Men's professional senior golf is for players aged 50 and above. Golf differs from all other sports in having lucrative competitions for this age group. The leading senior tour is the U.S. based Champions Tour, which was established in 1980 (as the Senior Tour). It has established a roster of five major championships. These events are all played over four rounds, whereas other senior tournaments are generally played over three rounds. A golfer's performances can be quite variable from one round to the next, so playing an extra round increases the likelihood that the senior majors will be won by leading players.
In the current order of play, the senior majors are:
- Senior PGA Championship (founded 1937; Champions Tour major since 1980)
- Senior British Open Championship (founded 1987; Champions Tour major since 2003)
- U.S. Senior Open (Champions Tour major since foundation in 1980)
- The Tradition (Champions Tour major since foundation in 1989)
- Senior Players Championship (Champions Tour major since foundation in 1983)
The order of play has changed many times during the history of senior golf. For example:
- In 2006 the U.S. Senior Open, Senior Players Championship, and Senior British Open were held in July and were consecutive on the schedule. There was no event in the week after the Senior Players, allowing golfers adequate time to travel to the United Kingdom and acclimatise for the Senior British Open two weeks later. This gave the Champions Tour a very clear peak period, which is not found on most other tours, including the PGA Tour. The Tradition was the last major on the schedule.
- In 2007 the Senior Players Championship moved to October, two months after The Tradition, to spread the majors over a longer period of time.
- In 2008, the U.S. Senior Open moved to the week after the Senior British Open. This once again gave the Champions Tour a clear peak period, with no tournament held between the U.S. Senior Open and The Tradition (a one-week break in 2008, two weeks in 2009).
Unlike the mainstream majors, some of the senior majors have title sponsors.
The Senior PGA is by far the oldest of the senior majors, having commenced in the 1930s. The other four tournaments all date from 1980 or later, having been founded in the era when senior golf became a commercial success. This occurred when the first big golf stars of the television era, men such as Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, began to reach the relevant age.
Unlike mainstream men's golf, the senior game does not have a globally agreed set of majors. The three majors recognised by the European Seniors Tour are the Senior PGA Championship and the U.S. and British Senior Opens. However, the Champions Tour is much more dominant in global senior golf than the PGA Tour is in mainstream men's golf.
Senior major winners
The table below show the results of all the events designated as majors by the Champions Tour. As the order in which the majors were played frequently changed, they are listed in the current order of play. Winners of Senior PGA Championships played before 1980 and Senior British Opens played before 2003 are not listed here as they were not Champions Tour majors at the time nor retroactively recognized as majors. Those winners are shown in the tournaments' articles. The other three tournaments have been Champions Tour majors throughout their existence. The Senior PGA Championship was held twice in 1984 but was not held in 1983 or 1985.
Through the 2009 season, there have been 114 senior majors, of which 95 have been won by American golfers and 19 by non-Americans. Thus, Americans have been considerably more dominant at this level than they have been in either regular majors or women's majors in recent decades.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for the most senior majors won with eight. He also has the record for the number of regular majors won (18).
See also
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