Worst Single-Hole Scores in Champions Tour History

What is the highest score ever recorded in a Champions Tour tournament for a single hole? The all-time record is 19, a score recorded on a hole in 2025 by a 2-time major championship winner. And that is three strokes worse than the next-worst single-hole scores on the Champions Tour.

The Record: 19 by John Daly

At the 2025 Sanford International, played at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, John Daly scored 19 on the 12th hole during the first round. That's a par-5 hole, so Daly's 19 was 14-over-par.

Daly was 4-over in the round through 11 holes, with five bogeys and one birdie. But he fell apart on the 12th, hitting into penalty areas seven times. He had so much trouble on the hole that it confused the scorekeepers: Daly's score was, in real time, called a 17. Only after Daly got to the scoring tent did he (and tournament officials) realize it was actually a 19.

Daly scored 88 for the round, nine strokes worse than anyone else in the field, and 23 strokes worse than the leader. Daly withdrew following the round.

While he broke the Champions Tour single-hole, high-score record by three, he broke his own record for high hole score by just one. Daly's previous worst was an 18 during the 1998 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Worst Scores By Hole's Par Rating on Champions Tour

Before Daly's 19, the senior circuit's record for highest score on one hole was 16, shared by three golfers: Mason Rudolph, Terry Dill and Bruce Crampton. Following are the worst single-hole scores on the tour broken down by type of hole — par-5s, par-4s and par3s. (Note that the tour, founded in 1980, has kept this record only since 1985.)

Highest Par-5 Hole Scores on the Champions Tour

• 19 — John Daly, 2025 Sanford International (Minnehaha Country Club), No. 12, first round
• 16 — Mason Rudolph, 1985 Greenbrier American Express Championship (The Greenbrier), No. 18, third round
• 15 — John Murphy, 1985 Greenbrier American Express Championship (The Greenbrier), No. 18, third round
• 15 — Joe Inman, 2005 Senior PGA Championship (Laurel Valley GC), No. 18, fourth round

Note that the scores of Rudolph and Murphy happened in the same tournament in the same round. Rudolph shot 83 and Murphy 82 in that round. Rudolph finished last in the tournament, Murphy next-to-last.

Highest Par-4 Hole Scores on the Champions Tour

• 16 — Terry Dill, 1989 Ameritech Senior Open (Canterbury GC), No. 8, first round
• 16 — Bruce Crampton, 1996 First of America Classic (Egypt Valley GC), No. 10, first round

Dill's 16 happened in a tournament that he won two years later. But in the 1989 event, during the first round, his 16 on the 382-yard par-4 included (as reported in the Chicago Tribune), "four penalty shots, one shot that hit a tree and ricocheted back to hit him in the chest, and a gash on his arm from hitting a tree on a follow-through."

As for Crampton, in the same tournament three years earlier he set tourney records for 18 holes (63) and the first 36 holes (132). But 1996 wasn't as kind to him. His drive went into the woods and he took five strokes to get out. It didn't get any better from there.

Highest Par-3 Hole Scores on the Champions Tour

• 12 — Fred Funk, 2012 Boeing Classic (TPC Snoqualmie Ridge), No. 13, third round
• 11 — Nick Locke, 1986 Senior PGA Championship (PGA National GC), No. 15, first round
• 11 — Raymond Streeter, 1992 Senior PGA Championship (PGA National GC), No. 17, first round
• 11 — Chi Chi Rodriguez, 1998 The Transamerica (Silverado CC), No. 5 first round
• 11 — Leonard Thompson, 2000 Senior PGA Championship (PGA National GC), No. 15, third round