Champions Tour

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Champions Tour logo

The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.

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, which featured competition between two-member teams of some of the greatest older golfers of that day. The tour was formally established in 1980 and was known as the Senior PGA TOUR until October 2002. The original logo was based on the PGA Tour logo, with the golfer's profile modified to depict the wearing of a flat cap and plus fours.

Former logo.
Former logo.

In 2008 all the tournaments are in the United States except for the Senior British Open and a new tournament in the Dominican Republic. The guaranteed minimum official prize money is $55.2 million over 29 tournaments.[1]

Most of the tournaments are played over three rounds (54 holes), which is one round less than regular professional stroke play tournaments on the PGA Tour. Because of this and having smaller fields, there are generally no "cuts" between any of the rounds. However, the five senior majors have a full 72 holes (four rounds). 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. 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.

Contents

[edit] 2008 schedule

The following table shows all the official money events for the 2008 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Senior majors are shown in bold.

Date Tournament Location Winner
Jan 20 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai Hawaii Flag of the United States Fred Funk (3)
Jan 27 Turtle Bay Championship Hawaii Flag of the United States Jerry Pate (2)
Feb 10 Allianz Championship Florida Flag of the United States Scott Hoch (2)
Feb 17 The ACE Group Classic Florida Flag of the United States Scott Hoch (3)
Mar 9 Toshiba Classic California Flag of Germany Bernhard Langer (2)
Mar 16 AT&T Champions Classic California Flag of Zimbabwe Denis Watson (3)
Mar 30 Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort Florida Flag of Germany Bernhard Langer (3)
Apr 6 Cap Cana Championship Dominican Republic Flag of the United States Mark Wiebe (2)
Apr 20 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Florida Flag of the United States Tom Watson (11)
Apr 27 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Georgia Flag of the United States Andy North (1) &
Flag of the United States Tom Watson (12)
May 4 FedEx Kinko's Classic Texas Flag of Zimbabwe Denis Watson (4)
May 18 Regions Charity Classic Alabama Flag of the United States Andy Bean (2)
May 25 Senior PGA Championship New York Flag of the United States Jay Haas (11)
Jun 1 The Principal Charity Classic Iowa Flag of the United States Jay Haas (12)
Jun 22 Bank of America Championship Massachusetts
Jun 29 Commerce Bank Championship New York
Jul 6 Dick's Sporting Goods Open New York
Jul 20 3M Championship Minnesota
Jul 27 Senior British Open Scotland
Aug 3 U.S. Senior Open Colorado
Aug 17 JELD-WEN Tradition Oregon
Aug 24 Boeing Classic Washington
Aug 31 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach California
Sep 14 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn North Carolina
Sep 28 SAS Championship North Carolina
Oct 12 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship Maryland
Oct 19 Administaff Small Business Classic Texas
Oct 26 AT&T Championship Texas
Nov 2 Charles Schwab Cup Championship California

[edit] Money winners and most wins leaders

Players who lead the money list on the Champions Tour win the Arnold Palmer Award.

Year Money Leader Earnings ($) Most wins
2007 Flag of the United States Jay Haas 2,581,001 4: Jay Haas
2006 Flag of the United States Jay Haas 2,420,227 4: Jay Haas, Loren Roberts
2005 Flag of the United States Dana Quigley 2,170,258 4: Hale Irwin
2004 Flag of the United States Craig Stadler 2,306,066 5: Craig Stadler
2003 Flag of the United States Tom Watson 1,853,108 3: Craig Stadler
2002 Flag of the United States Hale Irwin 3,028,304 4: Bob Gilder, Hale Irwin
2001 Flag of the United States Allen Doyle 2,553,582 5: Larry Nelson
2000 Flag of the United States Larry Nelson 2,708,005 6: Larry Nelson
1999 Flag of the United States Bruce Fleisher 2,515,705 7: Bruce Fleisher
1998 Flag of the United States Hale Irwin 2,861,945 7: Hale Irwin
1997 Flag of the United States Hale Irwin 2,343,364 9: Hale Irwin
1996 Flag of the United States Jim Colbert 1,627,890 5: Jim Colbert
1995 Flag of the United States Jim Colbert 1,444,386 4: Jim Colbert, Bob Murphy
1994 Flag of the United States Dave Stockton 1,402,519 6: Lee Trevino
1993 Flag of the United States Dave Stockton 1,175,944 5: Dave Stockton
1992 Flag of the United States Lee Trevino 1,027,002 5: Lee Trevino
1991 Flag of the United States Mike Hill 1,065,657 5: Mike Hill
1990 Flag of the United States Lee Trevino 1,190,518 7: Lee Trevino
1989 Flag of New Zealand Bob Charles 725,887 5: Bob Charles
1988 Flag of New Zealand Bob Charles 533,929 5: Bob Charles, Gary Player
1987 Flag of Puerto Rico Chi Chi Rodriguez 509,145 7: Chi Chi Rodriguez
1986 Flag of Australia Bruce Crampton 454,299 7: Bruce Crampton
1985 Flag of Australia Peter Thomson 386,724 9: Peter Thomson
1984 Flag of the United States Don January 328,597 4: Miller Barber
1983 Flag of the United States Don January 237,571 6: Don January
1982 Flag of the United States Miller Barber 106,890 3: Miller Barber
1981 Flag of the United States Miller Barber 83,136 3: Miller Barber
1980 Flag of the United States Don January 44,100 1: Roberto DeVicenzo, Don January,
Arnold Palmer, Charlie Sifford

[edit] Multiple money list titles

The following players have won more than one money list title through 2007:

[edit] Leading career money winners

The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the Champions Tour through 2007.

Rank Player Country Prize Money ($)
1 Hale Irwin Flag of the United States United States 24,654,218
2 Gil Morgan Flag of the United States United States 18,383,634
3 Dana Quigley Flag of the United States United States 13,956,074
4 Bruce Fleisher Flag of the United States United States 13,513,100
5 Larry Nelson Flag of the United States United States 13,049,347
6 Allen Doyle Flag of the United States United States 12,590,476
7 Jim Thorpe Flag of the United States United States 12,476,861
8 Jim Colbert Flag of the United States United States 11,623,031
9 Tom Kite Flag of the United States United States 11,593,910
10 Tom Jenkins Flag of the United States United States 11,225,366

There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here. The PGA Tour also publishes a list of Champions Tour players' total career earnings on its three tours here.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links