GOLF INFORMATION ARTICLES

Major Golf Tournaments

It was not until 1901, with the establishment of the first Professional Golf Association - the British Professional Golfer's Association, that Professional Golf started gaining popularity. In America, they established the Professional Golf Association in 1916, paving the way for Professional Golf Associations in the U.S. American Professional Golf Tours started in the 1920's but only became established in the 1930's. The prizes averaged at less than $10,000 per Golf Tournament until the end of World War II in 1945. Prizes then started to come up to $12,000 and have grown mucher bigger through the years. The Four Major Golf Tournaments for men that are recognized as the "Grand Slams" are:

Master Tournament
United States Open
British Open
Professional Golfers' Association (PGA).

The United States Open and the British Open are also open to Amateur Golfers. Amateur Golfers may also be invited to the Master Golf Tournament. No man has ever won a "Grand Slam" by winning all Four Tournaments in the same year. The US PGA was founded in 1916. During these days, Bobby Jones was the best Amateur Golfer. Jones retired in 1930. The US PGA Tour is the biggest and richest in the world with total prize money of almost $96 million in its 45 tournaments in the late 1990's. Originally, the "Grand Slam" for men is composed of the following Golf Tournaments:

U.S. Open
U.S. Amateur
British Amateur
British Open

Women Golfers' also have their own Grand Slam competitions:

United States Women's Open
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)

The LPGA Tour conducted 11 events in 1950 with the total prize money of about $45,000. Prizes for Professional Women's Golf Tours grew higher and higher through the years. By the late 1990's, it reached as much as $30 million for 43 events. As Golf became more popular worldwide, Golfers around the world gather to compete with each other. International competetions for Amateurs and Professional Golfers are now very popular in many countries:

Walker Cup tournament: this Tournament is for amateur men wherein the U.S. team competes with the team from United Kingdom and Ireland every two years.
Curtis Cup: is a tournament for women that is similar to the Walker Cup.
Ryder Cup: in this Tournament, professional male golfers from the U.S. compete with a team from the United Kingdom and Europe every two years.
Presidents Cup: U.S. Professional Male Golfers and teams from around the world, except Europe, compete for this cup every two years.
Solheim Cup: is a tournament where U.S. Professional Women Golfers compete against women Golf Golfers from Europe and United Kingdom every two years.

The PGA Tour started the PGA Senior Tour for Golfers who are at least 50 years old in 1980. Ten years later, in 1990, they established a developmental tour that caters largely to younger players. This tour is now known as the Nike Tour. The Senior Tour conducted 43 annual events in the 1990's and had about $50 million in total prize money. The Nike Tour, on the other hand, held 30 Golf Tournaments with total prize money of $12 million.

advertising info