Sixteen former champions are among the 247 entries in the 24th annual TaylorMade-adidas Golf PGA Senior Stroke Play Championship. The 54-hole tournament for PGA Professionals 50 years and older will be played Jan. 8-10, on the Ryder and Wanamaker Courses at The PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Competition will be in nine age groups with PGA Professionals 50-54 and 55-59 on a Wanamaker-Ryder-Wanamaker rotation and those professionals in age groups 60-64 through 90-and-over playing Ryder-Wanamaker-Ryder. The overall low scorer on each course will receive $1,500 with the balance of the prize money distributed in the age groups. The total purse last year was $77,000.
Past winners playing this year include: Mike Joyce, Amelia Island, 1990 and 2003; Steve Bull, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 1997-98; Roger Kennedy, Stuart, Fla., 2004 and 2007; Mike San Filippo, Hobe Sound, Fla., 2004 and 2006; Jim King, Boston, Mass., 1986; Larry Mancour, Conway, Mich., 1989; Ray Montgomery, Fort Pierce, Fla., 1994; Carl Lohren, Dandridge, Tenn., 1995; Doug Dalziel, Hobe Sound, Fla., 1996; Bob Leaver, Oak Ridge, N.C., 1998; Roy Vucinich, Moon Township, Pa., 1999; Marion Heck, Fort Myers, Fla., 2000; Tom Joyce, Long Island, N.Y., 2002; Buddy Harston, Nashville, Tenn. and Jim Logue, Canton, Ohio, 2005; and Bob Bilbo, Olney, Md., 2006.
Jeff Thomsen of Boise, Idaho, the winner last year among players 50-59, did not return to defend.
The Senior Stroke Play Championship is the first of six events which comprise the 55th annual TaylorMade-adidas Golf PGA Winter Championships to be played on the three courses at The PGA Golf Club.
The remaining Championship schedule: Jan. 14-15, Quarter Century Championship; Jan. 22-25, Senior-Junior Team Championship; Jan. 28-31, Stroke Play Championship; Jan. 28-30, Women's Stroke Play; and Feb. 4-12, Match Play Championship.
