THE TOUR Championship
THE TOUR Championship (the capitalisation is official) is the final event of golf's PGA Tour season. Beginning in 1997, the event alternated between Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas and East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia; since 2004, East Lake has been the event's permanent home. Since 2002, it has been sponsored as "THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola".
The top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour after the penultimate event qualify for the Championship, which is one of the richest tournaments on the tour. It takes place in early November, the week after the comparable event in Europe, the Volvo Masters, which allows players who are members of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour to play in both end of season events. After The Tour Championship, the money list for the season is finalised. There are a number of additional events between The Tour Championship and Christmas which are recognised by the PGA Tour, but prize money won in them is unofficial.
In 2007, THE TOUR Championship will move from its November date to a date in mid-September, where it will end a four-tournament "Chase for the FedEx Cup", which was announced on the Wednesday of the week of the 2005 event. The season, however, will not end there — a slate of six or seven events will be used in the TOUR's inaugural "Quest for the Card," to determine the rest of the Top 125 players eligible for the FedEx Cup in 2008.
[edit] Winners
THE TOUR Championship
- 2005 Bart Bryant
- 2004 Retief Goosen
- 2003 Chad Campbell
- 2002 Vijay Singh
- 2001 Mike Weir
- 2000 Phil Mickelson
- 1999 Tiger Woods
- 1998 Hal Sutton
- 1997 David Duval
- 1996 Tom Lehman
- 1995 Billy Mayfair
- 1994 Mark McCumber
- 1993 Jim Gallagher, Jr.
- 1992 Paul Azinger
- 1991 Craig Stadler
Nabisco Championship
- 1990 Jodie Mudd
- 1989 Tom Kite
- 1988 Curtis Strange
- 1987 Tom Watson
