In 1986, the Lancome Trophy was shared due to mother nature

In 1986, the Lancome Trophy golf tournament went the extra mile going into a playoff thanks to mother natures closing daylight. The initial reason for a playoff is to find an eventual winner for a specific event, at the 17th Lancome Trophy golf’s pure class and sportsmanship was on full display as Seve Ballesteros & Bernhard Langer shared the trophy. Ballesteros and Langer finished the tournament even at an aggregate score of 271….14 under par. The pair went on to the obvious playoff only to be halted after four holes due to darkness. “Mother Nature would not allow us to continue again,” said Langer. This “shared” win was Ballesteros third of four wins at this event.

The Lancome Trophy

The Lancome Trophy was a tournament staged in France and was the brainchild of French golf enthusiast Gaëtan Mourgue D’Algue. He is credited with convincing Pierre Menet, the chairman of the French Lancome Company with bringing a tournament to Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche. The original goal was to gather the top eight best players in the world to have a ultimate championship. D’Algue got the idea from watching the Canada Cup style golf tournament played in French-Canada in the 50’s and 60’s. The first Lancome Trophy was played in 1970 and won by Tony Jacklin of England. It was played for eleven more years until 1982 when the European Tour recognized it as an official event. The tournament ceased operations in 2003 after Retief Goosen last won. On the other hand it wasn’t all bad news as the French Golf Federation raised the Open de France purse five-fold.

Common theme for Langer

The decision to share the trophy was not unheard of by any means. Coincidentally the other time two men shared a trophy it actually involved Langer. He and Colin Montgomerie, two of the all-time greats on The European Tour and outstanding Ryder Cup partners at The De Vere Belfry, provided a fitting finale to the 2002 season when they shared the Volvo Masters Andalucia at Valderrama. As a result, now Langer goes into the history books as the only player to share two titles on The European Tour.