Turtle Bay Championship Golf Tournament (Champions Tour)

The Turtle Bay Championship, originally and for many years called the Kaanapali Classic, was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played for more than 20 years in Hawaii, usually in January as one of the earliest events on the Champions Tour schedule.

First played: 1987

Last played: 2008

Hale Irwin is the big name in the history of this tournament. He won it six times total, and five of those wins were consecutive, from 2000-05 (the tournament wasn't played in 2004). Both of those marks are Champions Tour records for a single tournament.

Fred Funk is another golfer who made his mark on the Turtle Bay Championship. He won the 2007 tournament with a score of 193, which, at that time, was the second-lowest, 54-hole winning total in senior tour history. His margin of victory — 11 strokes — is still the tour record for a 54-hole tournament. Later that year, Funk won a PGA Tour tournament, becoming just the third golfer to win on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour in the same calendar year.

The 18-hole tournament scoring record was 61, established by Jim Colbert in 1991 and matched by Jay Sigel in 1998. Dave Stockton was a hard-luck loser here: He didn't win this tournament, but twice he lost in playoffs, and a third time (1992) he was runner-up by one stroke.

Also known as: The tournament went by some form of Kaanapali Classic from 1987 through 2000 before switching to the Turtle Bay Championship name. During the Kaanapali years, tournament sponsors whose names appeared in the event name were GTE, First Development, Ping, Hyatt Regency and EMC.

Winners of the Champions Tour Turtle Bay Championship

1987 — Orville Moody, 132 (weather shortened)
1988 — Don Bies, 204
1989 — Don Bies, 132 (weather shortened)
1990 — Bob Charles, 206
1991 — Jim Colbert, 195
1992 — Tommy Aaron, 198
1993 — George Archer, 199 (def. Dave Stockton in playoff)
1994 — Bob Murphy, 195
1995 — Bob Charles, 204 (def. Dave Stockton in playoff)
1996 — Bob Charles, 198
1997 — Hale Irwin, 200
1998 — Jay Sigel, 201
1999 — Bruce Fleisher, 199
2000 — Hale Irwin, 198
2001 — Hale Irwin, 205
2002 — Hale Irwin, 208 (def. Gary McCord in playoff)
2003 — Hale Irwin, 208
2004 — Not played
2005 — Hale Irwin, 200
2006 — Loren Roberts, 204
2007 — Fred Funk, 193
2008 — Jerry Pate, 211

Golf courses: The tournament was originally played on the North Course at Kaanapali Golf Club near Maui, Hawaii. It took place there from 1987 through 2000. In 2001 through 2008, the tournament was played on the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku, Oahu, Hawaii.