3M Championship Golf Tournament (Champions Tour)

The 3M Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, the premiere professional golf tour for 50-and-over golfers, for around 25 years. It always took place in Minnesota. It was a 54-hole tournament, and some fans might also remember it under the name Burnet Senior Classic.

First played: 1993

Last played: 2018

Hale Irwin (1997, 1999, 2002) and Kenny Perry (2014, 2015, 2018) were the tournament's only three-time winners. Perry was the only golfer to win the tournament in back-to-back years. The only other golfer to win more than once was Bernhard Langer (2009, 2012).

The lowest winning score was 191 by David Frost, which also tied the then-Champions Tour record for lowest winning score in any 54-hole tournament. Frost also set the tournament record for largest margin of victory that year, winning by seven strokes.

That was the first of Frost's six Champions Tour victories. Bruce Lietzke's 2001 win was the first of his seven senior wins.

Frost also established an 18-hole record for the 3M Championship in his 1991 win when he shot 61 in the final round. At the time, that tied the all-time Champions Tour record for lowest finish by a tournament winner. Kenny Perry also had a 61 in his 2015 victory. Paul Goydos lowered the tournament record to 60 in 2017, and Perry also had a 60 in his 2018 win.

Four of the tournament's champions recorded aces in the years of their victories: Lietzke in 2002, Tom Purtzer in 2005, Jay Haas in 2011 and Perry in 2015.

The 3M Championship was discontinued after 2018 when title sponsor 3M switched to sponsoring a PGA Tour tournament. That PGA Tour event started in 2019 under the name 3M Open.

Also known as: "Burnet" was in the tournament's name for the first eight years it was played. This event debuted under the name Burnet Senior Classic. After five years, the name became Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic. Beginning in 2001, 3M took over as title sponsor and it was the 3M Championship the rest of its run.

Winners of the 3M Championship Tournament

1993 — Chi Chi Rodríguez, 201
1994 — Dave Stockton, 203
1995 — Raymond Floyd, 201
1996 — Vicente Fernandez, 205
1997 — Hale Irwin, 199
1998 — Leonard Thompson, 134 (shortened by rain; won playoff over Isao Aoki)
1999 — Hale Irwin, 201
2000 — Ed Dougherty, 197
2001 — Bruce Lietzke, 207
2002 — Hale Irwin, 204
2003 — Wayne Levi, 205
2004 — Tom Kite, 203
2005 — Tom Purtzer, 201
2006 — David Edwards, 204
2007 — D.A. Weibring, 198
2008 — R.W. Eaks, 193
2009 — Bernhard Langer, 200
2010 — David Frost, 191
2011 — Jay Haas, 201
2012 — Bernhard Langer, 198
2013 — Tom Pernice Jr., 199
2014 — Kenny Perry, 193
2015 — Kenny Perry, 198
2016 — Joe Durant, 197 (def. Miguel Angel Jimenez in playoff)
2017 — Paul Goydos, 196 (def. Gene Sauers in playoff)
2018 — Kenny Perry, 195

Golf courses: For the first eight years it was played, this tournament took place at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. When 3M took over the title sponsorship, the event also changed golf courses. From 2001 through the last tournament in 2018, it was played at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.