History of the Champions Tour in Hawaii

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Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Dan Forsman (pictured) won the first Champions Tour event of 2012 in Hawaii, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

September 06, 2012
By Mark Williams, Champions Tour staff PGATOUR.COM

What do a now-defunct telecommunications company, a real estate development company, a thriving golf equipment manufacturer, a deluxe hotel chain, a multinational financial services corporation, an international fast-food restaurant, an information solutions organization, a packaged food company and the worldwide leader in the manufacturing and sales of electric and electronic equipment have in common?

Not much, you say. Well, they've all been, or currently are associated with Champions Tour tournament golf in Hawaii. And they're about to be joined by a property acquisition company -- Pacific Links International.

Following Dan Forsman's season-opening victory at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship will be contested at Kapolei Golf Course, Sept. 10-16, and the tournament will mark the 39th official Champions Tour event in Hawaii since its inception. Kapolei will be the fifth venue to host an official Champions Tour event in Hawaii, following Royal Kaanapali, Ko Olina, Hualalai and Turtle Bay.

The Champions Tour began in 1980 but didn't contest its first official event in Hawaii until 1987 when Orville Moody won the GTE Kaanapali Classic at Royal Kaanapali on Maui. Since then, the Champions Tour has made at least one visit to Hawaii each season. This year will mark the 13th time in 26 years that the Champions Tour has held two events in Hawaii in the same year.

The Senior Skins Game, an unofficial event on the Champions Tour, was also played in Hawaii all but one of its 24 years. In 1989, the exhibition event was played in California.

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, in Kaupulehu-Kona, was first played in 1997 and continues to be contested at the same course, a current run of 16 consecutive years, and the third-longest span at one club in Champions Tour history following TPC Tampa Bay (21 years) and Newport Beach CC (17 years).

Ko Olina hosted a one-off Senior Invitational in 1992 when Chi Chi Rodriguez won by six strokes over Charles Coody, setting the record for the largest winning margin for a Champions Tour event in Hawaii at the time. In 2005, Hale Irwin beat Dana Quigley by nine strokes at Turtle Bay to surpass that record. Two years later, Fred Funk set the all-time Champions Tour record for the largest winning margin in a 54-hole event when he won by 11 over Loren Roberts, also at Turtle Bay.

Speaking of Roberts, he tied a Champions Tour record when he shot 25-under to win the 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. He made an all-time-record 26 birdies during the event, a record since matched by Fred Couples at last year's AT&T Championship in Texas. Roberts' final-round 61 is the low finish by a winner in Champions Tour history, a record he shares with three other players.

Hale Irwin is perhaps the "King of Hawaii" when it comes to golf in The Aloha State. Irwin has eight Champions Tour victories and three runner-up finishes in Hawaii. Other multiple winners of Champions Tour events in Hawaii include Bob Charles with three titles and Don Bies, George Archer, Dana Quigley, Loren Roberts, and Fred Funk, all with two wins each.

Irwin's 20 PGA TOUR titles include the 1981 Hawaiian Open. He has an all-time-record 45 wins on the Champions Tour and his 45th victory came at the 2007 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. He holds the record for the most victories in a single event on the Champions Tour, winning the Kaanapali Classic (which became the Turtle Bay Championship) six times. Five of those Kaanapali Classic titles were consecutive victories. To put that achievement into perspective, just four players have won four (not five) consecutive titles in a single event on the PGA TOUR -- Tom Morris, Jr., Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods (twice) -- so he's in some pretty good company, or ahead of the curve depending on how you look at it.

"It's hard to put your finger on it," said Irwin, when questioned about his great success in Hawaii. "Other than there's something about the air, the people, in the land. It's sort of like coming home. It's always a treat."

Irwin is also the only player in the 11-year history of the season-long Charles Schwab Cup to claim the trophy at a tournament other than the season-ending event. You guessed it -- his Cup-clinching victory came in Hawaii, at the 2002 Turtle Bay Championship, which was the 32nd of 35 events that season.

With Kapolei becoming the fifth venue to host an official Champions Tour event, here's something to note -- of the 332 total aces that have been recorded on the Champions Tour since records were kept in 1984, seven have come in Hawaii. At least one ace has been recorded at each of the four courses where the Champions Tour has played so there might be a good chance we see a hole in one during the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship at Kapolei in September.

Player	Year	Venue
Dale Douglass	1990	Royal Kaanapali
Graham Marsh	2003	Turtle Bay
Bob Murphy	2003	Turtle Bay
Gary Player	1999	Royal Kaanapali
Doug Tewell	2002	Hualalai
Bert Yancey	1990	Royal Kaanapali
Walt Zembriski	1992	Ko Olina

Here is a list of holes-in-one scored in official Champions Tour events in Hawaii:

Several other Champions Tour records of note also have a Hawaii connection:

• Playing a bogey-free tournament has been achieved just 28 times in Champions Tour history but four players have done it in Hawaii -- Joe Inman (2000), D.A. Weibring (2006), Fred Funk (2007) and Corey Pavin (2011), with Funk the only one of the four to go on and win the tournament. Later that year, Funk won in Mexico on the PGA TOUR and joined Raymond Floyd and Craig Stadler as the only players to win on both the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR in the same season.

• Just nine players have made four eagles during a single event since the Champions Tour began in 1980. Three of those nine have done so in Hawaii -- Rocky Thompson (1992) and Bob Charles (1996) at Kaanapali and Bruce Lietzke at Hualalai in 2003.

• Of the 38 Champions Tour events played in Hawaii thus far, four (1993, 1995, 2002, 2005) have been decided in playoffs. Two-time PGA Championship winner Dave Stockton was in two of those playoffs (1993, 1995), losing both times.

• Golf in Hawaii is not all about good scoring and setting records, though. When the wind gets up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean golf can become extremely difficult. The highest third round scoring average in Champions Tour history, 79.205, came at the 1990 GTE Kaanapali Classic, a record that still stands today.

Champions Tour history in Hawaii

Year	Event	Course	City	Purse	Winner	Score	Earnings	Margin
1987	GTE Kaanapali Classic	Royal Kaanapali GC	Maui	$300,000	Orville Moody	-12	$45,000	Three over John Brodie (36 holes)
1988	GTE Kaanapali Classic	Royal Kaanapali GC	Maui	$300,000	Don Bies	-12	$45,000	One over Don January
1989	GTE Kaanapali Classic	Royal Kaanapali GC	Maui	$300,000	Don Bies	-12	$45,000	One over Dale Douglass (36 holes)
1990	GTE Kaanapali Classic	Royal Kaanapali GC	Maui	$450,000	Bob Charles	-4	$67,500	Four over George Archer, Lee Trevino
1991	First Development Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC	Maui	$600,000	Jim Colbert	-15	$90,000	Two over Dale Douglass.
1992	Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC	Maui	$500,000	Tommy Aaron	-15	$75,000	One over Dave Stockton
	Ko Olina Senior Invitational	Ko Olina GC	Ewa Beach, Oahu	$500,000	Chi Chi Rodriguez	-10	$75,000	Six over Charles Coody.
1993	PING Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali Resort	Kaanapali	$550,000	George Archer	-17	$82,500	Defeated Lee Trevino, Dave Stockton in a playoff.
1994	Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali Resort	Kaanapali	$550,000	Bob Murphy	-18	$82,500	Two over Jack Kiefer.
1995	Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali Resort	Kaanapali	$600,000	Bob Charles	-9	$90,000	Defeated Dave Stockton in a playoff.
1996	Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC (North)	Kaanapali	$650,000	Bob Charles	-15	$97,500	One over Hale Irwin.
1997	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu	$1,000,000	Hale Irwin	-7	$186,000	Two over Gil Morgan.
	Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC (North)	Kaanapali	$850,000	Hale Irwin	-13	$127,500	Three over Mike Hill, Bruce Summerhays
1998	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu	$1,000,000	Gil Morgan	-21	$200,000	Six over Hale Irwin, Gibby Gilbert
	EMC Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC (North)	Kaanapali	$1,000,000	Jay Sigel	-12	$150,000	Two over Hugh Baiocchi, and Larry Laoretti
1999	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kailua-Kona	$1,100,000	John Jacobs	-13	$185,000	Three over Raymond Floyd and Jim Colbert
	EMC Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC (North)	Kaanapali	$1,000,000	Bruce Fleisher	-14	$150,000	One stroke over Allen Doyle
2000	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu	$1,200,000	George Archer	-9	$199,000	Two over four players
	EMC Kaanapali Classic	Kaanapali GC (North)	Maui	$1,100,000	Hale Irwin	-15	$165,000	Four over Joe Inman.
2001	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu	$1,400,000	Larry Nelson	-19	$240,000	One over Jim Thorpe.
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay	Kahuku	$1,500,000	Hale Irwin	-11	$225,000	Three over John Jacobs
2002	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,500,000	Tom Kite	-17	$258,000	Six over John Jacobs
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay	Kahuku, Oahu	$1,500,000	Hale Irwin	-8	$225,000	Defeated Gary McCord in a playoff
2003	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,500,000	Dana Quigley	-18	$250,000	Two over Larry Nelson
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort	Kahuku, Oahu	$1,500,000	Hale Irwin	-8	$225,000	Two over Tom Kite
2004	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,600,000	Fuzzy Zoeller	-20	$268,000	One over Dana Quigley
2005	MasterCard Championship	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,600,000	Dana Quigley	-18	$272,000	Defeated Tom Watson in a playoff.
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort	Kahuku	$1,500,000	Hale Irwin	-20	$225,000	Nine over Dana Quigley
2006	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,700,000	Loren Roberts	-25	$290,000	One over Don Pooley
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort	Kahuku	$1,500,000	Loren Roberts	-12	$225,000	Two over Scott Simpson
2007	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,700,000	Hale Irwin	-23	$290,000	Five over Jim Thorpe and Tom Kite
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort	Kahuku	$1,600,000	Fred Funk	-23	$240,000	11 over five players
2008	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,700,000	Fred Funk	-21	$300,000	Two over Allen Doyle
	Turtle Bay Championship	Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort	Kahuku	$1,600,000	Jerry Pate	-5	$240,000	Two over Fulton Allem and Jim Thorpe
2009	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,800,000	Bernhard Langer	-18	$315,000	One over Andy Bean
2010	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,800,000	Tom Watson	-22	$315,000	One over Fred Couples
2011	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,800,000	John Cook	-22	$305,000	Two over Tom Lehman
2012	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	Hualalai GC	Kaupulehu-Kona	$1,800,000	Dan Forsman	-15	$307,000	Two over Jay Don Blake
	Pacific Links Hawaii Championship	Kapolei Golf Course	Oahu	$1,800,000

• More records are sure to be matched or broken when the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship tees off at Kapolei on Sept. 14. We'll only know when the inaugural tournament is complete and a winner is crowned.