KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Preview

KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Preview

Harbor Shores | Benton Harbor, Michigan | May 24-27, 2018

Quick Facts

• Golf Course: Harbor Shores (Par 71 / 6,852 yards)
• Purse: $3,250,000 (Winner: $585,000)
• Television Coverage (all times ET):
• Thursday and Friday (Golf Channel): 1:00-4:00 p.m.
• Saturday (NBC): 1:00-4:00 p.m
• Sunday (NBC): 3:00-6:00 p.m.

Tournament Field: By the Numbers

• 156 players from 32 states and 19 countries
• 46 of the top 50 players in the Charles Schwab Cup
• 5 winners of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship: Jay Haas (2006, 2008), Tom Lehman  (2010), Rocco Mediate (2016), Colin Montgomerie (2014, 2015), Mike Reid (2005)
• 17 major champions, including 5 winners of the PGA Championship: Mark Brooks (1996), Vijay Singh (1998, 2004), Jeff Sluman (1988), David Toms (2001), Bob Tway (1986)
• 6 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Tom Kite, Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh
• 36 club professionals that qualified via the 2017 Senior PGA Professional Championship

The Most Interesting Major Winner

• Last week at the Regions Tradition, Miguel Angel Jimenez birdied Nos. 16 and 18 to break a three-way tie for the lead and win his first major title. Jimenez had at least a share of the lead after every round, and his 19-under total was three shots better than Steve Stricker, Joe Durant and Gene Sauers.
• With the victory, Jimenez improved from No. 15 to No. 4 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• The Regions Tradition was Jimenez’s fifth win on PGA TOUR Champions, and he extended his streak to five straight years with a victory. It is the second-longest active streak on Tour, trailing only Bernhard Langer’s all-time record of 12 straight seasons with a win. In all, six players have multi-year winning streaks:
  • Bernhard Langer (12) – 2007-18
  • Miguel Angel Jimenez (5) – 2014-18
  • Colin Montgomerie (4) – 2014-17
  • Paul Goydos (4) – 2014-17
  • Jerry Kelly (2) – 2017-18
  • Scott McCarron (2) – 2016-17

Rocco Returns

• The last time Harbor Shores hosted the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Rocco Mediate won wire-to-wire and broke multiple scoring records in the process.
• He tied the tournament record for best first round and overall 18-hole score (9-under 62), and then set records for best 36-hole score (14-under 128) and best 54-hole score (14-under 199).
• His 72- hole total of 19-under 265 surpassed the previous mark of 268 by Sam Snead in 1973, and he became the first player to win wire-to-wire since Jack Nicklaus in 1991.
• This season on PGA TOUR Champions, Mediate has five top-10s, including a T8 at the Regions Tradition, and he is No. 14 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• His success this year comes on the heels of a 2017 season where he had just one top-10 and finished 66th in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Singh Looks to Continue  Strong Season

• Vijay Singh was runner-up at last year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, held at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., and he enters this year’s tournament as the No. 7 player in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• He has four top-10s in seven starts this season, including a win at the Toshiba Classic, which broke a streak of 237 starts without an individual win.
• He also won the 2017 Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with partner Carlos Franco, and Singh is the first edExCup champion (2008) to win on PGA TOUR Champions.

Revisiting Montgomerie’s Historic Wins

• World Golf Hall of Famer Colin Montgomerie is a two-time winner of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, including a win at Harbor Shores in 2014. When he successfully defended his title in 2015, Montgomerie became the 15th multiple winner of the event and the first player to win in his first two starts since Hale Irwin (1996-1998).
• His win in 2015 was also his third major victory, and he joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players in Tour history to make their first three victories all major championships.
• This season, Montgomerie has four top-20s, including a runner-up finish at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and he is 21st in the Charles Schwab Cup.

No Sophomore Slump for Kelly

• Jerry Kelly has led the Charles Schwab Cup four weeks this year, and he is currently No. 5 in the standings. The 2017 Rookie of the Year opened the season with a win at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and he’s coming off a T8 finish at the Regions Tradition.
• Kelly finished T8 at last year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, and overall he has two top-10s in five starts in senior majors.

Streak Ends for Langer

• Bernhard Langer’s streak of 28 consecutive major starts ends this week, as he will attend his son’s high school graduation in lieu of defending his title at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Langer becomes the first major winner to miss his title defense since Russ Cochran did not play in the 2012 Senior Open Championship.
• With Langer’s streak ending, Esteban  Toledo now owns the longest streak on Tour, as this week will be his 27th straight major start.

McCarron’s Major Marks

• Since the start of 2016, Scott McCarron has seven top-10s in the last 11 majors, including two at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship (T7/2016, T5/2017) and a win at the 2017 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship.
• This season, McCarron have five top-10s, including a T5 at the Regions Tradition, and is No. 9 in the Charles Schwab Cup.

PGA TOUR Champions – 2018 Season Overview

• PGA TOUR Champions is a membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older, including 35 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
• The Tour’s mission is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back and generate significant charitable and economic impact in tournament communities.
• In 2018, the PGA TOUR Champions schedule includes 27 tournaments across the United States, Scotland and Canada, with purses totaling more than $56 million.
• The Charles Schwab Cup, which includes the Regular Season and the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, is used to determine the season- long champion.
• All events are televised in the United States, with most receiving complete coverage on Golf Channel, the exclusive cable-television partner of PGA TOUR Champions.
• Internationally, telecasts air in excess of 190 countries and territories, reaching more than 330 million potential households.
• Follow PGA TOUR Champions online at PGATOUR.com, at facebook.com/PGATOURChampions, on Twitter @ChampionsTour and on Instagram @pgatourchampions.

 

Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs

• In 2017, Kevin Sutherland became just the third player to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup in the same season. His breakthrough win at the season-ending event was the first of his PGA TOUR Champions career, and it was enough for him to surpass Bernhard Langer, who had won the Charles Schwab Cup the previous three years.
• The third edition of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will begin with 72 players at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic (Oct. 15-21). The top 54 will advance to the following week’s PowerShares QQQ Championship, and the season will conclude with the top 36 players at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Nov. 5-11).
• At the start of the playoffs, each player’s regular-season money total will become the equivalent number of points (e.g. $330,000 equals 330,000 points).
• During the three playoff events, each dollar earned is worth two points, and those points will be added to a player’s regular-season point total. After the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the top 54 players will advance, and after the PowerShares QQQ Championship, the top 36 players will qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
• The player with the most points at the conclusion of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship will win the Charles Schwab Cup.

 

The 2018 Rookie Class

For players to become eligible to compete for PGA TOUR Champions events they must turn 50 years of age by the first competition round. If a player plays less than six tournaments in his first season of eligibility, he is considered a rookie the following season. Newcomers for 2018 with at least one PGA TOUR win include:

• Brent Geiberger (May 22)
• Robert Gamez (July 21)
• Dudley Hart (August 4)
• Darren Clarke (August 14)
• Chris DiMarco (August 23)

Upcoming rookie classes include:

• 2019 – Retief Goosen (February 3), Angel Cabrera (September 12), Ernie Els (October 17)
• 2020 – Jim Furyk (May 12), Mike Weir (May 12), K.J. Choi (May 19), Phil Mickelson (June 16)

PGA TOUR Champions – 2018 Schedule

1. Mitsubishi  Electric Championship at Hualalai: Jerry Kelly birdied the 18th hole in the final round to turn a one-shot deficit into a one-shot victory over Colin Montgomerie. Leading by one on No. 18, Montgomerie found the fairway bunker off the tee and missed the green with his approach. After Kelly made his 18-foot birdie putt, Montgomerie had a chance to force a playoff, but his six-foot par putt slid by the hole.

2. Boca Raton Championship: Mark Calcavecchia captured his fourth PGA TOUR Champions title in wire-to-wire fashion, finishing two shots better than Bernhard Langer. Langer, who trailed by as many as four on Sunday, evened the score at 16-under with two holes to play, but he bogeyed the last two holes and finished second. The win was Calcavecchia’s first since the 2015 Principal Charity Classic.

3. Chubb  Classic: Over the last six holes at the Chubb Classic, Joe Durant and Steve Stricker traded two two-shot swings and one three-shot swing. In the end, it was Durant’s birdie-birdie finish that produced a 19-under total and four-shot victory, the third of his PGA TOUR Champions career and first since the 2016 3M Championship.

4. Cologuard Classic: One year after bogeying No. 18 and finishing runner-up in his PGA TOUR Champions debut, Steve Stricker parred the closing hole en route to a 14-under total and two-stroke victory. It was his first win in his eighth start on Tour, and it was his first victory since the 2012 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

5. Toshiba Classic: As many as six players shared the lead Sunday, and Vijay Singh was the last man standing as his five back-nine birdies helped him post an 11-under total and a one-shot victory. It was his first individual win since the Dell Technologies Championship on September 1, 2008, and he had played 237 individual tournaments since that triumph. Singh is the first FedExCup champion (2008) to win on PGA TOUR Champions.

6. Rapiscan  Systems Classic: For the first time, Steve Stricker claimed consecutive titles on PGA TOUR Champions with his 11-under-par effort at the Rapiscan Systems Classic. Stricker held a one-stroke lead through the front nine on Sunday before making four back-nine birdies to secure the title. His 4-under 68 on Sunday was his 25th consecutive round of par or better (the longest active streak on Tour) and kept his stat of never carding a round over par on PGA TOUR Champions intact.

7. Mitsubishi  Electric Classic: With a birdie on the second extra hole, Steve Flesch prevailed in a three-man playoff and won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, his first win on PGA TOUR Champions. Flesch birdied No. 18 to get into a playoff with Bernhard Langer and Scott Parel, and he birdied it twice more in the playoff, first eliminating Langer on the first extra hole, and then Parel. Because of inclement weather in Sunday’s forecast, both the second and final rounds were played on Saturday.

8. Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge: Kirk Triplett holed a bunker shot for birdie on the first playoff hole to secure the victory with partner Paul Broadhurst at the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge. The team of Bernhard Langer and Tom Lehman birdied five of their last seven holes (best ball) to get into a playoff at 24-under, but they settled for second place after they both missed birdie putts in sudden death.

9. Insperity Invitational: Bernhard Langer saved par on the 54th hole to win wire-to-wire and claim his fourth victory at the Insperity Invitational. Langer led by one through 36 holes, but he started the final round 2-over through eight holes and fell four shots off the pace. He played the last 10 holes bogey free, and birdies on Nos. 9, 10, 13 and 15 gave him an 11-under total and a one-shot win over Paul Goydos, Bart Bryant and Jeff Maggert.

10. Regions Tradition: Miguel Angel Jimenez birdied Nos. 16 and 18 to break a three-way tie for the lead and win his first major title. Jimenez had at least a share of the lead after every round, and his 19-under total was three shots better than Steve Stricker, Joe Durant and Gene Sauers. It was Jimenez’s fifth win on PGA TOUR Champions, and he extended his streak to five straight years with a victory.

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