Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

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Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
Tournament information
Location Fort Worth, Texas
Established 1946
Course(s) Colonial Country Club
Par 70
Yardage 7,054
Tour(s) PGA Tour
Format Stroke play
Purse $6,100,000
Month Played May
Tournament record scores
Aggregate 261 Kenny Perry (2003)
261 Kenny Perry (2005)
To-par -19 Kenny Perry (2003)
-19 Kenny Perry (2005)
Current champion
Phil Mickelson

The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It has been played annually in May in Fort Worth, Texas on the course at the Colonial Country Club. It is one of four invitational tournaments held on the PGA Tour. It is also the longest running event on the Tour still being held at the original site.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Colonial Country Club announced on July 25, 2006, that Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts has signed a six-year contract to be the title sponsor through 2012. The hotel chain replaces Bank of America, which decided not to renew its deal after four years, including the tournament's 50th anniversary in May.

The 2008 purse is $6,100,000, with $1,098,000 going to the winner.

The tournament was founded in 1946 as the Colonial National Invitation Tournament. The tournament honors the history of golf by using an official Scottish tartan plaid jacket, for it champions and top committee chairmen. Another tradition feeding Colonial history is the beautiful Wall of Champions on the first tee. Engraved with the name and score of each champion dating back to the 1941 U.S. Open, the marble display casts a reverence over the start of any player's round. In 2003, Annika Sörenstam became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias. However, Sorenstam missed the cut after rounds of 71 and 74.

As a restricted field event on the PGA Tour, only the first 80 players on the previous years money-list are guaranteed invites.[1]

The tournament is unofficially associated with Ben Hogan, who won the tournament several times and was associated with the Fort Worth area.

[edit] Champion's Choice tradition

Every year, these champions select two deserving young players to compete in the tournament, who otherwise would not have been eligible. It is a unique PGA Tour tradition known as the Champion's Choice invitation. Pros who made their first appearance at Colonial as a Champion's Choice include Al Geiberger, Tom Weiskopf, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange, Mark O'Meara, Paul Azinger and Davis Love III. Dave Stockton won the event as a Champion's Choice in 1967, and five other choices through the years have eventually won the event.

[edit] Winners

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

Bank of America Colonial

MasterCard Colonial

Colonial National Invitation

Southwestern Bell Colonial

Colonial National Invitation

[edit] References

  1. ^ What's at stake for 2008, pgatour.com, November 1 2007

[edit] External links

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PGA Tour Events

Major championships in playing order: The Masters | U.S. Open | The Open Championship (British Open) | PGA Championship

Other FedEx Cup tournaments in playing order: Mercedes-Benz Championship | Sony Open in Hawaii | Bob Hope Chrysler Classic | Buick Invitational | FBR Open | AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am | Northern Trust Open | WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship | Mayakoba Classic at Riviera Maya | Honda Classic | PODS Championship | Arnold Palmer Invitational | WGC-CA Championship | Puerto Rico Open | Zurich Classic of New Orleans | Shell Houston Open | Verizon Heritage | EDS Byron Nelson Championship | Wachovia Championship | The Players Championship | AT&T Classic | Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial | Memorial Tournament | Stanford St. Jude Championship | Travelers Championship | Buick Open | AT&T National | John Deere Classic | U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee | Canadian Open | WGC-Bridgestone Invitational | Legends Reno-Tahoe Open | Wyndham Championship

FedEx Cup playoff events: The Barclays | Deutsche Bank Championship | BMW Championship | The Tour Championship

Fall Series in playing order: Viking Classic | Turning Stone Resort Championship | Valero Texas Open | Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open | Frys.com Open | Ginn sur Mer Classic | Children's Miracle Network Classic

Team events (played alternate years): Presidents Cup | Ryder Cup

Challenge season events in playing order (unofficial money): ADT Skills Challenge | Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge | World Cup | Skins Game | Merrill Lynch Shootout | Target World Challenge

Former Events