For those wondering why certain comic strips back in the day would suddenly all do a bunch of strips involving golf, the answer is the B.C. Open. The B.C. Open was an annual PGA tour golf tournament in Broome County, NY (the B.C.), which was the stomping ground of Johnny Hart (of B.C. and Wizard of Id fame), and one of the features of the open for years was a round of golf by Hart and some of his fellow cartoonists (I seem to recall Jim Davis showed up regularly). The strips full of gags about golfing always came out in time for the Open.
The Open was a charity event that ran from 1971 to 2006, though starting in 2006 there were scheduling conflicts with larger PGA events so the big names didn’t come, and it was eventually done in by a schedule revamp caused by the introduction of the FedEx Cup. In the final bit of ignominy, in 2006 massive flooding forced them to move the event to the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY, which is about 100 miles away from the original location (and not in Broome County). Since 2007 a Champions Tour event, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been played instead.
For those wondering why certain comic strips back in the day would suddenly all do a bunch of strips involving golf, the answer is the B.C. Open. The B.C. Open was an annual PGA tour golf tournament in Broome County, NY (the B.C.), which was the stomping ground of Johnny Hart (of B.C. and Wizard of Id fame), and one of the features of the open for years was a round of golf by Hart and some of his fellow cartoonists (I seem to recall Jim Davis showed up regularly). The strips full of gags about golfing always came out in time for the Open.
The Open was a charity event that ran from 1971 to 2006, though starting in 2006 there were scheduling conflicts with larger PGA events so the big names didn’t come, and it was eventually done in by a schedule revamp caused by the introduction of the FedEx Cup. In the final bit of ignominy, in 2006 massive flooding forced them to move the event to the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY, which is about 100 miles away from the original location (and not in Broome County). Since 2007 a Champions Tour event, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been played instead.