Morocco Champions Winners and History

A PGA TOUR Champions event, the Morocco Champions was first held in 2020. It is the first (and thus far only) PGA TOUR sanctioned stroke play event on the continent of Africa.

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2021 event, scheduled for January 30 through February 1 has been cancelled. The next playing will be 2022.

As with most PGA TOUR Champions events, The Morocco Champions is a three round competition.

Morocco Champions is played at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Samanah Golf Club, which is located just fifteen minutes from downtown Marrakech, in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains.

The Morocco Champions tournament was brought to Morocco by the Association Trophee Hassan II, and is chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid.

The Association’s — and the government’s — goal is to draw attention to Morocco as a world-class golf destination. At this point, Morocco, which is about the size of California, has fifty golf courses. There are fourteen in the Marrakech area alone.

Association Trophee Hassan II also manages the European Tour’s Hassan II Golf Trophy and the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Meryem Cup, both of which are held at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (I have played there. You can see my Royal Golf Dar Es Salam review at the link.)

The GolfBlogger visited Morocco to play golf and take in the amazing culture back in 2016. You can read about my Morocco golf trip at the link. Morocco is a phenomenal place to visit. I would go back in a heartbeat.

An historical note or two:

The Kingdom of Morocco recognized US Independence on December 20, 1777 while the Revolutionary War still was in doubt. The Kingdom of France had recognized the US just three days earlier.

However, the Kingdom of France no longer exists, having disappeared in the horrors of French Revolution a few years later. On the other hand, the Alaouite dynasty still rules Morocco.

So, in a sense, that makes Morocco the United States’ oldest friend.

A Treaty of Friendship was signed with Morocco in 1786 and ratified in 1787. The treaty, which was renegotiated in 1836, is still in effect, making it the longest unbroken treaty in US history. In 1821, the Sultan gave a building in Tangier to the United States for its embassy as a gift. That building now is a museum and is the only US National Historic Landmark located outside the United States.

But enough of the history lesson.

A list of Morocco Champions Winners follows.

Year	Winner	Score	To Par	Margin
2020	Brett Quigley	201	-15	1 stroke