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.

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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.
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