The Crestar Classic, Site of Arnold Palmer's Final Win
First played: 1983
Last played: 1990
Of the eight Crestar Classics played, the one that has a special place in Champions Tour history — in golf history — is the 1987 one. Because that year's event was the last tournament won by Arnold Palmer. It was the final of his 10 Champions Tour wins, his final win in a tour event anywhere.
Palmer, 59 years old at the time, won wire-to-wire. He began the final round with a three-stroke lead, then birdied the second and third holes. Palmer wound up beating the runners-up (Lee Elder, Larry Mowry and Jim Ferree) by four strokes. That is tied with Peter Thomson's four-stroke win three years earlier as the tournament's largest margins-of-victory.
Mowry was the defending champion toppled by Palmer after winning in 1987. Mowry got into the '87 tournament through Monday qualifying, becoming the first Monday qualifier in Champions Tour history who went on to win the tournament.
Chi Chi Rodriguez was the only two-time Crestar Classic champion. The lowest winning score in tournament history was Rodriguez's 202 in 1986; and Jim Dent's 202 in 1990, the final year of the event. Dent came from six shots behind to claim the trophy.
Also known as: The tournament debuted under the name United Virginia Bank Seniors, and was played under that name its first four years (1983-86).
Crestar Classic Winners
1983 — Miller Barber, 2111984 — Dan Sikes, 207
1985 — Peter Thomson, 207
1986 — Chi Chi Rodriguez, 202
1987 — Larry Mowry, 203
1988 — Arnold Palmer, 203
1989 — Chi Chi Rodriguez, 203
1990 — Jim Dent, 202
Golf course: All eight times the United Virginia Bank Seniors/Crestar Classic was played, it took place at Hermitage Country Club in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia.
