PGA Tour Champions
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA TOUR, hosts 30 events annually in the United States and Canada for golfers 50 and older.
The 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. It was known as the Senior PGA TOUR until 2002. Upon eligibility, some of the greatest names in golf history have participated in the tour.
All of the events in the 2006 schedule are in the United States except for the Senior British Open and a new event in Mexico. In 2006 the guaranteed minimum official prize money is $52.65 million. [1] This is a little over twenty per cent of the prize money on the PGA Tour, and slightly more than that on the women's LPGA Tour.
Most of the tournaments are played over three rounds or 54 holes, which is one round less than regular professional strokeplay tournaments, for example on the PGA Tour. Because of this, there are generally no "cuts" between any of the rounds. However, the five senior majors do have 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.
Schedule
The following table shows all the official money events for the 2006 season. The five senior majors are shown in bold. The numbers in brackets after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event.
Leading money winners by year
- 2005 -
Dana Quigley - $2,170,258 - 2004 - Craig Stadler - $2,306,066
- 2003 - Tom Watson - $1,853,108
- 2002 - Hale Irwin - $3,028,304
- 2001 - Allen Doyle- $2,553,582
- 2000 - Larry Nelson - $2,708,005
- 1999 - Bruce Fleisher - $2,515,705
- 1998 - Hale Irwin - $2,861,945
- 1997 - Hale Irwin - $2,343,364
- 1996 - Jim Colbert - $1,627,890
- 1995 - Jim Colbert - $1,444,386
- 1994 - Dave Stockton - $1,402,519
- 1993 - Dave Stockton - $1,175,944
- 1992 - Lee Trevino - $1,027,002
- 1991 - Mike Hill - $1,065,657
- 1990 - Lee Trevino - $1,190,518
- 1989 -
Bob Charles - $725,887 - 1988 - Bob Charles - $533,929
- 1987 -
Chi Chi Rodriguez - $509,145 - 1986 -
Bruce Crampton - $454,299 - 1985 - Peter Thomson - $386,724
- 1984 - Don January - $328,597
- 1983 - Don January - $237,571
- 1982 - Miller Barber - $106,890
- 1981 - Miller Barber - $83,136
- 1980 - Don January - $44,100
Leading career money winners
The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the Champions Tour at the end of the 2005 season.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hale Irwin | United States | 22,576,561 |
| 2. | Gil Morgan | United States | 15,683,422 |
| 3. | Bruce Fleisher | United States | 12,825,909 |
| 4. | Larry Nelson | United States | 12,373,805 |
| 5. | Dana Quigley | United States | 12,333,491 |
| 6. | Jim Colbert | United States | 11,510,220 |
| 7. | Allen Doyle | United States | 11,045,387 |
| 8. | Dave Stockton | United States | 10,716,445 |
| 9. | Jim Thorpe | United States | 10,133,040 |
| 10. | Lee Trevino | United States | 9,778,951 |
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.