Goodall Palm Beach Round Robin
Encyclopedia
The Goodall Palm Beach Robin Robin was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour
from 1938 to 1957. It was also known as the Goodall Robin Robin and the Palm Beach Robin Robin. The sponsors were the Goodall Company (later Goodall-Sanford Co.) and its subsidiary, the Palm Beach Clothing Co. The purse for the tournament was $5,000, with $1,000 going to the winner, from 1938 to 1941, increased to $10,000/$2,000 in 1946, and increased again to $15,000/$3,000 in 1949. Sam Snead
won the event five times including both the first and last events.
style, based on his score versus his two opponents for that round. A player scored "+1" for each hole won and "-1" for each hole lost to each opponent. The groups were shuffled after every round so that every player played one round against every other player. The player with the most points after seven rounds won.
In 1947, the tournament's format was altered to feature 16 invitees playing five rounds in groups of four for a total of 90 holes. In 1949, two further changes were made to the format. Up to that time, the committee, after every round, had to calculate the points won or lost on each hole for each match. This had proven difficult to figure out quickly, prompting the switch to a medal match play style where players plus or minus points were based on their medal score (strokes per round).
The cause of the second change was television. In 1949, NBC
televised a segment of the event making it the first-ever network telecast of a golf tournament. To accommodate the TV coverage, Wykagyl rearranged the golf course so that the regular ninth hole became the eighteenth hole. The number of spectators at the tournament opening day topped 5,000 people, the largest attendance for any of the Round Robins to that date.
.
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
from 1938 to 1957. It was also known as the Goodall Robin Robin and the Palm Beach Robin Robin. The sponsors were the Goodall Company (later Goodall-Sanford Co.) and its subsidiary, the Palm Beach Clothing Co. The purse for the tournament was $5,000, with $1,000 going to the winner, from 1938 to 1941, increased to $10,000/$2,000 in 1946, and increased again to $15,000/$3,000 in 1949. Sam Snead
Sam Snead
Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S...
won the event five times including both the first and last events.
Format
The tournament featured an unusual round robin format. From 1938 to 1946, the field consisted of 15 players. They would play seven rounds in five threesomes, a total of 126 holes. A player earned or lost points on each hole, in a match playMatch play
Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; this is as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes...
style, based on his score versus his two opponents for that round. A player scored "+1" for each hole won and "-1" for each hole lost to each opponent. The groups were shuffled after every round so that every player played one round against every other player. The player with the most points after seven rounds won.
In 1947, the tournament's format was altered to feature 16 invitees playing five rounds in groups of four for a total of 90 holes. In 1949, two further changes were made to the format. Up to that time, the committee, after every round, had to calculate the points won or lost on each hole for each match. This had proven difficult to figure out quickly, prompting the switch to a medal match play style where players plus or minus points were based on their medal score (strokes per round).
The cause of the second change was television. In 1949, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
televised a segment of the event making it the first-ever network telecast of a golf tournament. To accommodate the TV coverage, Wykagyl rearranged the golf course so that the regular ninth hole became the eighteenth hole. The number of spectators at the tournament opening day topped 5,000 people, the largest attendance for any of the Round Robins to that date.
The end of the tournament
After the 1957 event, the Palm Beach Round Robin dropped off the PGA Tour schedule. The majority of the touring pros, those whom no one would include in any select list of 16 players, protested the fairness of an event that forced them to take a week off in the middle of the season while the favored stars enjoyed a good payday.Tournament hosts
The tournament was played in May or June at a number of different courses, mostly in the New York metropolitan areaNew York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
.
| Years | Country Club | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Kenwood Country Club | Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's... |
| 1939-41 | Fresh Meadow Country Club | Great Neck, New York Great Neck, New York The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens... |
| 1946 | Winged Foot Golf Club Winged Foot Golf Club Winged Foot Golf Club is a 36-hole golf course located in Mamaroneck, New York. The course architect is A. W. Tillinghast, who also designed Baltusrol , Bethpage Black, Shackamaxon Country Club, San Francisco Golf Club, Cedar Crest Park, and nearby Quaker Ridge Golf Club and Wykagyl Country Club... |
Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck (town), New York Mamaroneck is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of Mamaroneck... |
| 1947 | Charles River Country Club | Newton, Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:... |
| 1948-52 | Wykagyl Country Club Wykagyl Country Club Wykagyl Country Club is a golf course in the Wykagyl section of New Rochelle, New York. The club has often hosted major tournaments as well as meetings of the Professional Golfers Association... |
New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France... |
| 1953-54 | Meadow Brook Country Club | Westbury, New York Westbury, New York Westbury incorporated in 1932 as a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 15,146 at the 2010 census.The Village of Westbury is in the Town of North Hempstead.... |
| 1955 | Deepdale Country Club | Great Neck, New York Great Neck, New York The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens... |
| 1956-57 | Wykagyl Country Club Wykagyl Country Club Wykagyl Country Club is a golf course in the Wykagyl section of New Rochelle, New York. The club has often hosted major tournaments as well as meetings of the Professional Golfers Association... |
New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France... |
Winners
| Year | Player | Score | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Sam Snead Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S... |
+41 | |
| 1956 | Gene Littler Gene Littler Gene Alec Littler is an American professional golfer. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth rhythmical swing, he once said that, "Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the best misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes."-Early years... |
+55 | |
| 1955 | Sam Snead Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S... |
+46 | |
| 1954 | Sam Snead Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S... |
+62 | |
| 1953 | Cary Middlecoff Cary Middlecoff Emmett Cary Middlecoff was a dentist who gave up his practice to become a professional golfer on the PGA Tour in the 1940s.... |
+42 | |
| 1952 | Sam Snead Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S... |
+57 | |
| 1951 | Roberto De Vicenzo | +40 | |
| 1950 | Lloyd Mangrum Lloyd Mangrum Lloyd Eugene Mangrum was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle".Mangrum was born in Trenton, Texas... |
+37 | |
| 1949 | Bobby Locke Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.-Early years:... |
+66 | |
| 1948 | Herman Barron Herman Barron Herman Barron was an American professional golfer best known for being the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event.-Biography:... |
+38 | |
| 1947 | Bobby Locke Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.-Early years:... |
+37 | |
| 1946 | Ben Hogan Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game... |
+51 | |
| 1942-45 | No tournament due to World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... |
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| 1941 | Paul Runyan Paul Runyan Paul Scott Runyan was an American professional golfer. He was among the world's best players in the mid-1930s, won two PGA Championships, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Runyan was also a golf instructor.... |
+26 | |
| 1940 | Ben Hogan Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game... |
+23 | |
| 1939 | Harry Cooper Harry Cooper (golfer) Harry E. Cooper was a prominent PGA Tour golfer of the 1920s and 1930s. After he retired from competitive golf, he became a well-regarded instructor, into his 90s.... |
+31 | |
| 1938 | Sam Snead Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S... |
+14 | |