The Regions Tradition, the second of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, returns to the Founders Course at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama from April 30 to May 3, 2026. Seventy-eight of the world’s best senior golfers will compete for a $2.6 million purse, with $390,000 going to the winner — and a leaderboard that, in 2026, looks unusually wide open.
The defending champion, Angel Cabrera, returns to a field that includes major-winning legends Davis Love III, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, David Toms, and Colin Montgomerie. Notably absent: three-time Regions Tradition champion Steve Stricker, who is sitting this one out — a meaningful absence on a leaderboard he typically dominates.
The Course: Greystone’s Founders
The Founders Course is a Bob Cupp design that opened in 1991 and has hosted the Regions Tradition since 2011. At 7,249 yards, par 72, it’s a meaningful test for the senior set, particularly because of two structural features: undulating greens that demand precise approach play, and a back nine with three of the more memorable risk-reward holes on the senior tour.
Greystone tends to reward players who hit fairways consistently. Length is less important here than at most modern PGA Tour venues, and the cool, sometimes wet Alabama spring conditions in late April–early May usually mean the course plays slightly soft and slow. Translation: this is a putter’s tournament. The senior pros who tend to win at Greystone are, almost without exception, top-tier putters that week.
One quirk worth noting: although the Regions Tradition is classified as a major for the PGA Tour Champions, the European Senior Tour does not recognize it as one. It’s also the only senior major that doesn’t earn its winner an exemption into a regular PGA Tour or DP World Tour event — a small detail, but it changes how some Europeans plan their season around it.
Players To Watch
Ernie Els is in genuine form. Over his last four Regions Tradition appearances, the Big Easy has finished T19 in 2025, third in 2024, second in 2023, and 11th in 2022 — never out of the top 20. More importantly, he’s currently first on the PGA Tour Champions in putting average, second in total driving, and third in birdie-or-better percentage. If you’re looking for a single favorite this week, this is your pick.
Bernhard Langer is the most decorated player in PGA Tour Champions history and a two-time Regions Tradition winner (2016 and 2017). At 68, his game has lost very little of its precision; what he’s lost in length, he’s gained in course management. Greystone’s relatively short setup plays directly to his strengths.
Davis Love III is one of the more popular dark-horse picks. Love has been ball-striking well in 2026 and has a track record of contending in U.S.-South events. The combination of relatively short course and Bermuda greens suits his eye.
Angel Cabrera, defending champion, returns to defend after a strong showing at the Senior PGA two weeks ago. His 2026 form has been uneven, but he tends to lift his game on courses where he has past success, and Greystone counts.
John Daly, Vijay Singh, and Miguel Ángel Jiménez round out the headlining names, each capable of a top-ten finish on the right week.
What Amateurs Can Take From The Regions Tradition
Senior majors are some of the most useful events on television for amateur golfers, because the senior pros are playing a version of the game that’s much closer to what amateurs actually do. Three takeaways:
- Watch the lag putting. The senior tour does this better than the regular PGA Tour, both because shorter careers select for great putters and because aging hands tend to refine touch over time. The Regions Tradition is one of the year’s best clinics on lag putting, particularly on undulating Bermuda greens. Our golf instruction library has a putting series worth pairing with the broadcast.
- Note the iron play tempo. Bernhard Langer’s tempo has not changed in 30 years, and it’s why he’s still competitive at 68. A consistent, slightly slower tempo than what you typically see on the PGA Tour will look more like what you should be aiming for in your own swing.
- Watch course management. Senior pros simply do not press the issue when length doesn’t pay. They lay back to favorite distances, take medium-iron approaches over hero-shot wedges, and scrape par when they need to. It’s the smartest version of the game on television all year.
Broadcast And Schedule
Coverage is on Golf Channel and PGA Tour Live, with Saturday and Sunday rounds simulcast on NBC for the first time in the tournament’s history — a sign of the senior tour’s growing audience. First-round tee times start at 8:15 AM CT on Thursday, with featured groups including Els, Langer, Daly, and Cabrera spread across the morning and afternoon waves.
The PGA Tour Champions has been quietly one of the most entertaining stories in 2026 golf, with a deeper field of major-winning competitors than the senior tour has had in five years. With the LPGA’s expanded broadcast slate running parallel and the PGA Tour’s scheduling shifts for 2027 in the background, this is a tournament weekend that rewards the viewer who can switch between three different golf broadcasts.
Final Take
With Stricker out, the field is as wide open as it’s been in years. Els is the form pick. Langer is the legend pick. Cabrera is the sentimental defending-champion pick. Davis Love III is the dark horse. The course will reward whoever putts best for four days, full stop — and given how tight the field is in 2026, don’t be surprised if the leaderboard sees a name that hasn’t been in serious major contention in a decade. That’s the senior tour at its best.
Source: PGA Tour Champions tournament page; Out of the Rough Regions Tradition preview; Shelby County Reporter; Golf Channel field reporting, April 27–28, 2026.
