He spent the last days in his apartment in Crans-Montana, surrounded by his two sons Fran\u00e7ois and Christian and their families.
\nBesides his activities in real estate and his involvement in politics, his real passion was the game of golf.<\/p>\n
A charismatic and passionate person, he has chaired the Organizing Committee of the Swiss Open since 1964, but his memories go back much further. \u00abGolf has always been a part of my life. At the age of 8, I was already a tournament caddie and, as an adult, I played it a few times. I grew up with this competition and watched it develop into what it is today: one of the most popular tournaments in the world,\u00bb he stated.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he became deeply involved in the Golf-Club Crans-sur-Sierre by taking over the presidency in 1981, a club he presided over until his last days, and then that of the Swiss Golf Association (ASG), now Swiss Golf, from 1991 to 1996, a period during which golf developed significantly in Switzerland.<\/p>\n
70 years of commitment to golf, and some fine achievements: the awarding of the \u201cEuropean Masters\u201d tournament title in 1983 with direct reference to the Augusta Masters plus the signing of unique and notable contracts for the 2 courses in Crans-Montana that are named after their architects – the 18-hole with Seve Ballesteros (picture beside) and the 9-hole with Jack Nicklaus.
\nThe Swiss media also paid tribute to him by awarding him the title of Sports Promoter of the Year 2000.<\/p>\n
Finally, at the dawn of his 80th birthday in 2010, he received the highest award in European golf – the title of Honorary Lifetime Vice-President of the European Tour.
\nThe Swiss golf world is losing an iconic figure. Gaston-F. Barras greatly contributed to the development of this sport through his vision, personality and commitment.
\nThe Committee, the staff of the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf-Club and the Omega European Masters are deeply affected by the announcement of his passing away and extend their deepest condolences to his family and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He spent the last days in his apartment in Crans-Montana, surrounded by his two sons Fran\u00e7ois and Christian and their families. Besides his activities in real estate and his involvement in politics, his real passion was the game of golf. A charismatic and passionate person, he has chaired the Organizing Committee of the Swiss Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,576,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-noticias-en","category-showcase"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t