The duty of memory by Didier Picot
- laurencejob
- May 7
- 5 min read
THE OMNIUM OF THE BASQUE COAST 1967
The OMNIUM of the BASQUE COAST was born in 1967. The word OMNIUM, genitive plural of the Latin word “omnis”, (all), means “of all”, “to all”. In other words, it indicates that the event belongs to all, is open to all. This is how we called the professional championships open to amateurs in the 1950s and 1960s, before it was replaced by its English translation “open”.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the OMNIUM of Saint Jean de Luz succeeded the OMNIUM of Biarritz at the beginning of September: this mini-circuit brought together the best French and Spanish professionals.
The plateau of the 1963 edition of «la grande semaine internationale de la Côte Basque» as it was then called was raised, because the results of these Basque Omniums counted for the selection of the two Spanish representatives to the Canada Cup in Paris ' six weeks later.
Several testimonies confirm it: the Spanish pros, and especially the great Ramon Sota, came by moped, bag on their backs, from Bilbao and Santander to play these Basque championships.
That year, it was Ramon Sota, the uncle of the Ballesteros brothers, who won the Biarritz Open with a remarkable score of 260 (66, 64, 66, 64), or -16, 8 points ahead of Jean Garaialde, second.
A few days later, Jean won the Omnium of St Jean de Luz in Chantaco (65+65). Despite everything, the event took place «in a relaxed atmosphere that resembled more a family party than a major sporting event» wrote Tennis et Golf. In a world of professional golf that was being sought and organized, the leaders of the Basque Coast golfs realized that they had to see bigger and cooperate to continue to exist.
Thus, in early 1967, a group of personalities from Biarritz, Saint Jean de Luz and Ciboure, under the impetus of tennis champion and company manager René Lacoste, decided to create the Basque Coast Open. They created an associative structure, the «Comité des tournois internationaux de la Côte Basque» which brought together industrialists, elected officials and leaders of the golf world.
In a relaxed atmosphere that was more like a family party than a major sporting event
The Chairman of the Board of this Committee was Raymond Barbas, also president of the fashion house and perfumer Jean Patou. René Lacoste, Jacques Neuhaus, future president of the Nivelle golf course and head of the family business of road signs of the same name and Dr Paul Ricau were the vice-presidents. Hubert Chalmeton de Croy was the Commissioner and Albert Bomboudiac, the legendary director of golf in Biarritz and nephew of the great professional and professor Pierre Hirigoyen, the Secretary-Treasurer.
The Senator-Mayor of Biarritz, Guy Petit, was an honorary member of the committee where also sat the mayor of Saint Jean de Luz, Pierre Larramendy, the mayor of Ciboure, Jean Poulou, Roland Raffard, president of the FFG, Pierre-Etienne Guyot, president of the APGF, as well as Mr. Leven and Mr. Holy Cross. All were aware of the interest of cooperating around an international golf tournament that would make the Basque Coast shine.
Who says professional tournament says financial endowment. The industrialists put their money where their mouth was, and in 1967 they distributed 25,000 francs to the best-ranked professionals, including 10,000 francs for the winner.
Given the success of the event, Guy Petit announced at the awards ceremony that the endowment would be doubled the following year. It was raised to 75,000 francs in 1969, of which 25,000 francs went to the winner, making it the best-endowed Open on the European continent.
The effort represented by such an award is better measured when it is known that the French Open 1967 was 10,000 francs and the British Open (about 10,000) Sterling (130,000 francs at the time). In 1965, the winner of the Open, the Australian Peter Thomson, received 1750 pounds, or about 22,750 francs.
The 1967 Omnium took place on 72 holes on 5, 6 and 7 September: 36 holes in Biarritz on 5 September, then eighteen holes each of the following two days in La Nivelle and Chantaco. The strong French and Spanish participation was enhanced by the presence of the Australian Randall Vines and that of the South African Barry Franklin, winner a few weeks earlier at Evian.
Randall Vines has been a revelation to us
After playing several tournaments in the British Isles without much success, 22-year-old Brisbane native Randall Vines distinguished himself on the Mainland during the summer of 1967: he finished at the top of the Spanish Open before losing in the play-off to Sebastien Miguel, but landed on the Basque Coast with his victory at the Swiss Open the week before in Crans sur Sierre.
Without knowing the municipal golf of Biarritz, nor the two golfs on either side of the Nivelle, Randall Vines handed over two cards of 71 and 65 to Biarritz, followed by a 63 to La Nivelle and a last round in 68 to Chantaco, for a total of 267 (-11). “Randall Vines has been a revelation to us,” wrote Tennis & Golf. If his ball strike is nothing exceptional, it has no less a regularity and a great game mechanism perfectly to the point. He has no flaws in his little game, and his putting is particularly deadly.” Observers at the time reported that Vines had dribbled the green of the hole no3 of the Nivelle, by 4, which, despite the comment of the magazine, denotes a good shot.
Behind him, Uvaldo Nogal finished second by 3 points, one ahead of South African Barry Franklin.
The Frenchman Gérard Gassiat, biarrot of origin and teacher in Toulouse then in Domont created the surprise by finishing in 4th place, ahead of Jean Garaialde, 5th. Among the amateurs, Gaëtan Mourgue d'Algue was best ranked with 284, ahead of Alexis Godillot, Jean Delgado, Georgy Leven and Jean-Michel Larretche.
Randall Vines pursued a successful professional golfer career. The following year, in 1968, he won 4 professional tournaments, the Tasmanian Open (played during his honeymoon trip) with 17 moves ahead, then the Thai Open, the Hong Kong Open and finally the Engadine Open, before losing the Swiss Open in play-offoff against the Talian Eric Bernardini. After a few years of starvation, he came back to the fore by winning the 1972 Australian PGA Championship in stroke play and again in 1973, this time in match play. He finished 5th in the 1973 Canada Cup, just behind Jack Nicklaus. His last professional victory was at the Griffith Golf Classic in 1978, after the 5th hole of a play-off.
In 1995, he joined the European Tour Senior where he ranked very honorably, finishing 16th in the order of merit in 1996. Even though he has not won any major tournaments like his compatriots Peter Thomoson, Ken Nagle, David Graham, lan Baker-Finch or Adam Scott, Randall Vines is considered one of the best Australian golfers of his generation.
The great lesson of this 1967 Côte Basque Omnium was its popular success noted Tennis & Golf: for the first time since the 1963 Canada Cup at St Nom la Bretèche, more than a thousand spectators, including non-golfers, followed the last games at Chantaco.
A vision, a strong leadership, a budget, talented players, a true approach to local and international communication, the leaders of the Basque golfs at that time had gathered together the ingredients for a great success that would continue for more than two decades.
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