RJR Championship explained

The RJR Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from 1987 to 2002. It was played in Clemmons, North Carolina at Tanglewood Park.

The purse for the 2002 tournament was US$1,600,000, with $240,000 going to the winner. The tournament was founded in 1987 as the Vantage Championship with Vantage cigarettes as the sponsor, although it switched to the corporate-branded RJR Championship in 1989 and 2002, the latter due to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company were restricted to one sports sponsorship in the rulings developed by the settlement, to which the company opted to choose NASCAR Winston Cup Series as the cigarette-branded sponsorship that lasted until 2003.^[1]

Winners

RJR Championship

• 2002 Bruce Fleisher

Vantage Championship

• 2001 canceled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks
• 2000 Larry Nelson
• 1999 Fred Gibson
• 1998 Gil Morgan
• 1997 Hale Irwin
• 1996 Jim Colbert
• 1995 Hale Irwin
• 1994 Larry Gilbert
• 1993 Lee Trevino
• 1992 Jim Colbert
• 1991 Jim Colbert
• 1990 Charles Coody

RJR Championship

• 1989 Gary Player

Vantage Championship

• 1988 Walt Zembriski
• 1987 Al Geiberger

Source:^[2]

Notes and References

1. Web site: RJR ends 27-year partnership with NHRA . . July 17, 2002 . November 8, 2022.
2. Web site: 2009 Champions Tour Official Media Guide . PGA Tour . 5:24–42.