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By Brett Avery
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

It was a tidy sum in 1950 for a winner's check on the PGA TOUR: $1,237.50.

All four of them.

Jack Burke Jr., Dave Douglas, Smiley Quick and Sam Snead were declared co-winners after shooting one-under-par 214s in Bing Crosby's little tournament. Each picked up that amount for 54 holes of work across the Monterey Peninsula.

Sam Snead was a four-way winner at Pebble Beach in 1950. (PGA TOUR Archive/PGA TOUR/WireImage.com)

Consider it another wacky chapter in the checkered history of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Snead may have wanted a playoff after closing out his week by missing a seven-foot putt at Pebble Beach Golf Links' 17th green and an eight-footer at the home hole.

But this was a simpler time, for the TOUR and for what was then widely known as Crosby's invitational. Better to split the top prizes than put a damper on any post-round relaxation with the celebrities and business titans who were their pro-am partners.

Heck, a tie for first was good enough for Ed Fugol and George Fazio in 1947, when they shot 213 in the first Crosby following World War II.

Even in those pre-television days, coverage of the Crosby chased away the winter blues. Newspaper and magazine stories made much of the calamities of the amateur celebrities, the stellar play of the pros and the fashions.

The tournament spent its first six years at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club, about three-fourths of the way down the Pacific Coast from Los Angeles to San Diego. Following the war Crosby, who put up all the cash for the $10,000 purse, engineered a move to 17 Mile Drive, one of the game's prettiest addresses.

Back then the field and gallery trooped en masse from one course to the next: exclusive Cypress Point Country Club for Friday, over to tree-lined Monterey Peninsula Country Club for Saturday and into Pebble Beach's embrace for Sunday's round.

The 1950 event gained extra vim with Ben Hogan's presence. A few days earlier he'd logged his first competition in 11 months, since nearly dying in an automobile-bus accident in Texas. Hogan had a fantastic shot at winning the Los Angeles Open before Snead ran down a putt across Riviera's 18th green and won the next day's playoff.

Hogan, the Crosby defending champion, joined most of his peers in struggling in the fierce winds greeting the field at Cypress. He was one under through the 13th but three-putted twice, hit balls onto beaches twice and carded 77. Despite trailing badly he still drew an enormous gallery during the last two rounds. His 223 put him just out of the money in a tie for 19th with Bob Toski.

With a fatigued Hogan trailing badly, Snead inherited the mantle of favorite. But he just as quickly surrendered much of his advantage when his second-round 72 lost ground to Smiley Quick (72-69) and Marty Furgol (72-69). Burke made five birdies over Monterey's back nine for a 67, clearly the best of the week, and stood one back.

Furgol left the picture quickly during the final round, struggling to an 80. That left a handful scrambling to keep pace with Snead, one under par late on a sunny and warm day. He would be the last contender to the clubhouse.

Douglas, teamed with "Tarzan" actor Johnny Weissmuller, made a miraculous par 5 at the 18th. His fairway wood second shot soared toward the beach, caromed off a rock and went back into play.

Burke three-putted the par-3 17th and Quick, the 1946 U.S. Amateur Public Links champ, struggled home with a 73. The trio seemed ready to settle for second money.

Snead needed only routine play to wrap up the title. Instead he missed putts at the last two greens. They were moments the Associated Press likened to his missing from 30 ½ inches at the last green to lose a 1947 U.S. Open playoff to Lew Worsham.

The Crosby eventually joined the rest of the world in settling its ties with playoffs, beginning with Doug Ford's topping Joe Campbell in 1962. Among its overtime champs is Jack Nicklaus, who won back-to-back extra-hole sessions (1972 vs. Johnny Miller, 1973 vs. Raymond Floyd and Orville Moody).

And then there was the 1981 edition, shortened to 54 holes by what was then considered typical Crosby weather. John Cook turned aside Bobby Clampett, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin and Barney Thompson.

Unfortunately for Thompson tournament officials didn't declare everyone co-champions. It was the seventh and last time he cracked the top 10 in his brief TOUR career.