Major Champions, Hall of Famers, Ryder Cuppers, and nearly a dozen past champions of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship are all set to tee it up at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco – the new Home of the PGA of America in Frisco, Texas.
The golf course is set to get its moment in the spotlight – the East Course, designed by Gil Hanse, is part of the 36 holes of championship golf in Frisco, and the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship will be the first of 25 scheduled PGA of America Championships in Frisco.
The 156-player field is very impressive.
The field for the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship is stacked. #SrPGAChamp | #STATurday pic.twitter.com/73BjkhoIPp
— KitchenAid Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) April 22, 2023
Defending Champion Steven Alker leads the way. Alker closed with an 8-under 63 in the final round a year ago for a three-shot victory. It was his third title of the year at the time, and his first senior major. He added one more victory, in October, on route to winning the season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup on the PGA Tour Champions.
Alker, who made his PGA Championship debut at Oak Hill Country Club thanks to his senior triumph in 2022, overcame a four-shot deficit heading into the final round thanks to an impressive nine-birdie effort to close out the championship.
“I wanted it, but I had a lot of ground to make up. I didn’t want to push too hard and go too aggressive,” Alker said last year. “So, I got a nice start, made some nice putts. I just kind of did everything well today.”
Almost all of the guys who were in the mix a year ago are returning to this year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship hoping to lift the trophy themselves.
Steve Stricker, who is tops on the Charles Schwab Cup standings at this point in the season thanks to his recent victory at the first senior-circuit major of the year, the Regions Tradition, coupled with a January win, leads the way.
Stephen Ames, who has also won twice this year on the PGA Tour Champions and finished runner-up to Alker at last year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, is back in action.
The ageless wonder, Bernard Langer, will tee it up looking to win the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship for the second time. Langer has one victory already on PGA Tour Champions this season and finished third to Alker a year ago.
Langer is one of 11 KitchenAid Senior PGA Champions in the field. There are eight PGA Championship winners set to tee it up as well, the most recent being Padraig Harrington. The two-time PGA Champion found the weekend at Oak Hill and was beating more than a dozen tour players through 54 holes – including defending PGA Champion Justin Thomas. The affable Irishman is also one of seven Hall of Famers in the field.
Twenty-two major champions in all are descending on Frisco, Texas.
There will also be 35 PGA Club Professionals, who comprise the Corebridge Financial PGA Team, are among those competing at PGA Frisco. They’re all, perhaps, looking to have their own “Michael Block-moment” at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Block, 46, is a long-time PGA Club Professional from California, and was the talk of the town at Oak Hill and Western New York. He played with Rory McIlroy in the final round and finished in a tie for 15th.
So is the beauty of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Whether you’re a member of the Corebridge Financial PGA Team, a World Golf Hall of Famer, or an over-50 superstar, you’ve got a chance to win the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy.
