The Byron Nelson Explained

The Byron Nelson
Location:	McKinney, Texas
Establishment:	1944^[1]
Org:	Salesmanship Club of Dallas
Course:	TPC Craig Ranch
Par:	72
Yardage:	7468yd
Tour:	PGA Tour
Format:	Stroke play
Month Played:	May
Aggregate:	261 Rory Sabbatini (2009) 261 Aaron Wise (2018) 261 Kang Sung-hoon (2019) 261 Jason Day (2023)
To-Par:	−26 Lee Kyoung-hoon (2022)
Current Champion:	Taylor Pendrith
Coordinates:	33.141°N -96.72°W
Map:	United States#Texas
Map Label:	TPC Craig Ranch
Map Relief:	yes
Map Size:	230

The Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020-21 PGA Tour, was the only metropolitan area to host two events on separate courses in the area (Las Vegas and Savannah have since hosted two events on two separate courses, both of which were pandemic-related changes). The tournament is the leading fundraiser for charity on the PGA Tour and has raised more than $143 million.^[2] For much of its history, it was the only PGA Tour stop named after a professional golfer, and remains one of only two such events, along with the Arnold Palmer Invitational. As host, Byron Nelson commonly made appearances during the tournament. It is hosted by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, a 600-member civic organization, and has benefited the club's nonprofit Momentous Institute since its inception.^[3]

For its first several decades, the tournament was played at various courses in Dallas. Nelson, a Texas native raised in Fort Worth, was the tournament's first winner in 1944, when it was played at Lakewood Country Club. The following year it was played at Dallas Country Club, and then in 1946 moved to Brook Hollow Golf Club. For the better part of the next decade the event was not contested, until two iterations of it were held in 1956, both at Preston Hollow Country Club. In 1957, the event moved to Glen Lake Country Club before it began a decade-long relationship with Oak Cliff Country Club, from 1958 to 1967.

In 1968, the event was renamed the Byron Nelson Golf Classic^[4] ^[5] and its title, through a series of sponsors, has continuously included Nelson's name. That same year the event moved to Preston Trail Golf Club,^[5] where it was played through 1982, then moved to venues in Irving: Las Colinas Sports Club (1983–1985) and TPC at Las Colinas (1986–1993).

Beginning in 1994, the tournament was played at two courses, the Tournament Players Course and the Cottonwood Valley Course, both located at the Four Seasons. Previously only the TPC was used, but since the tournament was played in May (during the height of the North Texas storm season), the weather played havoc with the tournament in some years, causing several delays and shortened tournaments. Therefore, the decision was made to add the Cottonwood Valley course in order to shorten the amount of time needed to complete the first two rounds. The first two rounds were played on both courses (each player played one round on each course); after the cut was determined, the TPC is used exclusively for the final two rounds. However, in 2008 the tournament reverted to using only the TPC course, which was significantly renovated.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) bought the previous title sponsor, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in mid-2008.^[6] The agreement ran through 2014, with AT&T becoming the title sponsor in 2015.^[7] The tournament moved from the Four Seasons course in Irving to the new Trinity Forest Golf Club, southeast of downtown Dallas, in 2018.^[8] Not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it moved north to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney in 2021. In 2024, CJ Group replaced AT&T as title sponsor under a ten-year agreement, rebranding it as the CJ Cup Byron Nelson (reusing a title previously used for a former early-season event hosted in South Korea).^[9] ^[10]

Tournament highlights

1956: Peter Thomson, a five-time winner of The Open Championship shoots a final round 63, then makes birdie on the first two holes of sudden death to defeat Gene Littler and Cary Middlecoff. It was his one and only PGA Tour victory in the United States.^[11]
1976: Mark Hayes becomes the first wire to wire winner of the Nelson.^[12]
1981: Bruce Lietzke defeated Tom Watson in a playoff spoiling Watson's bid for a 4th straight Nelson triumph.^[13]
1985: Bob Eastwood defeated Payne Stewart in a playoff after coming to the 72nd hole trailing Stewart by three shots. Eastwood made birdie on the final hole while Stewart made double bogey. Stewart made yet another double bogey on the first hole of sudden death to give Eastwood the title.^[14]
1994: Neal Lancaster won the first ever six-player sudden death playoff in PGA Tour history. He made a birdie on the first playoff hole to defeat Tom Byrum, Mark Carnevale, David Edwards, Yoshi Mizumaki, and David Ogrin.^[15]
2005: Tiger Woods' record streak of 142 cuts made came to an end at this tournament.
2006: After graduating from Q school, Brett Wetterich's win propels him to a surprise Ryder Cup appearance.
2008: Australian Adam Scott sank a 48-foot putt on the third playoff hole to clinch victory over American Ryan Moore.
2010: At age 16, Jordan Spieth (the defending U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and a student at nearby Jesuit College Preparatory School) became the youngest player to play in the tournament, courtesy of a sponsor's exemption (the first one granted since 1995). Spieth would make the cut (becoming the sixth-youngest person in PGA Tour history to make a professional tour event cut) and finish 16th overall. (In 2011 Spieth would again be granted a sponsor's exemption and would again make the cut, finishing 32nd overall.)
2013: Keegan Bradley hits a course-record 60 (−10) in the first round. Bradley leads the first three rounds, but Bae Sang-moon earned the win.^[16]
2018: Aaron Wise sets the tournament record.
2019: Kang Sung-hoon won his first PGA Tour title in his 159th start. Scott Piercy went bogey-free for the entire tournament, becoming the first to do so in a 72-hole PGA Tour event since Charles Howell III at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic.

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Purse (US$)	Winner's share ($)	Ref.
CJ Cup Byron Nelson
		261	−23	1 stroke	9,500,000	1,710,000
AT&T Byron Nelson
	Jason Day (2)	261	−23	1 stroke	9,500,000	1,710,000
	Lee Kyoung-hoon (2)	262	−26	1 stroke	9,100,000	1,638,000
		263	−25	3 strokes	8,100,000	1,458,000
	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	^[17]
		261	−23	2 strokes	7,900,000	1,422,000
		261	−23	3 strokes	7,700,000	1,386,000
		268	−12	Playoff	7,500,000	1,350,000
	Sergio García (2)	265	−15	Playoff	7,300,000	1,314,000
		259	−18	4 strokes	7,100,000	1,278,000
HP Byron Nelson Championship
		266	−14	2 strokes	6,900,000	1,242,000
		267	−13	2 strokes	6,700,000	1,206,000
		269	−11	1 stroke	6,500,000	1,170,000
		277	−3	Playoff	6,500,000	1,170,000
		270	−10	2 strokes	6,500,000	1,170,000
		261	−19	2 strokes	6,500,000	1,170,000
EDS Byron Nelson Championship
		273	−7	Playoff	6,400,000	1,152,000
		267	−13	1 stroke	6,300,000	1,134,000
		268	−12	1 stroke	6,200,000	1,116,000
		265	−15	1 stroke	6,200,000	1,116,000
		270	−10	Playoff	5,800,000	1,044,000
		265	−15	2 strokes	5,600,000	1,008,000
Verizon Byron Nelson Classic
		266	−14	2 strokes	4,800,000	864,000
		263	−17	Playoff	4,500,000	810,000
GTE Byron Nelson Classic
		269	−11	Playoff	4,000,000	720,000
		262	−18	Playoff	3,000,000	540,000
GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
		265	−15	3 strokes	2,500,000	450,000
		263	−17	2 strokes	1,800,000	324,000
		265	−15	2 strokes	1,500,000	270,000
		263	−17	3 strokes	1,300,000	234,000
		132	−9	Playoff	1,200,000	216,000
		270	−10	1 stroke	1,200,000	216,000
		199	−11	Playoff	1,100,000	198,000
		270	−10	1 stroke	1,100,000	198,000
		202	−8	2 strokes	1,000,000	180,000
		265	−15	Playoff	1,000,000	180,000
	Bruce Lietzke (2)	271	−9	Playoff	750,000	135,000
Byron Nelson Golf Classic
		266	−14	Playoff	600,000	108,000
		269	−11	1 stroke	600,000	108,000
		272	−8	Playoff	500,000	90,000
		276	−8	1 stroke	500,000	90,000
		273	−7	1 stroke	400,000	72,000
		266	−14	5 strokes	350,000	63,000
		281	+1	Playoff	300,000	54,000
	Tom Watson (4)	274	−6	1 stroke	300,000	54,000
	Tom Watson (3)	275	−5	Playoff	300,000	54,000
	Tom Watson (2)	272	−8	1 stroke	200,000	40,000
		276	−8	2 strokes	200,000	40,000
		273	−11	2 strokes	200,000	40,000
		269	−15	2 strokes	175,000	35,000
		269	−15	4 strokes	150,000	30,000
		277	−3	Playoff	150,000	30,000
		273	−7	Playoff	125,000	25,000
	Jack Nicklaus (2)	274	−6	2 strokes	125,000	25,000
		274	−6	Playoff	100,000	20,000
		277	−3	1 stroke	100,000	20,000
		270	−10	1 stroke	100,000	20,000
Dallas Open Invitational
		274	−10	1 stroke	100,000	20,000
		276	−8	1 stroke	85,000	15,000
1965: No tournament
		271	−13	1 stroke	40,000	5,800
1963: No tournament
		277	−3	4 strokes	35,000	5,300
		278	−6	1 stroke	30,000	4,300
		275	−5	Playoff	25,000	3,500
		274	−10	1 stroke	25,000	3,500
	Sam Snead (3)	272	−8	Playoff	25,000	3,500
1957	Sam Snead (2)	264	−20	10 strokes	40,000	8,000	^[18]
Texas International Open
1956 (Jun)		267	−13	Playoff	70,000	13,478	^[19]
Dallas Centennial Open
1956 (May)		268	−12	1 stroke	30,000	6,000	^[20]
1947-1955: No tournament
Dallas Invitational
1946		284	+4	2 strokes	10,000	2,000	^[21]
Dallas Open
1945		276	−12	4 strokes	10,000	2,000	^[22]
Texas Victory Open
1944		276	−8	10 strokes	10,000	2,000	^[23]