NEWPORT BEACH — The Hoag Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, the longest-running tournament at the same site on the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions, is being elevated to a major championship beginning in 2027.
The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday at a news conference at Newport Beach Country Club that the event that began in 1995 will become the Hoag Senior Players Championship, a 72-hole event with a 78-player field that will be contested from March 25-28 with a record purse of $3.5 million. (All of the previous Champions events in Newport Beach have been 54-hole tournaments.)
The Hoag Senior Players will become one of five major championships on PGA Tour Champions, joining the Senior PGA Championship, the Regions Tradition, the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior (British) Open. The new Champions major at Newport Beach Country Club replaces Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, which has hosted the Senior Players since 2019.
The tour and Eagle Four Partners, a private equity firm in Newport Beach that owns NBCC, signed a five-year agreement that will keep the Champions tournament at Newport Beach Country Club through 2031. Hoag became the title sponsor for the event in 2018 after longtime sponsor Toshiba withdrew its financial support. The Champions event began in 1995 at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa before moving to Newport Beach CC in 1996.
“Hoag has been an incredible partner … and we are excited to usher in this new era of the Senior Players Championship here,” PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady said at Tuesday’s news conference. “The Hoag Classic has long been a best-in-class event on the Champions Tour, and it’s great to know we will be adding to that legacy with a senior major starting in 2027.”
World Golf Hall of Famer Fred Couples, a two-time Hoag Classic winner (2010, 2014) with six top-five finishes at NBCC, was on hand for the announcement and predicted his fellow Champions colleagues will be excited about the new major status and expanding the event to 72 holes.
“This is, by far, the best tournament on the Champions Tour,” said Couples, 66, an honorary member at NBCC and a resident of nearby Corona del Mar. “It’s a very special course, and I’m more attached to this tournament than any other on tour. I don’t play as much out here (on tour) anymore, but I think I can still compete against the best at this course. I think I can still win here.”
The Senior Players Championship, which has been owned and operated by the PGA Tour since its inception in 1983, will now be operated by HNS Sports Group, which has managed operations for the Hoag Classic since 2000 and overseen the tournament in its entirety since 2024.
The Senior Players Championship has been contested at some of the nation’s top venues over the years, including Westchester Country Club in New York, Baltimore Country Club, the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland and Firestone Country Club in Ohio. Soon, Newport Beach Country Club will add its name to the storied list.