2012 Champions Tour Schedule Announcement

Click here to view the schedule changes (.pdf)

Champions Tour announces 2012 Tournament Schedule features multiple venue and date changes

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The Champions Tour announced today the tournament schedule for the 2012 Champions Tour season.

Seven new tournament venues and several previously announced date changes for existing tournaments are the most significant developments for the 2012 season.

The official 2012 season begins on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai (Jan. 16-22), with the first full-field event coming three weeks later at the Allianz Championship (Feb. 6-12), in Boca Raton, FL.

The ACE Group Classic (Feb. 13-19) returns to The TwinEagles Club (Talon Course), which hosted the event from 2002-2006.

TPC Tampa Bay plays host to the Tampa Bay Pro-Am (Apr. 9-15) for the 21st consecutive year as the tournament celebrates its 25th anniversary in the Tampa area.

The Regions Tradition, played at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, AL, will move from the early May date it previously occupied to the week of June 4-10. The Insperity Championship (Apr. 30-May 6), played at The Woodlands in Houston, TX, will depart its traditional October timeslot and take over the spot vacated by Regions Tradition.

La Vallee du Richelieu Golf Club (Vercheres Course) will host The Montreal Championship (June 18-24), after two years at Club de golf Le Fontainebleau.

The Constellation Senior Players Championship (June 25-July 1), played in the fall for the last five years, moves to the last week of June. Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, PA will host the championship, being contested for the 30th time.

The Dick's Sporting Goods Open (Aug. 13-19) moves from June to August to allow the En-Joie Golf Course more time to recover after sustaining major flooding damage when Tropical Storm Lee caused the Susquehanna River to overflow at record levels earlier this year and almost completely cover the course. En-Joie Golf Course, in Endicott, NY, has hosted the event since its inception in 2007 and had previously hosted the PGA TOUR's B.C. Open from 1972 to 2006.

Yet to be finalized on the 2012 schedule are the events to be played in Asia in September. As of the date of this schedule announcement, Champions Tour officials were in final discussions with representatives in South Korea on the renewal of the event that was played in that country the past two years. Officials are also in discussions with representatives in Japan and China with the hope of bringing new events on the Champions Tour to those countries. Announcements are expected after the first of the year. The season will conclude with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Oct. 29-Nov. 4,) which moves from TPC Harding Park in San Francisco to the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, AZ. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course returns to the Champions Tour schedule having previously hosted the Tradition from 1989-2001. The host venues for the five major championships in 2012 are:

The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, MI Senior PGA Championship (May 21-27)
Shoal Creek, AL Regions Tradition (June 4-10)
Indianwood Golf & Country Club, MI U.S. Senior Open (July 9-15)
Turnberry (Ailsa Course), Scotland Senior British Open (July 23-29)
Fox Chapel Golf Club, PA Constellation Senior
Players Championship (June 25-July 1).

The Charles Schwab Cup, won by Tom Lehman in 2011, enters its 12th year as the successful season-long, points-based competition to determine the Champions Tour's leading player. The program rewards consistency and awards points for top-10 finishes at all official tournaments. Double points will be awarded at the five major championships and to all 30 players at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

The Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament-Final (Nov. 12-18) will be conducted at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, FL.

All official events will be televised nationally in the United States, with most receiving complete coverage on GOLF Channel, the Tour's exclusive cable-television partner that reaches some 83 million homes in the United States. Four events will have network coverage on the weekend (NBC: Senior PGA Championship, Senior U.S. Open; CBS: Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf; ESPN: Senior British Open). Champions Tour telecasts are distributed internationally in Canada, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australasia, and Latin America through various distribution partners. The events air live, tape-delayed or in a highlights-package format in excess of 117 countries, reaching more than 133 million households.

About The Champions Tour

Collectively, the Champions Tour has the most recognizable and accomplished players in the game with many of its 30 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame competing regularly in its events and numerous other major championship winners among its members. The Champions Tour is a membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. Points earned in official Charles Schwab Cup events in 2012 will determine
the Charles Schwab Cup champion, the season-long competition designed to recognize the Champions Tour's leading player. The Champions Tour's primary purpose is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back, protect the integrity of the game and generate significant charitable and economic impact in communities in which it plays. In 2011, tournaments on all three Tours (PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour) generated more than $118 million for local charitable organizations, bringing the TOUR's all-time total of charitable contributions to more than $1.7 billion. The Commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Mike Stevens is President of the Champions Tour. The PGA TOUR's
website is www.pgatour.com, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. Follow us at Facebook.com/Champions Tour and on Twitter @ChampionsTour.

Contacts:
Mark Williams
Director, Communications, Champions Tour
904-280-5058
markwilliams@pgatourhq.com

Share this on Facebook