Most Wins in One Season on Champions Tour
Peter Thomson and Hale Irwin share the record with nine wins, Thomson being the first golfer to reach nine victories in one year in 1985. No other Champions Tour golfer has had an 8-win season yet, but multiple golfers have reached the 7-win plateau.
Champions Tour Record: 9 Wins in a Single Season
- Peter Thomson, 1985: The Australia great and 5-time Open Championship winner was the first golfer to record nine wins in a senior season. He did so in 1985. He first played full-time on the Champions Tour in 1984, when he won twice including the Senior PGA Championship.
Thomson's wins in 1985 did not include any majors. But in 25 starts that year, he finished in Top 10 22 times. His nine victories in 1985 were: Vantage Invitational, Carta Blanca Johnny Mathis Classic, MONY Tournament of Champions, Champions Classic, Senior Players Reunion Pro-Am, Syracuse Seniors Classic, du Maurier Champions, United Virginia Bank Seniors, and the Barnett Suntree Classic.
Thomson didn't win again on the Champions Tour, but he spent only one more year trying. He finished with 11 career wins.
- Hale Irwin, 1997: The second golfer to record a 9-win season on the Champions Tour, Irwin did so in 1997. Irwin, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour and 3-time U.S. Open champion, was in his third season on the senior circuit.
His nine victories that year included one senior major, the 1997 Senior PGA Championship. In addition, Irwin also won the MasterCard Championship, LG Championship, Las Vegas Senior Classic, Burnet Senior Classic, BankBoston Classic, Boone Valley Classic, Vantage Championship, and the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic.
Irwin also won seven times in 1998 and had multiple 5-win seasons. His record-setting 45th and final Champions Tour victory was in 2007.
7-Win Seasons on the Champions Tour
As noted above, aside from Thomson and Irwin no other Champions Tour golfer has recorded eight wins in a single season. There have been multiple 7-win seasons, though, by these golfers:- Bruce Crampton, 1986
- Chi Chi Rodriguez, 1987
- Lee Trevino, 1990
- Hale Irwin, 1998
- Bruce Fleisher, 1999
- Bernhard Langer, 2017