Men's professional senior golf is for players aged 50 and above. Golf differs from all other sports in having lucrative competitions for this age group. The leading senior tour is the U.S.-based PGA Tour Champions, which was established in 1980 (as the Senior PGA Tour). It has established a roster of five major championships.[1] These events are all played over four rounds, whereas other senior tournaments are generally played over three rounds—only one other current Champions Tour event, the limited-field and season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, is played over four rounds. A golfer's performances can be quite variable from one round to the next, so playing an extra round increases the likelihood that the senior majors will be won by leading players.
In the current order of play, the senior majors are:
The Senior PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, and Senior Open Championship, have fields of 144 to 156 players and a 36-hole cut. The Tradition and Senior Players Championship have 81 player fields and no 36-hole cut.
The order of play has changed many times during the history of senior golf, especially since 2006:
Unlike the mainstream majors, two of the senior majors have title sponsors, and the Senior PGA Championship and Senior Open have presenting sponsors whose names appear after the tournament title. Also unlike the mainstream majors, none of which falls under the direct jurisdiction of any professional tour, the Champions Tour directly operates two of its majors—The Tradition and the Senior Players Championship. The other three senior majors are operated by the same bodies that organize their mainstream counterparts—the PGA of America for the Senior PGA, The R&A for the Senior Open, and the USGA for the U.S. Senior Open.
The Senior PGA is by far the oldest of the senior majors, having commenced in the 1930s. The other four tournaments all date from 1980 or later, having been founded in the era when senior golf became a commercial success. This occurred when the first big golf stars of the television era, men such as Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, began to reach the relevant age.
Unlike mainstream men's golf, the senior game does not have a globally agreed set of majors. The three majors recognized by the European Senior Tour are the Senior PGA Championship and the U.S. and British Senior Opens. However, the Champions Tour is much more dominant in global senior golf than the PGA Tour is in mainstream men's golf.
The table below shows the results of all the events designated as majors by the Champions Tour. As the order in which the majors were played frequently changes, they are listed in the current order of play. Winners of Senior PGA Championships played before December 1979 (from the 1980 to 1985 seasons, it was the winner of the Senior PGA Championship if the previous calendar year) and Senior Opens played before 2003 are not listed here as they were not Champions Tour majors at the time nor retroactively recognized as majors. Those winners are shown in the tournaments' articles. The other three tournaments have been Champions Tour majors throughout their existence. The Senior PGA Championship was held twice in 1984 but was not held in 1983 or 1985.
Bernhard Langer holds the record for the most senior majors won with twelve. Gary Player has also won nine championships that are now considered senior golf majors, but three of his titles came at the Senior Open Championship before this tournament officially gained senior major status. Jack Nicklaus has won eight senior majors and holds the record for the most regular majors won (18).
Bernhard Langer is the only player to have won each of the five senior major championships and is therefore held to have won the 'Career Grand Slam.' In his time, Nicklaus also held a 'Career Grand Slam' as the Senior Open did not become the fifth senior major until 2003, by which time Nicklaus had effectively retired from senior golf (his only appearance in the Senior Open was in 2003).
Note: The Senior PGA Championship was held in December from 1979 to 1984, with one exception. For consistency reasons of golf seasons, which at times have been wraparound seasons before the tournament moved to late May, December tournament of the Senior PGA Championship are regarded as the following year's season.
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