Oldest Winners Ever on the Champions Tour

In the history of the Champions Tour, the PGA Tour's circuit for golfers 50 and older, only six golfers have won past the age of 62. Two of those were 63. So far, only one golfer aged 64 or older has won on the Champions Tour, and that golfer appears twice on the list of oldest winners.

The List of Oldest Champions Tour Winners

These are the golfers who've won at age 62 and older:

  • Bernhard Langer: 64 years, 1 month, 27 days, 2021 Dominion Energy Charity Classic
  • Scott Hoch: 63 years, 5 months, 4 days, 2019 Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge
  • Mike Fetchick: 63 years to the day, 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational
  • Jay Haas: 62 years, 10 months, 7 days, 2016 Toshiba Classic
  • Gary Player: 62 years, 9 months, 22 days, 1998 Northville Long Island Classic
  • Bernhard Langer: 62 years, 6 months, 3 days, 2020 Cologuard Classic
  • Mark O'Meara: 62 years, 1 month, 18 days, 2019 Cologuard Classic

The Overall Record-Holder: Bernhard Langer

In 2021, Bernhard Langer became the first 64-year-old to win on the Champions Tour. He was already part of the list above, his previous win happening in 2020 at age 62. But when Langer won the 2021 Dominion Energy Charity Classic, he moved himself to the top of the list.

Langer's victory in that tournament happened in a playoff. He made a six-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Doug Barron and claim the trophy, plus the age record. It was Langer's 42nd career win on the Champions Tour.

When Langer moved to the top, he displaced the previous record-holder, Scott Hoch. The Champions Tour had listed Hoch as it's oldest-ever winner, even though Hoch himself felt he didn't deserve the record. In 2019, at age 63, Hoch won the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf. But that was a team tournament in which Hoch partnered Tom Pernice Jr. It was also a tournament played on a par-3 course.

Because of those facts — team tournament, par-3 course — Hoch said he didn't feel like it should count as the record: "It's a team event. It's great that I won, but I don't think you can compare that to an individual win."

But, Hoch's protests to the contrary, the Champions Tour did, in fact, count Hoch as the tour's oldest-ever winner. The debate over whether Hoch's team win in 2019 really should count for the record was rendered moot when Langer took over the top spot at age 64.

Popular posts from this blog

The Vijay Singh Cheating Incident Explained

Image
Vijay Singh has had a long and very successful career as a pro golfer, including three major championships and a 2004 season in which he won nine times on the PGA Tour. But there's also something in Singh's career that he'd like to forget, and that he'd prefer everyone else forget, too. Allegations of cheating at a tournament on the precursor to the Asian Tour in 1985. Actually, we don't even have to refer to the incident as being mere "allegations," since tournament officials concluded that Singh did , in fact, cheat, and the regional governing organization banned him from the tour (today's Asian Tour was not officially founded until 1995). ( Related : The Colin Montgomerie cheating allegation explained ) Here's what happened. Vijay Singh was 22 years old when he showed up at the 1985 Indonesian Open in Jakarta. Like most young pros in their first years as a tour player, Vijay was having his ups and downs — mostly downs. He badly neede
Continue Reading »

Ryder Cup Captains: The Full List

Image
The list of Ryder Cup captains goes back to 1927, when the biennial tournament began. Every other year, the best male, professional golfers from Europe and the United States face off in this match play tournament, each team led by its captain.
Continue Reading »