The International (officially rendered in capitals as The INTERNATIONAL) was a golf tournament in the United States PGA Tour played from 1986 to 2006 at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado. It had the distinction of being one of two PGA Tour events not conducted at traditional stroke play, and was the only tournament to use the Modified Stableford scoring system (the only other exception from stroke play is the Accenture Match Play Championship).

Beginning in 2007, The International was scheduled to change dates to be played during the first full weekend of July (July 5-8, 2007 and July 4-7, 2008). Tournament officials hoped this new date would draw more top-ranked players such as Tiger Woods, as it would no longer be contested the week before a major championship. Even with the change in dates, both tournament founder Jack Vickers and the Castle Pines GC membership were apparently not happy with the overall direction the PGA Tour is taking.^{[1] [2]}

Also (according to the ticker on the FSN Final Score), the tourney has not generated sufficient sponsorship money to pay the purses. The last presenting sponsor (as shown below) was Qwest, in 2003; the last title sponsor was Sprint, in 1999.

On February 8, 2007, the PGA Tour announced the permanent cancellation of the International.^[3] This tournament will be replaced by another to be hosted by the Tiger Woods Foundation and to be held in the Washington, D.C. area. On March 7, 2007, the replacement tournament was announced to be the AT&T National. Currently, the new tournament is expected to use standard stroke play rather than the Stableford scoring that the INTERNATIONAL had used.

Scoring

The Modified Stableford system gives golfers points on each hole, based on the golfer's score relative to par. It is designed to reward players for taking chances to go for birdies (or better), as the reward for a low score on a hole is typically greater than the punishment for a poor score. The golfer's scores on each hole in his round are added. The scoring operates as follows:

• Albatross (double eagle): +8
• Eagle: +5
• Birdie: +2
• Par: 0
• Bogey: -1
• Double bogey or worse: -3

Holes in one are treated as the score relative to par; an ace on a par-3 hole would be considered an eagle and scored as +5.

Winners

The INTERNATIONAL

• 2006 - Dean Wilson - United States
• 2005 - Retief Goosen - South Africa
• 2004 - Rod Pampling - Australia
• 2003 - Davis Love III - United States

The INTERNATIONAL Presented by Qwest

• 2002 - Rich Beem - United States
• 2001 - Tom Pernice Jr. - United States
• 2000 - Ernie Els - South Africa

Sprint International

• 1999 - David Toms - United States
• 1998 - Vijay Singh - Fiji
• 1997 - Phil Mickelson - United States
• 1996 - Clarence Rose - United States
• 1995 - Lee Janzen - United States
• 1994 - Steve Lowery - United States

The International

• 1993 - Phil Mickelson - United States
• 1992 - Brad Faxon - United States
• 1991 - José María Olazábal - Spain
• 1990 - Davis Love III - United States
• 1989 - Greg Norman - Australia
• 1988 - Joey Sindelar - United States
• 1987 - John Cook - United States
• 1986 - Ken Green - United States

References

1. ^

   Paige, Woody (2007-01-17). Vickers' tourney, pro tour at odds. The Denver Post. Retrieved on 2007-01-17.

2. ^ Hawkins, John (2007-02-06). Last Stop For the International. Golf Digest. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
3. ^ Associated Press (2007-02-08). Mile High Disappointment: International Event No More. Golf Channel. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.

External links

• Official tournament website
• The INTERNATIONAL page on PGATOUR.com

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