Senior PGA Professional National Championship

What began as an idea in early 1989 became reality in December of the same year when 144 players began the inaugural Wilson PGA Senior Club Professional Championship at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. A championship built from the same mold as the "regular" PGA Professional National Championship, the low-35 scorers (beginning in 2000) receive an automatic invitation to compete in the prestigious Senior PGA Championship.

The Senior PGA Professional National Championship is one of the Association's more popular national member events. Since its debut in 1989, the participants have included several players who have gone on to outstanding Tour careers, including Jim Albus (runner-up in 1990) and Tom Wargo (runner-up in 1992).

From 1993 to 2000, the Senior PGA Professional National Championship was hosted by Ibis Golf & Country Club's Legend Course in West Palm Beach, Fla. The PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., took over in 2001 as the national championship site.

In 2008, the Championship was contested for the first time outside of Florida, and hosted at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, Calif., and the Andalusia Country Club in LaQuinta, Calif.

In 2010, the Championship again visited Southern California, hosted by Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells and joined by nearby Rancho La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta. The Championship was won by Robert Thompson, of Huntsville, Texas, who became the second player ever to win that title and a PGA Assistant Championship.

In 2011, the Senior PGA Professional National Championship marked its first year of title sponsorship by Southworth Development, which has headquarters in Newton, Mass., and was joined by presenting sponsor Mercedes-Benz. Creighton Farms of Aldie, Va., and River Creek Club of Leesburg, Va., served as co-hosts of the 23rd Southworth Senior PGA Professional National Championship presented by Mercedes-Benz, marking the first visit by the Championship to the Middle Atlantic PGA Section.

PGA Life member Kirk Hanefeld of Acton, Mass., ran the gauntlet of emotions in the span of an hour on Creighton Farms' final four holes, before executing the shot he needed for a closing birdie Sunday, holding off Ken Martin of Wellington, Fla., to win the Championship.

For the historical record of the Senior PGA Professional National Championship, click here.

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