Champions Tour

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.

In 2007 all the tournaments are in the United States except for the Senior British Open. The guaranteed minimum official prize money is $54.1 million.[1] For 2008, the tour has added Dominican Republic to the schedule with $55.2 million guaranteed minimum prize money over 29 tournaments.[2]

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.

2007 schedule

The following table shows all the official money events for the 2007 season. The five senior majors are shown in bold. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event.

Dates	Tournament	State/Country	Winner
Jan 19-21	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	Hawaii	Hale Irwin (45)
Jan 26-28	Turtle Bay Championship	Hawaii	Fred Funk (2)
Feb 9-11	Allianz Championship	Florida	Mark James (3)
Feb 16-18	Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am	Florida	Tom Watson (9)
Feb 23-25	The ACE Group Classic	Florida	Bobby Wadkins (4)
Mar 9-11	Toshiba Classic	California	Jay Haas (7)
Mar 16-18	AT&T Champions Classic	California	Tom Purtzer (4)
Mar 30 - Apr 1	Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort	Florida	Keith Fergus (1)
Apr 20-22	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf	Georgia	Jay Haas (8)
May 4-6	FedEx Kinko's Classic	Texas	Scott Hoch (1)
May 18-20	Regions Charity Classic	Alabama	Brad Bryant (3)
May 24-27	Senior PGA Championship	varies (South Carolina in 2007)	Denis Watson (1)
Jun 1-3	The Boeing Championship at Sandestin	Florida	Loren Roberts (6)
Jun 8-10	The Principal Charity Classic	Iowa	Jay Haas (9)
Jun 22-24	Bank of America Championship	Massachusetts	Jay Haas (10)
Jun 29 - Jul 1	Commerce Bank Championship	New York	Lonnie Nielsen (1)
Jul 5-8	U.S. Senior Open	varies (Wisconsin in 2007)	Brad Bryant (4)
Jul 13-15	Dick's Sporting Goods Open	New York	R. W. Eaks (1)
Jul 26-29	Senior British Open	United Kingdom	Tom Watson (10)
Aug 3-5	3M Championship	Minnesota	D. A. Weibring (4)
Aug 16-19	JELD-WEN Tradition	Oregon	Mark McNulty (6)
Aug 24-26	Boeing Classic	Washington	Denis Watson (2)
Aug 31 - Sep 2	Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach	California	Gil Morgan (25)
Sep 14-16	Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn	North Carolina	R. W. Eaks (2)
Sep 21-23	SAS Championship	North Carolina	Mark Wiebe (1)
Oct 4-7	Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship	Maryland	Loren Roberts (7)
Oct 12-14	Administaff Small Business Classic	Texas	Bernhard Langer (1)
Oct 19-21	AT&T Championship	Texas
Oct 25-28	Charles Schwab Cup Championship	California

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

Notes:

1. Players with 1 win in 1980: Roberto DeVicenzo, Don January, Arnold Palmer, Charlie Sifford

Multiple money list titles

The following players have won more than one money list title through 2006:

• 3: Hale Irwin, Don January
• 2: Miller Barber, Bob Charles, Jim Colbert, Dave Stockton, Lee Trevino

Leading career money winners

The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the Champions Tour as of October 7, 2007.

Rank	Player	Country	Prize Money ($)
1	Hale Irwin	United States	24,544,691
2	Gil Morgan	United States	18,314,934
3	Dana Quigley	United States	13,915,250
4	Bruce Fleisher	United States	13,497,906
5	Larry Nelson	United States	13,047,507
6	Allen Doyle	United States	12,587,170
7	Jim Thorpe	United States	12,007,651
8	Jim Colbert	United States	11,620,231
9	Tom Kite	United States	11,281,176
10	Tom Jenkins	United States	11,165,946

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.

See also

• Champions Tour awards
• Champions Tour records
• Golfers with most Champions Tour major championship wins
• Golfers with most Champions Tour wins
• Professional golf tours

External links

• Official site
• 2006 Media Guide

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