Michelob Championship


The Michelob Championship at Kingsmill was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2002. It was played in Virginia at the River Course of Kingsmill Golf Club outside of Williamsburg, from 1981 to 2002. From 1977 through 1995, it was known as the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic.
The event was founded in 1968 as the Kaiser International Open Invitational, which was played in northern California at Silverado Country Club in Napa through 1980. In its second year, it was played twice. At the second edition in January 1969, three days of rain washed out the final two rounds of play and 36-hole leader Miller Barber was declared the winner, but only half the prize money was distributed. The tournament was rescheduled for late October/early November and Jack Nicklaus was the winner in a four-man playoff, decided on the second extra hole on Monday.
The purse of the inaugural event in 1968 was $125,000, and Kermit Zarley took the winner's share of $25,000 in January for his first The final event in 2002 had a purse of $3.7 million, with a winner's share of $666,000 to Charles Howell III in early October.
From 2003 to 2009, a popular LPGA Tour event, the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, was played at the same location. In 2012, the LPGA Tour event returned, renamed the Kingsmill Championship.

Winners

*The January 1969 edition of the tournament was shortened to 36 holes, and the tournament was rescheduled for November.

Tournament highlights