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It’s not like there hasn’t been a plethora of examples in which certain aspects of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament have inspired duplication over nearly a century. Some have been more successful than others.
More than 60 years ago, the PGA of America might have been one of the first golf entities to borrow an idea from the Masters. In this case, PGA President Warren Cantrell took a page out of a relatively young but increasingly popular Masters tradition to celebrate its winners of the PGA Championship. In 1952, Ben Hogan had hosted the first Masters Club dinner, more commonly known today as the Masters Champions Dinner, and it quickly became the most coveted supper soirée in the game.
In the fall of 1964, Cantrell approached reigning PGA champion Bobby Nichols about plans to start a similar dinner at the ’65 championship at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa.
“He [Cantrell] wanted to establish an annual champions dinner like the Masters, and he asked me to host. I was honored of course,” Nichols said via email.
At the time, there were 30 past winners of the championship that began in 1916. Nichols was delighted to find out that he wouldn’t be expected to pick up the dinner tab, unlike the Masters, where the newest winner of the green jacket settles the check at the end of the evening. Nineteen men attended (see photograph), including legends Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen—each whom already was a recipient of a Masters dinner invitation, as well.
A photo from the first PGA champions dinner held in 1965. Front row: Bobby Nichols, Gary Player, Jerry Barber, Jay Hebert, Bob Rosburg, Dow Finsterwald, Jackie Burke. Middle row: Doug Ford, Chick Harbert, Jim Turnesa, Sam Snead, Chandler Harper, Jim Ferrier. Back row: Vic Ghezzi, Byron Nelson, Denny Shute, Paul Runyan, Gene Sarazen, Tom Creavy
Hogan, though he made his final appearance in the championship that year, was not among the attendees, perhaps having figured that starting one dinner tradition was enough. Also missing was Jack Nicklaus, winner in 1963 and runner-up with Arnold Palmer to Nichols in ’64 at Columbus (Ohio) Country Club.
Nichols loves to tell the story of how he pranked Snead at that inaugural edition.
“During my remarks thanking everyone for attending, I said it's now time to decide how we're going to pay for the dinner,” Nichols said. “I jokingly mentioned as a tradition we were going to have a past champion pay for the dinner each year starting with the 1942 champion. Sam stood up, had a colorful response and headed for the door. We had to call him back, and we all laughed.”
The irony there is that Snead was notorious for breaking up the Masters dinner with one of his raunchy jokes. This time, the joke was on him.
Apparently, a little bit of verbal shenanigans became a tradition. At the 2006 dinner at Medinah Country Club near Chicago, Paul Azinger roasted defending champion Phil Mickelson. On the morning of the final round of the 2002 Ryder Cup at The Belfry, in England, Azinger watched in astonishment as Mickelson downed a pile of waffles before his match against Phillip Price.
“First of all, the food was just out of this world that night,” said Azinger, who won his PGA title in 1993. “Some of the old guys that were there, I think Dow Finsterwald and Bob Rosburg, they were just in awe; they had never seen food like that in their lives. There was this huge seafood tower that was spectacular. Next wave of food came out, and it was so decadent, and I think we were eating well past 10 o’clock.
“Now, eventually they ask a few guys to come up and speak, and Phil asked me if I would say a few words,” Azinger continued. “I started out with high praise for Phil and the dinner. And then I said, ‘Let me tell you about Phil and food.’ I was telling the audience how nervous I was the final day of the Ryder Cup in 2002. I’m eating, like, one corn flake at a time. Meanwhile, Phil is grabbing those Euro waffles with the seam in the middle, and he has three of them. So he’s got six waffles stacked up and butter and syrup on each layer, and then he has two fried eggs on top. He sits next to me, and a server comes over and asks if he’d like something to drink, and he says, ‘I’ll take a diet Coke.’ I mean, at that point I tell him, ‘Just go all in with regular Coke. I don’t know why you’re holding back.’”
It wasn’t always so light-hearted, though. Rich Beem, the 2002 champion, remembers his turn in ’03 being more than a little uncomfortable when Rosburg stood up and instead of telling a story launched into a diatribe against PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem for not supporting more strongly the senior tour. “I wanted to crawl under the table,” Beem said.
By that time, the PGA dinner had become something more than just the past champions. And something less, too.
Starting with that 2003 dinner, players’ wives were invited to join their husbands along with PGA officials and other guests. The dinner turned into a gala. And the gala turned into “a dog and pony show where we were signing autographs all night,” said one past winner who no longer attends and didn’t want to be quoted on the record. “One year, they even had on the invitations not to bring things for players to sign … and everyone still brought flags and stuff anyways.”
It should be noted that for a long time, and no one remembers exactly when it started, wives were included in the schedule of events before the event brought in hundreds. A joint cocktail hour preceded the official festivities, and the wives broke off into another room to have their own dinner. Apparently, this worked out quite well, especially when Barbara Nicklaus was in attendance with her husband Jack, winner of a record-tying five PGA titles.
“All the wives looked forward to Barbara hosting their deal, because she was just so incredibly gracious,” Dave Stockton said.
“It was special because it really was the only occasion where we could all get together and sit and visit with each other,” Barbara said.
“For those of us that like having our wives around, the ride home from it was always fun,” Stockton said. “My wife [Catherine] was telling me all the stories the girls would tell and she'd be getting me to tell her what the guys were talking about. So it worked both ways, and we got a lot of gossip.”
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Stockton, champion in 1970 and ’76, was one of the more vocal past winners who expressed a desire to return to a simpler rendition. “I remember one year when I was at one end of a table of 20 and Davis Love was at the other end and we sat there with 18 of our closest friends—and I didn’t know any of them,” Stockton said sardonically.
“It finally got to where, when the dinner was over, they told everyone but the players to stay seated so we could leave,” David Graham remembered. “That was the year [2018] when Justin Thomas was the host. Of course, we knew why they did that, to discourage autograph signing, but it was our dinner and we were dismissed first. I went because it was the 100th PGA. I haven’t been back since.”
Graham plans to attend the dinner in 2027 when the PGA makes its debut at PGA Frisco near Dallas, where Graham now lives. He’ll find the past champions dinner quite different. The invitation list has been shorn of everyone but the former champs, a few PGA officials, the host club professional and, likely, the winner of the PGA Professional Championship.
Not everyone was against the big-dinner scene.
“I think some guys thought it had become a spectacle. I always enjoyed it, getting to meet new people and PGA officials, but it seems more tailored now to what the Masters dinner is, and probably what they did envision when they started it,” said 2003 champion Shaun Micheel. “I think behind the scenes there were a few players who made comments that listen, this is really about the champions. I didn’t know any differently. It’s definitely more special to have just the champions getting together.”
Gary Player and Byron Nelson chat during the 1969 PGA Champions Dinner. (Photo by PGA of America via Getty Images)
PGA of America
The switch was made for the 2021 dinner after the 2020 championship at Harding Park was conducted without spectators in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic. Only players and a few others convened at Kiawah Island, S.C. There was some irony to that, Stockton said.
“It had gotten too big. It's like the celebration that we had at Kiawah during the [1991] Ryder Cup,” Stockton said. “We had to go to Charleston to attend a big dinner, and that’s when we had the limo wreck that injured Steve Pate. It was just a big party for everyone else but the players, and we go to enough parties. They don't even have that dinner anymore. Because that’s not what you need when you're getting ready for a Ryder Cup or a major championship.”
Champions dinner 2012 — (1st Row L-R) Dave Stockton, Doug Ford, Martin Kaymer, Keegan Bradley, David Toms, Don January, (2nd row) Shaun Micheel, Al Geiberger, Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, Hubert Green, Padraig Harrington, Bobby Nichols, (3rd row) Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2013 — Back Row: Keegan Bradley, Vijay Singh, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer, Davis Love III Middle Row: Dow Finsterwald, Dave Stockton, Phil Mickelson, Bobby Nichols, Shaun Micheel, Padraig Harrington, Doug Ford Front Row: Rich Beem, Lanny Wadkins, Rory McIlroy, and David Toms.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2015 — Back row L to R: Y.E. Yang, Phil Mickelson, Mark Brooks, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Martin Kayner, and Keegan Bradley. Front row L to R: Jason Dufner, Shaun Micheel, Bobby Nichols, Davis Love III, Rory McIlroy, David Toms, Rich Beem, and Padraig Harrington.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2016 — (L-R back row) Lanny Wadkins, Jason Dufner, Martin Kaymer, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley, Shaun Micheel and John Daly. (L-R front row) Bobby Nichols, Dave Stockton, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Rich Beem, David Toms and John Mahaffey.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2017 — Front row L-R: Hubert Green, Phil Mickelson, Dave Stockton, Jimmy Walker, Bobby Nichols, Al Geiberger; Back Row L-R: Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Y.E. Yang, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Jason Dufner.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2023 — Front Row L-R: PGA of America Honorary President, Jim Richerson, PGA, Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, Defending Champion Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and PGA of America Secretary, Nathan Charnes, PGA, Second Row L-R: Y.E. Yang, Mark Brooks, Jason Day, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, Jimmy Walker, and PGA of America Vice President Don Rea, PGA. Back Row L-R: PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, Braden Shattuck, Keegan Bradley, Rich Beem, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, and PGA of America President, John Lindert.
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
Champions dinner 2024 —Previous PGA Champions Rich Beem, John Daly, Shaun Micheel, Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang, Mark Brooks, Jason Day, Tiger Woods, Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka, Padraig Harrington, Justin Thomas, Martin Kaymer, Dave Stockton, Jeff Sluman, and Collin Morikawa.
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
Despite the lure of gifts that are handed out to all the past champs—and some are quite expensive—attendance had gotten light. Only 12 players came to the 2019 dinner hosted by Brooks Koepka, highlighted by the presence of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Chosen by the defending champion and paid for by the PGA of America, gifts have included Tiffany sterling necklaces and bracelets from Woods (from the 2001 dinner), Bose speakers from McIlroy (2015), Ostrich-skin cowboy boots from Beem, Gibson guitars from Micheel as a nod to his Memphis home, and high-powered telescopes by 2017 winner Jimmy Walker, an astrophotography enthusiast. The gifts are what sets apart the PGA dinner from the Masters dinner.
“It’s a very cool tradition,” Beem said. “And they [the gifts] seem to get better every year.”
Only 11 players showed for the 2022 dinner at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., but there was a notable uptick in 2024 when the dinner was held at Churchill Downs in Louisville and 19 players galloped in. Seventeen players made it to last year’s dinner at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, including rare sightings from Hal Sutton, Larry Nelson and Jeff Sluman. Reigning PGA champion Xander Schauffele, a noted cigar lover, stayed “pretty much on brand” and handed out cigars and humidors.
Sluman said that the dinner was more like he remembered it, with players young and old mingling and telling stories. “Byron would show up every year, and that was incredibly special,” said the ’88 champion. “Then it got to the point where one year he told PGA officials he wasn’t going to make it anymore, that it was tough for him to fly and have to change planes, and we’re all thinking, ‘Byron has to fly commercial to get here?’ Good on the PGA officials who told him they would send a plane for him.”
“It was so cool to talk to a bunch of champions, not just champions that I know, but just guys that are older that aren't on tour anymore, just to kind of hear stories from them,” Collin Morikawa said after hosting the 2021 affair. “It's a really meaningful night.”
The wish is that it remains that way and that more players come back to the fold. Stockton, 84, hopes that the younger players pick up the torch and carry it forward. He’ll also make a plea to a Texas contingent that includes fellow octogenarians Graham and Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, 76.
“You know, there may be this thought from some guys that our dinner isn’t all that and a box of Oreos, and I know there is a comparison to the Masters dinner,” Beem said. “I get it. The Masters is all about tradition, and that’s one of them. But the PGA champions dinner is a very cool deal, and I hope that the younger guys really appreciate it and embrace it because it’s become fun and we get to celebrate the players who share a bond as PGA champions.”
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More than 60 years ago, the PGA of America might have been one of the first golf entities to borrow an idea from the Masters. In this case, PGA President Warren Cantrell took a page out of a relatively young but increasingly popular Masters tradition to celebrate its winners of the PGA Championship. In 1952, Ben Hogan had hosted the first Masters Club dinner, more commonly known today as the Masters Champions Dinner, and it quickly became the most coveted supper soirée in the game.
In the fall of 1964, Cantrell approached reigning PGA champion Bobby Nichols about plans to start a similar dinner at the ’65 championship at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa.
“He [Cantrell] wanted to establish an annual champions dinner like the Masters, and he asked me to host. I was honored of course,” Nichols said via email.
At the time, there were 30 past winners of the championship that began in 1916. Nichols was delighted to find out that he wouldn’t be expected to pick up the dinner tab, unlike the Masters, where the newest winner of the green jacket settles the check at the end of the evening. Nineteen men attended (see photograph), including legends Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen—each whom already was a recipient of a Masters dinner invitation, as well.
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A photo from the first PGA champions dinner held in 1965. Front row: Bobby Nichols, Gary Player, Jerry Barber, Jay Hebert, Bob Rosburg, Dow Finsterwald, Jackie Burke. Middle row: Doug Ford, Chick Harbert, Jim Turnesa, Sam Snead, Chandler Harper, Jim Ferrier. Back row: Vic Ghezzi, Byron Nelson, Denny Shute, Paul Runyan, Gene Sarazen, Tom Creavy
Hogan, though he made his final appearance in the championship that year, was not among the attendees, perhaps having figured that starting one dinner tradition was enough. Also missing was Jack Nicklaus, winner in 1963 and runner-up with Arnold Palmer to Nichols in ’64 at Columbus (Ohio) Country Club.
Nichols loves to tell the story of how he pranked Snead at that inaugural edition.
“During my remarks thanking everyone for attending, I said it's now time to decide how we're going to pay for the dinner,” Nichols said. “I jokingly mentioned as a tradition we were going to have a past champion pay for the dinner each year starting with the 1942 champion. Sam stood up, had a colorful response and headed for the door. We had to call him back, and we all laughed.”
The irony there is that Snead was notorious for breaking up the Masters dinner with one of his raunchy jokes. This time, the joke was on him.
Apparently, a little bit of verbal shenanigans became a tradition. At the 2006 dinner at Medinah Country Club near Chicago, Paul Azinger roasted defending champion Phil Mickelson. On the morning of the final round of the 2002 Ryder Cup at The Belfry, in England, Azinger watched in astonishment as Mickelson downed a pile of waffles before his match against Phillip Price.
“First of all, the food was just out of this world that night,” said Azinger, who won his PGA title in 1993. “Some of the old guys that were there, I think Dow Finsterwald and Bob Rosburg, they were just in awe; they had never seen food like that in their lives. There was this huge seafood tower that was spectacular. Next wave of food came out, and it was so decadent, and I think we were eating well past 10 o’clock.
“Now, eventually they ask a few guys to come up and speak, and Phil asked me if I would say a few words,” Azinger continued. “I started out with high praise for Phil and the dinner. And then I said, ‘Let me tell you about Phil and food.’ I was telling the audience how nervous I was the final day of the Ryder Cup in 2002. I’m eating, like, one corn flake at a time. Meanwhile, Phil is grabbing those Euro waffles with the seam in the middle, and he has three of them. So he’s got six waffles stacked up and butter and syrup on each layer, and then he has two fried eggs on top. He sits next to me, and a server comes over and asks if he’d like something to drink, and he says, ‘I’ll take a diet Coke.’ I mean, at that point I tell him, ‘Just go all in with regular Coke. I don’t know why you’re holding back.’”
—Rich Beem, 2002 PGA champion
It wasn’t always so light-hearted, though. Rich Beem, the 2002 champion, remembers his turn in ’03 being more than a little uncomfortable when Rosburg stood up and instead of telling a story launched into a diatribe against PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem for not supporting more strongly the senior tour. “I wanted to crawl under the table,” Beem said.
By that time, the PGA dinner had become something more than just the past champions. And something less, too.
Starting with that 2003 dinner, players’ wives were invited to join their husbands along with PGA officials and other guests. The dinner turned into a gala. And the gala turned into “a dog and pony show where we were signing autographs all night,” said one past winner who no longer attends and didn’t want to be quoted on the record. “One year, they even had on the invitations not to bring things for players to sign … and everyone still brought flags and stuff anyways.”
It should be noted that for a long time, and no one remembers exactly when it started, wives were included in the schedule of events before the event brought in hundreds. A joint cocktail hour preceded the official festivities, and the wives broke off into another room to have their own dinner. Apparently, this worked out quite well, especially when Barbara Nicklaus was in attendance with her husband Jack, winner of a record-tying five PGA titles.
“All the wives looked forward to Barbara hosting their deal, because she was just so incredibly gracious,” Dave Stockton said.
“It was special because it really was the only occasion where we could all get together and sit and visit with each other,” Barbara said.
“For those of us that like having our wives around, the ride home from it was always fun,” Stockton said. “My wife [Catherine] was telling me all the stories the girls would tell and she'd be getting me to tell her what the guys were talking about. So it worked both ways, and we got a lot of gossip.”
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On to Philly PGA Championship 2026: Here's every player in the field (so far) at Aronimink Stockton, champion in 1970 and ’76, was one of the more vocal past winners who expressed a desire to return to a simpler rendition. “I remember one year when I was at one end of a table of 20 and Davis Love was at the other end and we sat there with 18 of our closest friends—and I didn’t know any of them,” Stockton said sardonically.
“It finally got to where, when the dinner was over, they told everyone but the players to stay seated so we could leave,” David Graham remembered. “That was the year [2018] when Justin Thomas was the host. Of course, we knew why they did that, to discourage autograph signing, but it was our dinner and we were dismissed first. I went because it was the 100th PGA. I haven’t been back since.”
Graham plans to attend the dinner in 2027 when the PGA makes its debut at PGA Frisco near Dallas, where Graham now lives. He’ll find the past champions dinner quite different. The invitation list has been shorn of everyone but the former champs, a few PGA officials, the host club professional and, likely, the winner of the PGA Professional Championship.
Not everyone was against the big-dinner scene.
“I think some guys thought it had become a spectacle. I always enjoyed it, getting to meet new people and PGA officials, but it seems more tailored now to what the Masters dinner is, and probably what they did envision when they started it,” said 2003 champion Shaun Micheel. “I think behind the scenes there were a few players who made comments that listen, this is really about the champions. I didn’t know any differently. It’s definitely more special to have just the champions getting together.”
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Gary Player and Byron Nelson chat during the 1969 PGA Champions Dinner. (Photo by PGA of America via Getty Images)
PGA of America
The switch was made for the 2021 dinner after the 2020 championship at Harding Park was conducted without spectators in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic. Only players and a few others convened at Kiawah Island, S.C. There was some irony to that, Stockton said.
“It had gotten too big. It's like the celebration that we had at Kiawah during the [1991] Ryder Cup,” Stockton said. “We had to go to Charleston to attend a big dinner, and that’s when we had the limo wreck that injured Steve Pate. It was just a big party for everyone else but the players, and we go to enough parties. They don't even have that dinner anymore. Because that’s not what you need when you're getting ready for a Ryder Cup or a major championship.”
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Champions dinner 2012 — (1st Row L-R) Dave Stockton, Doug Ford, Martin Kaymer, Keegan Bradley, David Toms, Don January, (2nd row) Shaun Micheel, Al Geiberger, Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, Hubert Green, Padraig Harrington, Bobby Nichols, (3rd row) Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2013 — Back Row: Keegan Bradley, Vijay Singh, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer, Davis Love III Middle Row: Dow Finsterwald, Dave Stockton, Phil Mickelson, Bobby Nichols, Shaun Micheel, Padraig Harrington, Doug Ford Front Row: Rich Beem, Lanny Wadkins, Rory McIlroy, and David Toms.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2015 — Back row L to R: Y.E. Yang, Phil Mickelson, Mark Brooks, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Martin Kayner, and Keegan Bradley. Front row L to R: Jason Dufner, Shaun Micheel, Bobby Nichols, Davis Love III, Rory McIlroy, David Toms, Rich Beem, and Padraig Harrington.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2016 — (L-R back row) Lanny Wadkins, Jason Dufner, Martin Kaymer, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley, Shaun Micheel and John Daly. (L-R front row) Bobby Nichols, Dave Stockton, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Rich Beem, David Toms and John Mahaffey.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2017 — Front row L-R: Hubert Green, Phil Mickelson, Dave Stockton, Jimmy Walker, Bobby Nichols, Al Geiberger; Back Row L-R: Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Y.E. Yang, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Jason Dufner.
Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2023 — Front Row L-R: PGA of America Honorary President, Jim Richerson, PGA, Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, Defending Champion Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and PGA of America Secretary, Nathan Charnes, PGA, Second Row L-R: Y.E. Yang, Mark Brooks, Jason Day, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, Jimmy Walker, and PGA of America Vice President Don Rea, PGA. Back Row L-R: PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, Braden Shattuck, Keegan Bradley, Rich Beem, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, and PGA of America President, John Lindert.
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
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Champions dinner 2024 —Previous PGA Champions Rich Beem, John Daly, Shaun Micheel, Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang, Mark Brooks, Jason Day, Tiger Woods, Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka, Padraig Harrington, Justin Thomas, Martin Kaymer, Dave Stockton, Jeff Sluman, and Collin Morikawa.
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
Despite the lure of gifts that are handed out to all the past champs—and some are quite expensive—attendance had gotten light. Only 12 players came to the 2019 dinner hosted by Brooks Koepka, highlighted by the presence of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Chosen by the defending champion and paid for by the PGA of America, gifts have included Tiffany sterling necklaces and bracelets from Woods (from the 2001 dinner), Bose speakers from McIlroy (2015), Ostrich-skin cowboy boots from Beem, Gibson guitars from Micheel as a nod to his Memphis home, and high-powered telescopes by 2017 winner Jimmy Walker, an astrophotography enthusiast. The gifts are what sets apart the PGA dinner from the Masters dinner.
“It’s a very cool tradition,” Beem said. “And they [the gifts] seem to get better every year.”
Only 11 players showed for the 2022 dinner at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., but there was a notable uptick in 2024 when the dinner was held at Churchill Downs in Louisville and 19 players galloped in. Seventeen players made it to last year’s dinner at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, including rare sightings from Hal Sutton, Larry Nelson and Jeff Sluman. Reigning PGA champion Xander Schauffele, a noted cigar lover, stayed “pretty much on brand” and handed out cigars and humidors.
Sluman said that the dinner was more like he remembered it, with players young and old mingling and telling stories. “Byron would show up every year, and that was incredibly special,” said the ’88 champion. “Then it got to the point where one year he told PGA officials he wasn’t going to make it anymore, that it was tough for him to fly and have to change planes, and we’re all thinking, ‘Byron has to fly commercial to get here?’ Good on the PGA officials who told him they would send a plane for him.”
“It was so cool to talk to a bunch of champions, not just champions that I know, but just guys that are older that aren't on tour anymore, just to kind of hear stories from them,” Collin Morikawa said after hosting the 2021 affair. “It's a really meaningful night.”
The wish is that it remains that way and that more players come back to the fold. Stockton, 84, hopes that the younger players pick up the torch and carry it forward. He’ll also make a plea to a Texas contingent that includes fellow octogenarians Graham and Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, 76.
“You know, there may be this thought from some guys that our dinner isn’t all that and a box of Oreos, and I know there is a comparison to the Masters dinner,” Beem said. “I get it. The Masters is all about tradition, and that’s one of them. But the PGA champions dinner is a very cool deal, and I hope that the younger guys really appreciate it and embrace it because it’s become fun and we get to celebrate the players who share a bond as PGA champions.”
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