Tour Events

Important Games

The most important golf game is called the grand slam. We always heard that a golfer wins a couple of grand slams, or some golfer is a grand slam player. It actually means this player won one or more grand slam championships, which is the highest honor. Grand slam refers to the 4 highest level tournaments

The Master Tournament

The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters, is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year. The Masters is held at the same location each year, Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in the city of Augusta, Georgia, USA. The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones(designer of Augusta National Golf Club). The tournament is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour. The field of players is smaller than those of the other major championship because it is an invitational event, held by the Augusta National Golf Club. (From Wikipedia)

The first Masters Tournament was in 1934, and it has a 66 year history so far. Every Masters Tournament had their champion except during 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, when they didn't hold the event. Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts come up with the idea of The Masters together to provide another big event for the golf field. However, they had different opinions regarding the event name. Clifford Roberts preferred "The Masters", while Bob Jones thought "The Masters" didn't sound appropriate and he called it "Augusta National Invitation Tournament". That is why the event was called "Augusta National Invitation Tournament" during the first five years. In 1939, the offical name of this event was changed to be "The Masters".

Bob Jones was a modest and gentle top golfer and host of The Masters that time, so he tended not to participate the event. However, his friends persuaded him to join later. In the 12 events he participated, The 13th place was the best he got. The Masters kept making adjustments in all aspects, but a couple of decisions were still made many years ago. For example, 18 hole per day for four days, instead of 36 holes in the third day before, also no more qualifying trials and 3 people teams in the finals, and not allowing other people except the golfer and the caddie to go inside the golf course.

The first Master Tournament was held on March 22 in 1934. It didn't move the start day to the first full week of April until 1940. During days when golf was not so common, The Masters meant the beginning of a new golf season, and the four major championships were coming soon.

In The Masters history, Gene Sarazen got a Double-Eagle by using No.4 wood club on the par5 15th, and tied with Craig Wood. In the ensuring 36-hole playoff Sarazen was the victor. The tournament was not played from 1943 to 1945 because of the world war II. And the club raised turkeys and cattles to assist war effort. The par 3 contest before the tournament was first introduced in 1960. From 1965 to 1966, Jack Nicklaus was the first winner. In 1970, Jones and Roberts both passed away. In 1986, Nicklaus won his sixth green jacket when he was 46. In 1997, Tiger Woods broke 32 year total score world record in The Masters by negative 18 in total.

The Masters is the highest of the major four championships. It would be a huge honor for a golfer if he or she wins the Masters. The Masters champions are qualified for other three majors like PGA championship, US open and British open within five years, also earn a lifetime invitation to the Masters. They also receive a membership on the PGA Tour for the following five seasons and invitations to The Players Championship for five years. (From Wikipedia)

PGA championship

The first PGA Championship was held in October 1916 at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York. It was initially a match play event, however, There was no American born golfer champion until 5 years later. The first winner was a british player--Jim Barnes. World War I made the event stop for two years. Jim Barnes came back in 1919 and achieved big success. He started his own golf time. Walter Hagen won the PGA championship a record-tying five times. Gene Sarazen won in 1922, 1923 and 1933.

Denny Shute won the PGA championship in 1936 and 1937, and he was also the last player who defended the championship before Eldrick Woods in 2000. Byron Nelson was the best golf fighter in PGA championship history. He began to play from 1939 and lost one hole to Henry Picard. He came through the finals in the following five PGA championship and put his name on the Wanamaker Trophy in 1940 and 1945. No game in 1943 due to World War II. After the war, more names were put on the Wanamaker Trophy like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Chick Harbert, Doug Fond and Jack Burker Jr.

In 1958, PGA was changed from match play to stroke play and came into a new historic stage. Dow Finsterwald, Bob Rosburg, Jay Hebert and Gary Player were added into champion list. In 1963, Jack Nicklaus won his first champion in PGA championship and got another four later, tying Walter Hagen's record. Jack Nicklaus won his last title at the Oak Hill Country Club, located in Rochester, New York, which was Walter Hagen's hometown.
In 1999, Tiger Woods won the PGA championship over Garcia by one stroke at the Medinah Country Club and became the fifth youngest champion in history.

PGA championship is one of the four major championships and held in August every year, and it is also the golf season's final major. It used match play from 1916 to 1957 and changed to stroke play from 1958 until now. In the PGA championship history, "Golden Bear" Nicklaus won five PGA championships and is the person who won the most at PGA. "Tiger" Woods won four PGA championships. Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Vijay Singh all won twice in PGA championship.

U.S. Open

United States Open Championship, called U.S. Open for short. It is one of the four major championships and host by the United States Golf Association(USGA) in the middle of June every year. If there are no weather delays, usually finals are held on the third Sunday of June (Father's day). The first U.S. Open was played on October 4, 1895. It is staged at a variety of courses. The U.S. Open champion in 2008 was "Tiger" Woods.

The U.S. Open is hosted in different famous clubs in USA instead of the same course every year, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult with a premium placed on accurate driving. The U.S. Open course is characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner usually emerging at around even par. A U.S. Open is seldom beaten severly, and there have been many over-par wins(in part because par is usually set at 70, except for the very longest courses). Normally, an Open course is quite long and will have a high cut of primary rough(termed "Open rough" by the American press and fans), undulating greens (such as at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005, which was described by Johnny Miller of NBC as "like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle"), and pinched fairways (especially on what are expected to be less difficult holes). Some courses that are attempting to get into the rotation for the U.S. Open will undergo renovations to develop these features. Rees Jones is the most notable of the "Open Doctors" who take on these projects; his father Robert Trent Jones had filled that role earlier. As with any professional golf tournament, the available space surrounding the course (for spectators, among other considerations) and local infrastructure also factor into deciding which courses will host the event.(Wikipedia)

The U.S. Open is the only one of the four major championships which retains a full 18-hole playoff the following day (Monday). If a tie exists after that fifth round, then the playoff continues as sudden-death on the 91st hole. The U.S. Open has advanced to sudden-death three times (1990, 1994, 2008), most recently when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first additional playoff hole in 2008.(Wikipedia)

Coverage of The U.S. Open is broadcast on television in the United States by NBC and ESPN, with additional online coverage of a marquee group provided by ESPN via the U.S. Open's official website. Of golf's current broadcast television partners in the U.S., NBC is the only over-the-air network to provide four days of major tournament coverage (CBS and ABC also airs the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open, but only provides weekend coverage of its tournaments) (Wikipedia)

British Open(The Open Championship)

British Open was first played in 1860. The Prestwick Golf Club invited some excellent clubs to recomment their caddies to participate in a game to find a successor for Allan Robertson. However, it was not actually an "Open" game, and only 8 people attended it. They were the first group of professional golfers. The champion was Willie Park and he won with a score of 174 for 36-holes, while Allan Robertson had a score of 79.

Because of protest from amateur golfers, it opened to the whole world in the second year. Although they only had 12 players to participate in the following year, they included non-professional golfers.

The first 12 games were held at the Prestwick Golf Club, and then moved to the Old Course at St. Andrews. Later it was hosted at different courses. The Challenge Belt, which contained the silver medal, was replaced by a Claret Jug Trophy after 10 years.

In the early years for British Open, Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris were always the champions. Old Tom Morris won 4 championships in total while Young Tom Morris won 4 sequential championships and set a lot of records.

After World War I, Royal and Ancient Golf Club began to host British Open until now.

All the major four championships are not easy for golfers to participate in. Players who can participate in the games are the top players in the world. And winning the championship in these events is a big honor to golfers.