Brickyard Crossing Championship (Champions Tour Golf Tournament)

The Brickyard Crossing Championship was a professional golf tournament on the Champions Tour (for golfes 50-and-over) that was played from the late 1980s into the 2000s. It was best-known for the part of its history during which it was played on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway golf course.

First played: 1988

Last played: 2000

The Brickyard Crossing Championship had several different names during its run. Before it moved to the Indy 500 site, telecom GTE was the title sponsor and the tournament name was GTE North Classic (1988-93). It was named the Brickyard Crossing Championship for only three years, 1994-96. The hotelier Comfort Inn took over title sponsorship in 1997, and from then through its final playing in 2000 the tournament was called the Comfort Classic at Brickyard.

"Brickyard" is a nickname for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 auto race in Indiana. In 1993, the conversion of the previous 27-hole golf course in and around the speedway was completed, and a Pete Dye-designed course opened. It was called Brickyard Crossing Golf Course. Fourteen of its holes were outside the speedway, four were inside the oval track (in the "infield"). Beginning in 1993, the golf tournament moved from Broadmoor Country Club in Indianapolis to Brickyard Crossing, and the four holes on the speedway infield became the tournament's calling card.

Winners of the Brickyard Crossing Championship

1988 — Gary Player, 201
1989 — Gary Player, 135 (36 holes due to weather)
1990 — Mike Hill, 201 (def. Bruce Crampton in playoff)
1991 — George Archer, 199
1992 — Raymond Floyd, 199
1993 — Bob Murphy, 134 (36 holes due to weather)
1994 — Isao Aoki, 133 (36 holes due to weather)
1995 — Simon Hobday, 204
1996 — Jimmy Powell, 134 (36 holes due to weather)
1997 — David Graham, 200
1998 — Hugh Baiocchi, 196
1999 — Gil Morgan, 201
2000 — Gil Morgan, 131

The tournament began and ended with double-wins by Champions Tour stars: Gary Player in 1988-89, and Gil Morgan in 1999-2000. For Player, they were his 13th and 14th career wins on the Champions Tour. For Morgan, they were his 14th and 18th career wins on the Champions Tour.

For both Player and Morgan, the second of their back-to-back wins was only 36 holes due to weather. This tournament was often plagued by poor weather — the wins by Murphy, Aoki and Powell were also shortened to 36 holes due to bad weather.

Hugh Baiocchi set both the tournament's 18-hole and 54-hole scoring records in 1998, with a 63 and 196, respectively.