The PGA Tour was officially created in 1968. But the American circuit had already been established for a long time under other names. A review of these shows that Paul Barjon would not, strictly speaking, be the first Frenchman to win in the United States…
On the last lap of the’American Express, Paul Barjon can launch his career magnificently, but he also has a date with history. In the event of victory, the New Caledonian would be the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour. Is this statement true or false?
Both my captain! Semantically, the French would indeed be the first to win on the PGA Tour. Since the creation of the association in 1968 under the name Tournament Players Division (it only took its real name in 1975), no tricolor has managed to win a title. You first had to have the luck and the talent to take part, which hasn’t happened so often…
A little history
As we know, American tournaments are much older. The BMW Championship for example, ex-Western Open, dates from 1899! The first inclinations to organize a circuit originated in the creation of the PGA of America in 1916. The organizer of the US PGA then brought together not only teachers attached to a club but also professionals.
On the initiative of the distribution giant Rodman Wanamaker (who gave his name to the US PGA trophy), 35 professionals signed the constitution of the association.
Among them, a former disciple of Arnaud Massy, the French Louis Tellier. After participating in the 1913 US Open where he finished 4th, the Versaillese settled in 1914 in New Jersey attached to the Canoe Brook Country Club.
Tellier the hyper-sensitive pioneer
From then on, he continues to participate in the embryonic circuit with more or less success. Talented, he suffers from a notorious psychological weakness. That doesn’t prevent it to win the Massachusetts Open Championship in September 1921. A few months later, affected by the poor results that followed, he… hanged himself.
matter of perspective
In the 1980s, the PGA Tour began to take into consideration certain tournaments from the distant past. And the Massachusetts Open, created in 1905, is considered today as a PGA Tour tournament whose birth certificate is now fixed at 1929.
Winner in 1921, Louis Tellier would therefore be the first French to win a tournament on the American main circuit but not really a PGA Tour event.
Photo DR
