Champions Tour

This article is about senior golf tour. For the senior tennis tour, see Outback Champions Series and ATP Champions Tour.

Champions Tour logo

Former 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 red and blue reversed and with the golfer's profile modified to depict the wearing of a flat cap and plus fours.

Of the 26 tournaments on the 2010 schedule, all are in the United States except for the Senior British Open, a tournament in the Dominican Republic that started in 2008, and tournaments in Canada and South Korea starting in 2010. The guaranteed minimum official prize money is $51.5 million over 26 tournaments, with a record average purse of $1.98 million per event;^[1] slightly higher than the 2008 prize money of $51.4 million over the same number of events.^[2] The total prize money and number of events, however, are down from previous years—for example, the 2007 tour offered a total of $55.2 million over 29 events.^[3]

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.

2011 schedule

The following table shows all the official money events for the 2011 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of wins he has had on the tour up to and including that event. Senior majors are shown in bold. Golfers winning on their Champions Tour debut will be shown in italics.

Date	Tournament	Location	Winner
Jan 23	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	Hawaii	John Cook (6)
Feb 13	Allianz Championship	Florida	Tom Lehman (3)
Feb 20	The ACE Group Classic	Florida	Bernhard Langer (14)
Mar 13	Toshiba Classic	California	Nick Price (4)
Apr 3	Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic	Mississippi	Tom Lehman (4)
Apr 17	Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am	Florida	John Cook (7)
Apr 24	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf	Georgia	David Eger (4) & / Mark McNulty (8)
May 8	Regions Tradition	Alabama	Tom Lehman (5)
May 29	Senior PGA Championship	Kentucky	Tom Watson (14)
Jun 5	Principal Charity Classic	Iowa	Bob Gilder (10)
Jun 12	Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn	North Carolina	Mark Wiebe (3)
Jun 26	Dick's Sporting Goods Open	New York	John Huston (1)
Jul 3	Montreal Championship	Canada	John Cook (8)
Jul 10	Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach	California	Jeff Sluman (4)
Jul 24	Senior Open Championship	England	Russ Cochran (3)
Jul 31	U.S. Senior Open	Ohio	Olin Browne (1)
Aug 7	3M Championship	Minnesota	Jay Haas (15)
Aug 21	Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship	New York	Fred Couples (5)
Aug 28	Boeing Classic	Washington	Mark Calcavecchia (1)
Sep 18	Songdo IBD Championship	South Korea	Jay Don Blake (1)
Oct 2	SAS Championship	North Carolina	Kenny Perry (1)
Oct 9	Insperity Championship	Texas	Brad Faxon (1)
Oct 16	AT&T Championship	Texas	Fred Couples (6)
Nov 6	Charles Schwab Cup Championship	California	Jay Don Blake (2)

2011 money leaders

This lists the final money leaders for 2011, following the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Rank	Player	Country	Events	Prize money ($)
1	Tom Lehman	United States	21	2,081,526
2	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	22	1,867,991
3	John Cook	United States	23	1,747,075
4	Jay Don Blake	United States	20	1,531,877
5	Russ Cochran	United States	18	1,503,090
6	Jeff Sluman	United States	24	1,493,672
7	Peter Senior	Australia	22	1,434,119
8	Nick Price	Zimbabwe	21	1,300,443
9	Olin Browne	United States	23	1,251,473
10	Mark O'Meara	United States	20	1,237,797

There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here.

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
2011	Tom Lehman	2,081,526	3: John Cook, Tom Lehman
2010	Bernhard Langer	2,648,939	5: Bernhard Langer
2009	Bernhard Langer	2,139,451	4: Bernhard Langer
2008	Bernhard Langer	2,035,073	3: Bernhard Langer, Eduardo Romero
2007	Jay Haas	2,581,001	4: Jay Haas
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: Roberto DeVicenzo, Don January, Arnold Palmer, Charlie Sifford

Multiple money list titles

The following players have won more than one money list title through 2011:

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

Leading career money winners

The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the Champions Tour through the 2011 season.

Rank	Player	Country	Earnings ($)
1	Hale Irwin	United States	26,195,615
2	Gil Morgan	United States	20,010,748
3	Tom Kite	United States	14,883,500
4	Dana Quigley	United States	14,782,223
5	Bruce Fleisher	United States	14,721,417
6	Larry Nelson	United States	14,035,192
7	Jim Thorpe	United States	13,524,329
8	Tom Watson	United States	13,400,115
9	Tom Jenkins	United States	13,370,249
10	Allen Doyle	United States	13,333,865

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. The top player on that list is Kenny Perry, who became eligible for the Champions Tour in August 2010 and played his first event in October. Perry has won over $31.7 million on the regular PGA Tour, enough to edge out Irwin.

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

References

1. ^ "Champions Tour announces schedule for 2010" (Press release). PGA Tour. November 24, 2009. http://www.pgatour.com/2009/r/11/24/ct_schedule_story/index.html. Retrieved December 14, 2009. 
2. ^ "Champions Tour releases schedule for 2009" (Press release). PGA Tour. November 12, 2008. http://www.pgatour.com/2008/s/11/12/schedule.09/index.html. Retrieved July 27, 2009. 
3. ^ Champions Tour unveils schedule of 29 official events for 2008

External links

• Official site
• 2006 Media Guide