The Tradition (known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is an event on the
PGA Tour Champions. First staged in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
, the PGA Tour recognizes the event as one of the five
senior major golf championships
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 (a ...
. Unlike the
U.S. Senior Open,
Senior PGA Championship and
Senior Open Championship, it is not recognized as a major by the
European Senior Tour, and is not part of that tour's official schedule. It is the only senior major where the winner does not earn an exemption into a
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
or
European Tour event.
Locations
Arizona
From its inception in 1989 through 2001, the tournament was held in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
at the Cochise Golf Course of the Golf Club at Desert Mountain in
Scottsdale. In 2002, it was held at the Prospector Course of Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club near
Gold Canyon Gold Canyon is located a few miles south of Alleghany, California, on the border between Sierra and Nevada Counties. The middle fork of the Yuba River flows through the canyon. Gold mining began in Gold Canyon in the early 1850s and has continued ...
. While in Arizona, the event was played in early April.
Oregon
In 2003, the event relocated to northwest
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
for four years at the South Course of
The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Hillsboro, Oregon, just west of
Portland. Following the 2006 edition, it moved to the
high desert of
central Oregon for four years, to the
Crosswater Club in
Sunriver, south of
Bend. The lengthy course sits on of woodlands and preserved wetlands along the
Deschutes River Deschutes River may refer to:
*Deschutes River (Oregon)
**Little Deschutes River (Oregon), a tributary of the Deschutes River in Oregon
*Deschutes River (Washington)
The Deschutes River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. Its headwater ...
, at an average
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...
of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
. The par-72 layout played at in 2009. During the eight years in Oregon, the event was held in mid- to late August.
Alabama
Following the 2010 event,
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...
–based
Regions Financial Corporation
Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsidi ...
announced in August that it was taking over sponsorship of the tournament. For five years, the event was played at the
Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club
Shoal Creek Club is an invitation-only private golf club in the southeastern United States, located in Shelby County, Alabama, southeast of Birmingham. Opened in 1977, the course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is rated as the top golf course ...
in the Shoal Creek development, southeast of Birmingham.
The Tradition superseded the
Regions Charity Classic, a regular Champions Tour event which began in 1992 as the
Bruno's Memorial Classic.
Shoal Creek will host Regions Tradition in 2011
/ref> Shoal Creek previously hosted two PGA Championships, in 1984 and 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
.
Since moving to Alabama in 2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
, the event has been played in May and June. It moved from Shoal Creek to the nearby Greystone Golf and Country Club in 2016, and is held on the recently renovated Founders Course.
Winners
Multiple winners
Through 2021, five men have multiple wins in the Tradition:
*4 wins:
**Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won 117 professional tou ...
: 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996
*2 wins:
** Gil Morgan: 1997, 1998
**Fred Funk
Frederick Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
Early life
Fred Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He tried several sports, and even boxed for eight years for a juni ...
: 2008, 2010
** Tom Lehman: 2011, 2012
** Bernhard Langer: 2016, 2017
** Steve Stricker: 2019, 2022
References
External links
*
Coverage on the PGA Tour Champions's official site
Greystone Golf and Country Club
– official site – current venue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tradition
PGA Tour Champions events
Golf in Alabama
Golf in Arizona
Golf in Oregon
Sports in Birmingham, Alabama
Sports in Hillsboro, Oregon
Sports in Scottsdale, Arizona
Recurring sporting events established in 1989
1989 establishments in Arizona