The Senior Players Championship, stylised by the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

as The SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, is one of the five major championships on

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

's PGA Tour Champions. The inaugural event was played in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and the age minimum is 50, the standard for men's senior professional golf tournaments. The winner gains entry into the following season's Players Championship on the PGA Tour (although Retief Goosen, the 2019 winner, was not allowed to play in the ''official'' subsequent Players Championship). For sponsorship reasons in 2023, the tournament was titled as the Kaulig Companies Championship. Unlike the U.S. Senior Open, the Senior PGA Championship, and the Senior Open Championship, it is not recognized as a major by the European Senior Tour, and is not part of that tour's schedule. Since

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, the Senior Players championship has been held at the South course of the Firestone Country Club in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

; it replaced the

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational The WGC Invitational was a professional golf tournament that was held in the United States. Established in 1999 as a successor to the World Series of Golf, it was one of three or four annual World Golf Championships (WGC) until 2021, when the nu ...

that had been held there before moving to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

Course layout

Early years

The first four editions were at Canterbury Golf Club near

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

; the inaugural in 1983 had fifty players, no cut, and a purse of $250,000; Miller Barber won the title and $40,000, sinking a birdie putt on the final hole to finish one stroke ahead of runner-up

Gene Littler Gene Alec Littler (July 21, 1930 – February 15, 2019) was an American professional golfer and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth, rhythmical swing, he once sai ...

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

was seven strokes back, in a tie for fifth. Palmer won the next year by three strokes, and successfully defended the title in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, winning by eleven strokes. Heavy rains on Thursday afternoon reduced the tournament to 54 holes in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, and

Chi-Chi Rodríguez Juan Antonio "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez (October 23, 1935 – August 8, 2024) was a Puerto Rican professional golfer. The winner of eight PGA Tour events, he was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Early life Rodr� ...

gained the first of his 22 wins on the senior tour, two strokes ahead of

Bruce Crampton Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950. In August 1953 he reached final of th ...

Winners

Multiple winners

Through 2023, six players had multiple wins in the Senior Players Championship: *3 wins:

Bernhard Langer Bernhard Langer (; born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he became the sport's first number one ranked playe ...

(2014, 2015, 2016) *2 wins:

(1984, 1985),

Dave Stockton David Knapp Stockton (born November 2, 1941) is an American retired professional golfer who has won tournaments on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Stockton was born in San Bernardino, California. He attended the University of Souther ...

(1992, 1994), Raymond Floyd (1996, 2000), Jerry Kelly (2020, 2022),

Steve Stricker Steven Charles Stricker (born February 23, 1967) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has twelve victories on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 WGC-Accenture Match Pla ...

(2021, 2023)

Winners of both The Players and the Senior Players

Three have won both

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The ...

and the Senior Players Championship:

Notes

References

External links

Coverage on the PGA Tour Champions' official site
{{coord, 41.008, N, 81.508, W, display=title, type:landmark_scale:10000 PGA Tour Champions events Senior major golf championships Golf tournaments in Florida Golf tournaments in Maryland Golf tournaments in Massachusetts Golf tournaments in Michigan Golf tournaments in New York (state) Golf tournaments in Ohio Golf tournaments in Pennsylvania Sports in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Belmont, Massachusetts Recurring sporting events established in 1983 1983 establishments in Ohio