From Aug. 9-11, there will be 78 professional golfers shooting for a $2.2 million purse and Pacific Northwest bragging rights at the 19th-annual Boeing Classic.
Started in 2005, the 54-hole, no-cut PGA Tour Championship event returns to The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, a 7,264-yard, par 72 private course designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus.
And, no, there won’t be Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele or Bryson DeChambeau on the course. Rather, it’s the Schefflers and McIlroys as an older vintage.
How does this list sound: Canada’s Stephen Ames, Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, Spain’s Miguel Ángel Jiménez and José María Olazábal, South Africa’s Ernie Els and the U.S.’ Jim Furyk and Seattle’s Fred Couples?
The Boeing Classic is one of several tournaments in the PGA Tour Champions series, which is the senior version of the PGA Tour for players 50 years old and older. But while the Langers and Furyks of the world may not produce the same driver speeds and distances as the kids, they have legendary status, which will never diminish.
Ames, 60, returns to Snoqualmie to defend his title after shooting a tournament record 19-under par 197 last year, topping runner-up and 2022 Boeing Classic champion Jiménez (-12) and 2024 Senior British Open champion and 2023 Boeing Classic third-place finisher K.J. Choi (-10).
Langer was a Boeing Classic champion in 2010 and 2016, runner-up in 2015 and finished tied for fifth (-8) last year.
A local fan favorite, Couples, 64, has never won his home tournament, but he’s finished near the upper third the past three years. His first Boeing Classic was in 2010, and since then his best results have been third: 2010, 2013, 2015 and 2019.
Tournament festivities and practice rounds begin Monday with the first round next Friday.
Ticket prices are $20 (single day pass), $40 (three-day tournament pass) and $60 (weekly pass). Children 14 and under, and all active and retired military personnel and their families receive free admission.
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