Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Fort Worth, Texas |
| Established | 1946, 70 years ago |
| Course(s) | Colonial Country Club |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 7,204 yards (6,587 m) |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | $6.7 million |
| Month played | May |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 259 Zach Johnson (2010) |
| To par | −21 Zach Johnson (2010) |
| Current champion | |
 Chris Kirk | |
Country
Club
Country
Club
The Colonial National Invitation Tournament is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth, Texas at Colonial Country Club, who organizes the event. It is one of five invitational tournaments on the PGA Tour; the inaugural event was held 70 years ago in 1946.
Overview
Colonial Country Club announced on July 25, 2006, that Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts has signed a six-year contract to be the title sponsor through 2012. The hotel chain replaces Bank of America, which decided not to renew its deal after four years, including the tournament's 50th anniversary in May.
The 2014 purse was $6.4 million, with a winner's share of $1.152 million.
The tournament was founded in 1946, and honors the history of golf by using an official Scottish tartan plaid jacket, for its champions and top committee chairmen. Another tradition feeding Colonial history is the beautiful Wall of Champions on the first tee. Engraved with the name and score of each champion dating back to the 1941 U.S. Open, the marble display casts a reverence over the start of any player's round. In 2003, Annika Sörenstam played in the tournament and became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias. However, Sörenstam missed the cut after rounds of 71 and 74.
As a restricted field event on the PGA Tour, there is no Monday qualifier and the field is smaller than most PGA Tour events (123 compared to 156). One can get into the field through the following criteria: Former tournament winner, top 50 in OWGR, Players and majors champion over past five years, WGC winners from past three years, PGA Tour winners over past year, Ryder and Presidents Cup team members, top 15 from previous year's event, top 80 from previous season's FedEx Cup rankings, top 80 from current season. A limited number of spots are available through sponsor's exemptions. Two are open by choice of former tournament winners and all remaining spots are filled by those below 80th in the current FedEx Cup rankings.[1]
The tournament is unofficially associated with Ben Hogan, the long-time Fort Worth resident who won the tournament five times, the most of any player. A statue of him at swing completion is near the clubhouse.[2]
Invitational status
The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial is one of only five tournaments given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour, and consequently it has a reduced field of approximately 125 players (as opposed to most full-field open tournaments with a field of 156 players). The other four tournaments with invitational status are the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament, and the Quicken Loans National. Invitational tournaments have smaller fields (between 120 and 132 players), and have more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players are eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments are not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments do not offer open qualifying (aka Monday qualifying).
Champion's Choice tradition
Colonial has a unique PGA Tour tradition known as the Champion's Choice invitation. Each year, former Colonial champions select two deserving young players, who otherwise would be ineligible, to compete in the tournament.
Pros who made their first appearance at Colonial as a Champion's Choice include Al Geiberger, Tom Weiskopf, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange, Mark O'Meara, Paul Azinger and Davis Love III. Five Champion's Choices have eventually won the Colonial; Dave Stockton is the only Champion's Choice to win the tournament in the year selected (1967).
Winners
.svg.png){kind=small}
^ Indicates weather-shortened to 54 holes
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Main sources[15][16][17][18]
Multiple winners
Eleven men have won this tournament more than once through 2014.
- 5 wins
- Ben Hogan: 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1959
- 2 wins
- Julius Boros: 1960, 1963
- Billy Casper: 1964, 1968
- Lee Trevino: 1976, 1978
- Ben Crenshaw: 1977, 1990
- Bruce Lietzke: 1980, 1992
- Corey Pavin: 1985, 1996
- Nick Price: 1994, 2002
- Kenny Perry: 2003, 2005
- Phil Mickelson: 2000, 2008
- Zach Johnson: 2010, 2012
References
- ↑ Inside the field: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
- ↑ Sirak, Ron (May 17, 2011). "Spirit of Hogan remains at Colonial". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
- ↑ "Vicenzo Wins Colonial Golf". St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, Florida). Associated Press. May 6, 1957. p. 14A. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Souchak Wins Colonial Open". The Day (New London, Connecticut). Associated Press. May 7, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Chandler Harper Wins Colonial Golf By Eight Strokes". The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida). Associated Press. May 9, 1955. p. 11. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Palmer Captures Colonial Golf". Reading Eagle (Reading, Pennsylvania). United Press. May 31, 1954. p. 10. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Ben Hogan Wins $5000 First in Colonial Golf". Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire). Associated Press. May 25, 1953. p. 10. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Hogan's Hot Finish Wins Colonial Golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Associated Press. May 26, 1952. p. 21. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Middlecoff Wins Colonial Golf Title". The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). United Press. May 28, 1951. p. 22. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Snead Wins Colonial Golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Associated Press. May 29, 1950. p. 15. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Flood Washes Out Colonial Golf Date". The Lewiston Daily Sun (Lewiston, Maine). Associated Press. May 27, 1949. p. 21. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Heafner Cops Colonial Golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Associated Press. May 31, 1948. p. 27. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Hogan Wins in Colonial National". The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. May 17, 1947. p. 11. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Little Ben Hogan Takes Colonial Golf Match". Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Florida). Associated Press. May 20, 1946. p. 10. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Media Guide - p. 114
- ↑ Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial – Winners – at www.pgatour.com
- ↑ Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial – Winners – at golfobserver.com (1970–2009)
- ↑ Johnson, Sal; Seanor, Dave, eds. (2009). The USA Today Golfers Encyclopedia. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60239-302-8.
External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 32°43′01″N 97°22′23″W / 32.717°N 97.373°W