Fort Worth Invitational Winners and History

Fort Worth Invitational Winners and History

The Fort Worth Invitational now is the Charles Schwab Challenge. Charles Schwab Challenge Winners. 

One of the longest running tournaments in PGA TOUR history, the Fort Worth Invitational started life in 1946 as The Colonial National Invitational at The Colonial Golf Club.

The inspiration for a professional golf tournament at The Colonial came from the 1941 US Open, which was held at The Colonial. It was the first US Open held south of the Mason-Dixon line, and was thought to be a huge success. Local organizers hoped to capitalize on that goodwill, and in 1946 launched The Colonial Invitational.

Much of the appeal of the Colonial is that it has been played on the same classic course since its inception. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine the tournament not being held there. The club, which dates to 1936, was designed by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell and has among its memorable vistas holes that extend along the length of the Trinity River.

The Colonial National Invitational had no title sponsor until 1988, when it became the MasterCard Colonial Invitational. In 2003, it was picked up by Bank of America. In 2007, it became the Crown Plaza Invitational At Colonial. Dean And Deluca signed a six year agreement starting in 2016, but was unable to continue. The tournament has no title sponsor in 2018.

The Fort Worth Invitational winners’ list looks like a Hall of Fame roster. Ben Hogan won the Invitational five times (1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1959). In addition to Hogan, there’s Palmer, Snead, Casper, Bolt, De Vicenzo, Stockton, Crenshaw, Nicklaus, Price, Watson and Mickelson (Tiger is curiously absent). The strength of the winners’ roster is in part due to the strength of field: The Fort Worth is an Invitational, with only the top 80 players on the previous year’s money list guaranteed a spot.

If there was a tournament named for Ben Hogan, it would be the Fort Worth Invitational. Hogan was raised in the Fort Worth area and considered The Colonial to be his home course. He won there five times. Hogan is omnipresent, from a statue near the entrance, to a museum of his office in the clubhouse

A unique tradition at the Colonial is the “Champion’s Choice.” Each year, former Fort Worth Invitational Champions selects two young players to join the field who otherwise would be ineligible. Among the Champions Choices were Al Greiberger, Tom Weiskopf, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange, Mark O’Meara, Paul Azinger and Davis Love. Dave Stockton won the tournament in the year he was selected.

While the Masters has the Green Jacket, the Colonial offers a Scottish tartan plaid jacket for its champions and committee chairmen. The tournament and Colonial Golf club also is marked by the engraved marble Wall of Champions near the first tee, which features the name and score of each of the tournament’s winners.

A random note: In 2003, Annika Sorenstam played the Colonial Invitational, becoming the first women to play a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias entered the Los Angeles Open.

A list of Fort Worth Invitational winners follows:

Charles Schwab / Colonial Invitational Winners