time. Result: 1st defeat! His obsession with the little white ball, however, does not prevent him from winning all his other important fights.
Undefeated from 1937 to 1949, the world heavyweight champion commands the admiration of Americans with his punch and his generosity. During the Second World War, he agrees to fight for free in order to raise funds for the US army.
First refusal because of his skin color
It is therefore as a true national hero and a very good amateur player (2nd index) that “Brown Bomber” is preparing to compete in the 1st edition of the San Diego Open. But her skin color is an obstacle. Since 1934, a clause of the PGA of America specifies that tournaments sponsored by it are reserved for whites (“Caucasian only”).
Horton Smith, another Hitler!
Through its President Horton Smith (double winner of the Masters in 1934 and 1936), the PGA refuses. Usually weighted in his claims, Louis launched a press campaign by declaring of Horton Smith, ” that he is another Hitler ». « That is enough ! Let the organization come and tell me to my face! “, he continues.
From right to left: Joe Louis, Teddy Rhodes and Bill Spiller ©DR/BlackHistoryHeroes
Nobody dares… By using an administrative subterfuge, Horton Smith finally accepts Joe Louis as an amateur but remains intransigent for the professional Bill Player, another pioneer of the black cause, who had nevertheless qualified. To the chagrin of the latter who would have liked a form of solidarity, the boxer decides to play despite everything.
He plays without succeeding in crossing the cut
Well he took it. Thereby, on January 17, 1952, Joe Louis became the first African-American to compete in a PGA-sanctioned tournament. He even takes the trouble to play the first 2 rounds with… Horton Smith, without however crossing the cut (76-82).
Regardless, History is on the move: prohibitions against blacks (and other skin colors) are being relaxed. Very slowly. They weren’t definitively repealed until… 1961. Bad habits die hard even for a boxer with an incomparable punch…
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