Hassan II Golf Trophy

For the first time in its history, Royal Golf Dar Es Salam welcomed 66 over-50 PGA Tour Champions. These legends are living memory of the world golf.

The Hassan II Trophy has reached the age of maturity. The age at which professional players join the over 50 circuit, the Golf Legends Tour.

For three rounds, from Thursday 9^th to Saturday 11^th February, the public was able to admire the champions who have become world golf icons since the 90s.

It was a perfect opportunity to see former winners such as Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie or Santiago Luna, record holder of the tournament with three victories, at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. These players, all winners of an edition of the Hassan II Trophy, won on the Red Course of the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam before its upgrade by architect James E. Duncan. These Legends therefore discovered new challenges, such as the one lying at the 17^th hole, now passed in a short par 4 that promises interesting twists to the leaderboard.

Since its beginning in 1971, Hassan II Trophy has always been able to reinvent itself: Exhibition tournament, European Tour event and finally one of PGA Champions Tour tournaments for this 47^th edition. The Champions Tour is a senior division of the PGA Tour created in 1980. Its 2023 calendar consists of 28 tournaments for a record prize pool of $66 million. The season ends with the three tournaments of the Charles Schwab Cup for a coveted No. 1 title. All the great players are diligent participants in this tour that has become more and more competitive. Every year, new stars would join it. And, in two years time, we are expecting a certain … Tiger Woods.

Three years ago, the relationship between Morocco and the PGA Champions Tour was acted by the organization, in January 2020, of the Morocco Champions in Marrakech, won by the American Brett Quigley. The global COVID 19 pandemic has disrupted everything due to countries lockdowns. Thus, the 2020 edition of the Hassan II Trophy (then a DP World Tour event) as well as the 2021 and 2022 ones were all postponed. This forced break gave the organizers time to reflect on the new orientation the tournament should take. Like at the end of the 80s when Hassan II Trophy had considered a pause in view of a better start and adopt a winning strategy.

For the Americans, exporting their tour outside of US borders is part of their mission. As Miller Brady, president of the Champions Tour reminded that: «The globalization of golf is increasingly important and it is essential for us to seize every opportunity to play our greatest champions in the world. »  This is a “win win” partnership for Morocco that will materialize on the fairways of the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.