The Legends of Golf tournament began back in 1978 at Onion Creek Country Club in Austin, Texas. The brainchild of veteran television producer Fred Raphael, the Legends of Golf brought together some of the game's greatest stars, many of whom played before the advent of television. Sam Snead and his partner, Gardner Dickinson, won the tournament by one stroke over Kel Nagle and Peter Thompson. Others in the field that first year included Gene Sarazen, Paul Runyan, Dr. Cary Middlecoff and Doug Ford.

NBC Sports televised the first Legends of Golf. The 1979 tournament featured a six-hole playoff between Art Wall and his partner, "Terrible" Tommy Bolt, and the team of Julius Boros and Roberto De Vincenzo. That proved to be the catalyst in launching the Senior PGA Tour. De Vicenzo and Boros ended up winning the playoff, which NBC televised well into the 6 p.m. news hour, marking the first time a network had pre-empted a regularly scheduled program to stay with a golf tournament. The following month a group of players, led by Gene Sarazen and Bob Goalby, ascended upon PGA Tour headquarters and in 1980, the Senior PGA Tour was born.

In the intervening 23 years, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf has enjoyed tremendous success, with homes in Austin, Texas, La Quinta, Calif., and since 1998, the First Coast. The first two tournaments at World Golf Village in historic St. Augustine, Fla., in 1999 and 2000 were big hits with golf fans of the area. In 2000, Jim Colbert and Andy North were victorious with a 25-under-par score of 191 to claim a prize of $161,000 from a purse of $1,740,000. The 2001 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf takes place March 26-April 1 and features the pairing of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus on a course they helped to design. Defending champions Jim Colbert and Andy North also will play, as will the likes of such golfing pros as Bob Gilder, Harold Henning and Chi Chi Rodriguez.