PGA Tour Champions

Last updated

PGA Tour Champions
Current season, competition or edition:
Golf current event.svg 2024 PGA Tour Champions season
PGA Tour Champions logo.svg
FormerlySenior PGA Tour (1980–2002)
Champions Tour (2003–2015)
Sport Golf
Founded1980
Founder PGA Tour
First season1980
CountryBased in the United States [lower-alpha 1]
Most titlesMoney list titles:
Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (11)
Tournament wins:
Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (46)
TV partner(s) Golf Channel
Related
competitions
PGA Tour
Official website https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions

PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour.

Contents

History and format

The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years the only high-profile tournament for golfers over 50. The idea for a senior tour grew out of a highly successful event in 1978, the Legends of Golf at Onion Creek Club in Austin, Texas, which featured competition between two-member teams of some of the greatest older golfers of that day. [1] The tour was formally established in 1980 and was originally known as the Senior PGA Tour until October 2002. [2] The tour was then renamed the Champions Tour through the 2015 season, after which the current name of "PGA Tour Champions" was adopted.

Of the 26 tournaments on the 2010 schedule, all were in the United States except for the Cap Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic, the Senior Open Championship in Scotland and tournaments in Canada and South Korea. The guaranteed minimum official prize money is $51.5 million over 26 tournaments, with a record average purse of $1.98 million per event; [3] slightly higher than the 2008 prize money of $51.4 million over the same number of events. [4] The total prize money and number of events, however, are down from previous years—for example, the 2007 tour offered a total of $55.2 million over 29 events. [5]

Most of the tournaments are played over three rounds (54 holes), which is one round fewer than regular professional stroke play tournaments on the PGA Tour. Because of this and having smaller fields (81 golfers), there are generally no "cuts" between any of the rounds. However, the five senior majors have a full 72 holes (four rounds) with a 36-hole cut. Until 2015, the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, with a limited field of 36, was played over 72 holes with no cut. Since 2016, it has been played over 54 holes with no cut. A golfer's performances can be quite variable from one round to the next, and playing an extra round increases the likelihood that the senior majors will be won by leading players.

Through the 2015 season, the Charles Schwab Cup was a season-long points race. Points were given to players who finished in the top 10. One point was earned for each $1,000 won (i.e. $500,000 = 500 points) with majors counting double. From the Cup's inception in 1990 through 2015, the top 30 players competed in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which was contested over four rounds and where all contestants earned points. The top five finishers in the points race earned annuities.

In 2016, the format of the Charles Schwab Cup was radically changed to a playoff-style format similar to that used for the FedEx Cup on the main PGA Tour. Qualification for the playoffs is now based on money earned during the PGA Tour Champions season. The top 72 players on the money list automatically qualify for the first playoff event, the PowerShares QQQ Championship. Additionally, if one or more golfers finish in the top 10 in the final non-playoff event, the SAS Championship, and are not in the top 72 on the money list entering the playoffs, the highest such finisher in the SAS Championship will also receive a playoff place. The playoffs operate on a points system, with each qualifying player receiving a points total equal to the money earned on the season. Points during the first two playoff events, the QQQ Championship and Dominion Charity Classic, are also based on money earned, except that the winner of each of those events receives double points. The playoff field is cut to 54 for the Dominion Charity Classic, and finally to 36 for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. After the Dominion Charity Classic, the field's points are reset so that each of the remaining 36 players can theoretically win the Charles Schwab Cup, and that each of the top five players can clinch the Charles Schwab Cup by winning the final event. [6]

In 2006, the Champions Tour Division Board of the PGA Tour organization voted to allow players the option to use golf carts during most events on the tour. The five major championships and certain other events, including pro-ams, are excluded.

Exemptions and qualifying

Current PGA Tour Champions competitor and TV golf analyst Bobby Clampett has called the process for determining the field in tour events "the most complicated system known to man," and added that "[n]ot a single player even understands it fully." [7]

Clampett attempted to explain the process in a 2011 post on his blog. Standard tour events—apart from invitationals and majors, which have their own entry criteria—have a field of 78 (currently 81). The first 60 places in the field are filled as follows: [7]

This leaves 18 places: [7]

2024 schedule

Money list winners

SeasonWinnerPrize money ($)
2023 Flag of the United States.svg Steve Stricker 3,986,063
2022 Flag of New Zealand.svg Steven Alker 3,544,425
2020–21 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (11)3,255,499
2019 Flag of the United States.svg Scott McCarron 2,534,090
2018 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (10)2,222,154
2017 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (9)3,677,359
2016 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (8)3,016,959
2015 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (7)2,340,288
2014 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (6)3,074,189
2013 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (5)2,448,428
2012 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (4)2,140,296
2011 Flag of the United States.svg Tom Lehman 2,081,526
2010 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (3)2,648,939
2009 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer (2)2,139,451
2008 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer 2,035,073
2007 Flag of the United States.svg Jay Haas (2)2,581,001
2006 Flag of the United States.svg Jay Haas 2,420,227
2005 Flag of the United States.svg Dana Quigley 2,170,258
2004 Flag of the United States.svg Craig Stadler 2,306,066
2003 Flag of the United States.svg Tom Watson 1,853,108
2002 Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin (3)3,028,304
2001 Flag of the United States.svg Allen Doyle 2,553,582
2000 Flag of the United States.svg Larry Nelson 2,708,005
1999 Flag of the United States.svg Bruce Fleisher 2,515,705
1998 Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin (2)2,861,945
1997 Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin 2,343,364
1996 Flag of the United States.svg Jim Colbert (2)1,627,890
1995 Flag of the United States.svg Jim Colbert 1,444,386
1994 Flag of the United States.svg Dave Stockton (2)1,402,519
1993 Flag of the United States.svg Dave Stockton 1,175,944
1992 Flag of the United States.svg Lee Trevino (2)1,027,002
1991 Flag of the United States.svg Mike Hill 1,065,657
1990 Flag of the United States.svg Lee Trevino 1,190,518
1989 Flag of New Zealand.svg Bob Charles (2)725,887
1988 Flag of New Zealand.svg Bob Charles 533,929
1987 Flag of the United States.svg Chi-Chi Rodríguez 509,145
1986 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bruce Crampton 454,299
1985 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Thomson 386,724
1984 Flag of the United States.svg Don January (3)328,597
1983 Flag of the United States.svg Don January (2)237,571
1982 Flag of the United States.svg Miller Barber (2)106,890
1981 Flag of the United States.svg Miller Barber 83,136
1980 Flag of the United States.svg Don January 44,100

Multiple money list titles

The following players have won more than one money list title through 2023:

Leading career money winners

The table shows the top ten career money leaders on PGA Tour Champions through the 2023 season.

RankPlayerPrize money ($)
1 Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer 35,964,514
2 Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin 27,158,515
3 Flag of the United States.svg Gil Morgan 20,631,930
4 Flag of the United States.svg Jay Haas 19,886,530
5 Flag of the United States.svg Tom Kite 16,303,747
6 Flag of the United States.svg Tom Watson 15,074,227
7 Flag of the United States.svg Dana Quigley 14,898,463
8 Flag of the United States.svg Larry Nelson 14,637,172
9 Flag of the United States.svg Jim Thorpe 13,936,083
10 Flag of the United States.svg Tom Jenkins 13,869,308

Source: [9]

The PGA Tour also publishes a list of PGA Tour Champions players' total career earnings on its three main tours. [10] The top player on that list after the 2023 season is Phil Mickelson, who has won a combined career total of $98,087,853.

See also

Notes

  1. Schedules have also included events in Canada, China, Dominican Republic, England, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South Korea and Wales.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Singh</span> Fijian-Indian professional golfer (born 1963)

Vijay Singh, nicknamed "the Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, which is the most by a player from outside of the United States, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two PGA Championships. He is the first person of South Asian descent to win a major championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korn Ferry Tour</span> Professional mens golf tour

The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. Those who are on the top 30 of the money list at year's end are given PGA Tour memberships for the next season. Since the 2013 season, the Korn Ferry Tour has been the primary pathway for those seeking to earn their PGA Tour card. Q-School, which had previously been the primary route for qualification to the PGA Tour, has been converted as an entryway to the Korn Ferry Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial Tournament</span> Golf tournament held in Columbus, Ohio, United States

The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large neighborhood called Muirfield Village, which includes a 1999 bronze sculpture of Nicklaus mentoring a young golfer located in the wide median of Muirfield Drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Lehman</span> American professional golfer (born 1959)

Thomas Edward Lehman is an American professional golfer. A former number 1 ranked golfer, his tournament wins include one major title, the 1996 Open Championship; and he is the only golfer in history to have been awarded the Player of the Year honor on all three PGA Tours: the regular PGA Tour, the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour Champions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senior Open Championship</span> Professional golf tournament

The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open, is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is jointly owned and run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship, and the PGA European Tour. Prize money won in the event is official money on both PGA Tour Champions and the European Senior Tour. The purse, which is fixed in United States dollars, had increased to $2.75 million for 2023.

The Tour Championship is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 money leaders of the past PGA Tour season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Stricker</span> American professional golfer

Steven Charles Stricker is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has twelve victories on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 and two FedEx Cup playoff events. His most successful season on tour came at age 42 in 2009, with three victories and a runner-up finish on the money list. Stricker spent over 250 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, reaching a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in September 2009. Stricker served as U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2021 matches, winning at Whistling Straits in his home state of Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Schwab Cup Championship</span> Golf tournament

The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is the final event of the season on the U.S.-based PGA Tour Champions, the world's leading golf tour for male professionals aged 50 and above. Played in late October or early November each year, it is PGA Tour Champions' equivalent of the PGA Tour's Tour Championship, and was formerly known as the Senior Tour Championship. Like the Tour Championship, it has a small field and no half-way cut.

The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx.

In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a "tour card", meaning that they can play in most of the tour's events without having to qualify. They join the leaders on the previous year's money list/order of merit and certain other exempt players as members of the tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial National Invitation</span> Annual golf tournament

The Colonial National Invitation, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Charles Schwab Challenge since 2019, is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth at Colonial Country Club, which organizes the event. It is one of five invitational tournaments on the PGA Tour; the inaugural event was held 78 years ago in 1946.

Jeffrey Allan Maggert is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions.

Kevin John Sutherland is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

Paul David Goydos is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he was a two-time winner.

These are achievements of play on PGA Tour Champions.

Listed below are recipients of awards for various achievements on PGA Tour Champions, a circuit operated by the U.S.-based PGA Tour for men's golfers aged 50 and over. The tour began in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, changed its name to the Champions Tour in 2003, and became PGA Tour Champions in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PGA Tour</span> Golf tour in the United States

The PGA Tour is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and formerly the PGA Tour China. The PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb southeast of Jacksonville.

This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2012.

The 2019–20 PGA Tour was the 105th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 52nd season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 14th edition of the FedEx Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Senior Open Championship</span> Golf tournament

The 2023 Senior Open Championship was a senior major golf championship for players aged 50 and over and the 36th Senior Open Championship. It was held 27–30 July at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Porthcawl, Wales. It was the 20th Senior Open Championship played as a senior major championship. The presenting sponsor was Rolex.

References

  1. Fields, Bill (August 8, 2016). "1980: A New Championship Begins". USGA. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  2. Watson, Ryan. "What is the PGA Tour Champions?". GolfLink. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  3. "Champions Tour announces schedule for 2010". PGA Tour. November 24, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  4. "Champions Tour releases schedule for 2009". PGA Tour. November 12, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  5. "Champions Tour unveils schedule of 29 official events for 2008". PGA Tour. June 28, 2007. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008.
  6. "Champions Tour announces 2016 schedule and format for inaugural Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs" (Press release). PGA Tour. November 11, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 Clampett, Bobby. "Insight Into the Champion's (sic) Tour Exemption Process". BobbyClampett.com. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Rubenstein, Lorne (September 12, 2011). "Rutledge Embraces Vagabond Life of Champions Tour". GlobalGolfPost.com. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  9. "Champions Career Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  10. "All Time Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved November 27, 2023.