Members of the Staysure Tour return to action this week at the second Senior Major Championship of the 2018 season. Here are five things to know ahead of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship…
The oldest Senior Major
The Senior PGA Championship was established in 1937, making it the longest-running Senior Major Championship.
In fact, the first two editions were played on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National. The Championship then found semi-permanent homes at PGA National Golf Course in Dunedin, Florida and PGA National Golf Club at Palm Beach Gardens in the same state.
The Championship has moved to different venues regularly since 2001, and this year’s edition is the fourth to be held at Harbor Shores Golf Club.
Recent European success
After Scotland’s Fred McLeod won at Augusta in 1938, Europe had to wait 74 years for another winner at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
Roger Chapman won the first edition of the event at Harbor Shores as he finished two strokes ahead of John Cook with a 13 under par total in 2012. It would be the first of two Senior Major victories for Chapman who would go on to win the U.S. Senior Open later that year.
Colin Montgomerie would win back-to-back Senior PGA Championships, the first at Harbor Shores in 2014 and the second at French Lick Resort in 2015.
Bernhard Langer then equalled Gary Player’s record of nine Senior Major Championship victories as he defeated fellow former Masters Tournament winner Vijay Singh by one stroke at the 2017 edition of the prestigious event.
Major players
No fewer than 18 Major Champions will be teeing it up this week at Harbor Shores, with five winners each of the Open Championship, the Masters Tournament, US PGA Championship and six winners of the U.S. Open in attendance.
Sandy Lyle, Mark O’Meara and Vijay Singh have won two different Major Championships, while Lee Janzen (U.S. Open) and José María Olazábal (The Masters) join Singh as multiple winners of the same Major.
Jiménez bidding for back-to-back Senior Majors
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez broke his Senior Major duck at last week’s Regions Tradition, finishing three strokes ahead of the chasing pack.
After securing his fifth title on the over-50s circuit, Jiménez will be hoping to further add to his trophy cabinet with victory in Michigan.
If successful, he would follow in Bernhard Langer’s footsteps after the two-time Masters Champion won both the Regions Tradition and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in successive weeks in 2017.
Turner to tee off first
Staysure Tour member Greg Turner will have the honour of striking the first tee shot at this year’s Championship.
The New Zealander will tee off at 07:30 local time in the first group, alongside Americans Fran Quinn and Gus Ulrich.
