Big Moments for the Buick Open
July 13, 2008 by Adam
Even though this year’s Buick Open is behind us and the next is nearly a year away, the golfers are still remembering the highs and lows of this year’s tournament — more than one golfer is driving around in a new Buick car. This tournament is something all Buick owners have on their radar, but it wasn’t always that way. Here’s a quick history of everybody’s favorite golf tournament.
- When the tournament started in 1958, Buick was the first corporate sponsor for the PGA tour. The first Buick Open was won by Billy Casper, and he took home $9,000, the highest purse on the tour at that time.
- By 1965, the tournament purse had reached $100,000 — still not an insignificant amount of money — and that was the same year Tony Lema won his second Buick Open in a row. This is the only time in the tournament’s history that someone has won back to back years.
- In 1979, the Buick Open was won by its first PGA rookie, John Fought. Five years later, new Buick cars become the official cars of the PGA tour.
- In 1989, the purse for the Buick Open breaks $1 million. Ten years after that, Tiger Woods wins the tournament for the first time and signs a sponsorship deal with Buick. Tiger gets himself a new Buick car.
- In 2003, the purse for the Buick Open goes up to over $4 million. It’s come a long way from the $9,000 in 1958!
- This year, the total amount given to charities by the Buick Open breaks the $9 million dollar mark. Interestingly, the total amount given to charities by Buick through sponsored events broke $32 million in 2005. That’s a lot of new Buick cars!
To check out your new Buick, stop by your King of Prussia area Buick dealer today.
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