Senior PGA Championship Preview 2021

Senior PGA Championship Preview 2021

Quick Facts

• Golf Course: Southern Hills Country Club
• Par: 70; Yardage: 6,902
• Designed by: Perry Maxwell (1936)
• Purse: $3,500,000
• TV Coverage:
  • Thursday (Golf Channel): 1:00-4:00 p.m. ET
  • Friday (Golf Channel): 1:00-4:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday (NBC): 3:00-6:00 p.m. ET
  • Sunday (Golf Channel) 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET; (NBC) 4:00-6:00 p.m. ET

Field Overview (as of 5/26/21) 

PGA TOUR Champions heads to the Midwest for the second major of the 2021 calendar year, as 156 players will tee it up at this week’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma will host the Senior PGA Championship for the first time.

• 6 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame
  • (Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara, Tom Kite)
• 72 PGA TOUR winners with 408 total career victories
• 61 PGA TOUR Champions winners with 272 total career victories
• 26 with a PGA TOUR Champions major title
• 22 with a PGA TOUR major title

Season	First-Time Winners
1999	11
2001	10
2020-21	9
1992	9

Winners Move Up Charles Schwab Cup Standings

Mike Weir, Alex Cejka and Dicky Pride each vaulted up the Charles Schwab Cup standings as a result of their recent victories. Weir sits 10th, six spots better than he was before his win at the Insperity Invitational. Cejka moved up to 32nd from 70th with his triumph at the Regions Tradition and Pride went from 49th to 31st with his victory in Atlanta.

Bernhard Langer leads the Schwab Cup standings, as the top eight remains unchanged from last week. Ernie Els and Kevin Sutherland, who have each won twice this season, sit No. 2 and 3, respectively. Jerry Kelly and Scott Parel round out the top five, while Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Weir represent Nos. 6-10.

Player	Money	2020-21 Season
1. Bernhard Langer	$1,818,625	15 top-10s in 21 appearances
2. Ernie Els	$1,715,726	11 top-10s in 19 appearances
3. Kevin Sutherland	$1,665,507	12 top-10s in 19 appearances
4. Jerry Kelly	$1,465,096	Top-10s in five of his last six starts
5. Scott Parel	$1,346,905	Seven top-10s in 21 appearances

Major Stretch Coming Up

After one major was contested during the first 21 weeks of the 2021 calendar year, the four remaining majors will be played over the next nine weeks. After this week’s Senior PGA Championship, the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship (June 24-27), U.S. Senior Open Championship (July 8-11) and The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex (July 22-25) are the three remaining majors on PGA TOUR Champions this season.

Past Winners at Southern Hills

Southern Hills Country Club is hosting its first PGA TOUR Champions major after hosting seven majors on the PGA TOUR and two TOUR Championships. Retief Goosen captured his first major title at the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, when he defeated fellow Champions Tour player Mark Brooks in an 18-hole playoff. In addition to Goosen, Billy Mayfair (1995 TOUR Championship) and Tom Lehman (1996 TOUR Championship) return to Tulsa as past winners at Southern Hills.

At the most recent major held at Southern Hills, three PGA TOUR Champions players finished in the top five at the 2007 PGA Championship. Woody Austin (2nd), who finished two strokes behind champion Tiger Woods, will tee it up in Tulsa this week, along with Ernie Els (3rd) and John Senden (T4). Southern Hills is also set to host the 2022 PGA Championship as the eighth major at the site after three U.S. Opens (1958, 1977, 2001) and four PGA Championships (1970, 1982, 1994, 2007).

Best Finishes at Southern Hills by Players in This Week’s Field

Player	Finish	Tournament
Retief Goosen	Won	2001 U.S. Open
Billy Mayfair	Won	1995 TOUR Championship
Tom Lehman	Won	1996 TOUR Championship
Mark Brooks	2nd	2001 U.S. Open
Corey Pavin	2nd	1994 PGA Championship
Woody Austin	2nd	2007 PGA Championship
Corey Pavin	T2	1995 TOUR Championship
Steve Stricker	3rd	1996 TOUR Championship
Ernie Els	3rd	2007 PGA Championship
Kenny Perry	4th	1996 TOUR Championship
Woody Austin	T4	1995 TOUR Championship
John Senden	T4	2007 PGA Championship

Four Major Champions to Make Senior PGA Championship Debut

Major champions Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Mike Weir and Rich Beem are among the players making their tournament debut at the Senior PGA Championship this week.

Els, currently ranked second in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, has two wins this season (2020 Hoag Classic, 2020 SAS Championship) and 11 top-10 finishes in 19 starts. He has finished in the top five in both majors contested during the 2020-21 wraparound season (T5/2020 Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS; T4/2021 Regions Tradition).

Furyk, ranked No. 9 in the Schwab Cup standings, won each of his first two starts on PGA TOUR Champions (2020 The Ally Challenge, 2020 PURE Insurance Championship). In 10 starts, he has never finished outside of the top 20, notching six top-10s.

Weir, ranked 10th in the Schwab Cup standings, earned his first PGA TOUR Champions win at the Insperity Invitational in May. Weir has six top-10s this season, including a pair of runner-up finishes (2020 Dominion Energy Charity Classic, 2021 Cologuard Classic).

• Ernie Els (4) – 1994, 1997 U.S. Open; 2002, 2012 The Open Championship
• Jim Furyk (1) – 2003 U.S. Open
• Mike Weir (1) – 2003 Masters
• Rich Beem (1) – 2002 PGA Championship

Past Champions in the Field

Seven players who have combined to win eight PGA Championships are in this week’s field, along with eight players who have combined to win 10 Senior PGA Championships. Each winner of the last six Senior PGA Championships, dating back to 2014, is in the field this week.

Player	PGA Championship Wins
Rich Beem	2002
Mark Brooks	1996
John Daly	1991
Shaun Micheel	2003
Vijay Singh	1998, 2004
Jeff Sluman	1988
David Toms	2001

Player	Senior PGA Championship Wins
Michael Allen	2009
Paul Broadhurst	2018
Jay Haas	2006, 2008
Bernhard Langer	2017
Tom Lehman	2010
Rocco Mediate	2016
Colin Montgomerie	2014, 2015
Ken Tanigawa	2019

via PGA TOUR Champions