Byron Nelson Championship History

This weekend, the PGA Tour returns to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as the 2012 Byron Nelson Championship will begin on Thursday, May 17. Since 2008, the tournament has been held exclusively at the Tournament Players Course at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas, located in Irving, Texas.

The tournament began using Byron Nelson's name in 1968, but had been known under a variety of different names prior to that. It had previously been known as the Texas Victory Open, Dallas Open, Dallas Centennial Open, Texas International Open, and Dallas Open Invitational before using Byron Nelson's name in the tournament starting in 1968. Since 1968, it has been known as the Byron Nelson Gold Classic, the GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic, the Verizon Byron Nelson Classic, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and finally, as it is known today, the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Par for 18 holes at the Byron Nelson Championship is an even 70, totaling 7,166 yards of play. There are a pair of par 5's on the course, with a dog-legged par 5 on the seventh hole 542 yards long, and a par 5 on the 16th hole that totals a course-high 546 yards. Rory Sabbatini set the record score for the tournament in 2009, shooting -19 for the entire tournament.

Keegan Bradley won the tournament in 2011 while shooting a -3 for the tournament, which was one of the highest (read: worst) scores to win in decades. We'll see what the 2012 version of the Byron Nelson Championship has to offer beginning on Thursday.