2021 PNC Championship
December 16-19, 2021 • Unofficial PGA TOUR Champions event
Orlando, Florida • Ritz-Carlton Golf Club • Par 72 • 7,106 yards
Purse $1,085,000 • Winning team $200,000
40 players (20 two-person teams) • 36-hole scramble
Defending champions Justin Thomas/Mike Thomas
Family ties: The PNC Championship is a two-day, 36-hole tournament that uses a two-person team Scramble format.
The event, which began in 1995, was originally named the Father/Son Challenge and intended for professional golfers to play competitive golf alongside their sons. In recent years, the field has expanded to include players’ daughters, fathers and grandchildren, and in 2020, the name was changed to PNC Championship to reflect the high level of competition and the field composition while still celebrating the family relationships. A member of each team must have won at least one major or The Players Championship title, while the partner must not hold a PGA Tour card.
Thomas’s at the throne: Justin and Mike Thomas seek to become the fourth duo to successfully defend the PNC Championship title. In their tournament debut, the Thomas’ became the first team to win the event with a father playing as partner. Justin Thomas is the winner of 14 PGA Tour titles, including the 2017 PGA Championship and 2021 The Players Championship. The former World No. 1 also claimed the FedExCup in 2017.
The return of Tiger: Tiger Woods will play in the PNC Championship with 12-year-old son Charlie, just 10 months after his single-car accident in February which caused multiple fractures to Woods’ right leg. In their tournament debut in 2020, the pair finished seventh with back-to-back 62s. Woods is the winner of 82 PGA Tour titles, tied for most all-time, including 15 major championship victories.
2021 teams: 11 of the 20 players held the World No. 1 position at some point in their careers.
Bubba Watson/Wayne Ball, Lee Trevino/Daniel Trevino, Rich Beem/Michael Beem, David Duval/Brady Duval, Mark O’Meara/Shaun O’Meara, Stewart Cink/Reagan Cink, Gary Player/Jordan Player, Matt Kuchar/Cameron Kuchar, Tom Lehman/Sean Lehman, Henrik Stenson/Karl Stenson, Nelly Korda/Petr Korda, Tom Watson/Michael Watson, Jim Furyk/Tanner Furyk, Nick Faldo/Matthew Faldo, Tiger Woods/Charlie Woods, John Daly/John Daly II, Nick Price/Greg Price, Vijay Singh/Qass Singh, Justin Thomas/Mike Thomas, Padraig Harrington/Paddy Harrington,
Youngest and oldest: Sweden’s Henrik Stenson is making his first PNC Championship appearance alongside his 11-year-old son, Karl, who becomes the youngest competitor in PNC Championship history. Karl is one month younger than Charlie Woods was when he competed in 2020.
Gary Player, 86, is the oldest competitor in the field and will make his seventh appearance. Player hosted a competition to determine which of his 22 grandchildren would play with him, and his grandson, Jordan, won.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda: World No. 1 and seven-time LPGA winner Nelly Korda makes her tournament debut and will play alongside her father Petr, a former professional tennis player and winner of the 1998 Australian Open. Nelly, who won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, becomes the first current World No. 1 to compete in tournament history and the second female professional to participate in the PNC Championship (first: Annika Sorenstam, 2019 and 2020).
Daughters of Fuzzy Zoeller (Gretchen), Bernhard Langer (Jackie), and Jerry Pate (Jenni) have also participated.
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