The 2012 Senior PGA Championship at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores celebrates a successful week

By all accounts, it was a successful weekend at the Senior PGA Championship at The Golf Club of Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor.

The event had a surprise, albiet deserving, winner in Roger Chapman, and the crowds were fantastic and enthusiastic. The course looked stunning on HDTV and certainly had to influence a few national viewers to consider visiting the area to tee it up. The message of the Harbor Shores development - millions are being spent to help and redevelop the community - certainly helped the cause.

The tournament, which will return in 2014, gave Michigan golf fans a sneak peak of what to expect in six weeks. The U.S. Senior Open - the biggest of the five senior majors -- will be held at the Old course at Indianwood Golf & Country Club in Lake Orion northwest of Detroit in July.

Here are a few final notes from the 2012 Senior PGA Championship:

A WINNING BRIT: Roger Chapman became the first native of England to win the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid and hoist the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy. He is also the third player from the United Kingdom to earn the Championship title -- Jock Hutchison of Scotland (1937 and 1947) and Fred McLeod (1938) were the first two. Chapman also is the first European to win the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid since Hutchison won his second title, in '47. Chapman is the seventh international player to win the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. The most recent was Denis Watson of Zimbabwe, in 2007.

KIAWAH ISLAND BOUND: With his victory, Chapman earns an exemption into the 94th PGA Championship, the Season's Final Major, to be held Aug. 9-12 at The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, S.C. Chapman also earns a lifetime exemption into the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.

MORE ON ROGER: With his victory, Chapman also ... * Ties Jack Nicklaus (1991 Champion) for the third-best 72-hole aggregate score (271) in the history of the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. The all-time record of 268 is held by Sam Snead, in 1973. * Earns $378,000 from a total purse of $2.1 million. * Becomes the eighth player to make the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid his first title on the Champions Tour. The others who won their first Champions Tour event at this Championship since 1980: Arnold Palmer (1980), Tom Wargo (1993), Doug Tewell (2000), Fuzzy Zoeller (2002), Mike Reid (2005), Denis Watson (2007) and Michael Allen (2009). * Becomes the first Englishman to win on the Champions Tour since Mark James captured the 2007 Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla. * Becomes the first European to win a major on the Champions Tour since Bernhard Langer claimed the U.S. Senior Open in 2010 at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash.

THIRD BRIT TO WIN IN GREAT LAKES STATE: Chapman is the third native of England to win a Champions Tour event. All three earned their lone victories in Michigan -- Tony Jacklin at the 1994 First of America Classic, in Grand Rapids; and Mark James at the 2004 Ford Players Championship in Dearborn.

WIRE TO WIRE?: Chapman led or shared the lead after each round at Harbor Shores. He is the first player to lead outright or share the lead and win the Senior PGA Championship since Hale Irwin in 2004 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. The last player to hold the lead alone after each round and win the Championship was Jack Nicklaus in 1991 at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

TOUGH LUCK: John Cook (69-66-69-69) is the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s and not win the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.

A RECORD DAY FOR PERRY: Kenny Perry's eagle, eight birdies and one bogey added up to a 9-under-par 62 in the final round, the lowest 18-hole score in the history of the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Perry bettered by one stroke the previous single-round Championship record set by Buck White in 1961 and matched by Arnold Palmer in 1984.

GOING REALLY LOW: There were 38 rounds in the 60s during the final round at Harbor Shores, far and away the highest total of the week. The scores in the 60s before today: First Round: 2. Second Round: 21. Third Round: 23. The scoring average for the field today was 69.65, easily the lowest of the four rounds.

ON TO BELLERIVE: The 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid will be played May 23-26 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. This will be the first time that the Championship has been contested in Missouri. The 1992 PGA Champiopnship was held at Bellerive, where Nick Price won by three strokes over John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr. and Gene Sauers.

BRITTON IS LOW PGA CLUB PROFESSIONAL: For the second time in four years, Bill Britton earned Low PGA Club Professional honors in the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Britton, PGA director of instruction at Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, N.J., finished the Championship at even-par 284. Britton tied for 35th at Harbor Shores. The finishing scores of the other PGA club professionals who made the cut: Sonny Skinner, Sylvester, Ga., 77-70-69-70 -- 286 (2-over par); Jeff Coston, Blaine, Wash., 76-71-77-67 -- 291; and Tom Atchison, Silver Lake, Ohio, 76-71-72-78 -- 297

17 FOR 17: Hale Irwin tied for third and extended his consecutive cuts streak in the Championship to 17. In addition to winning the Championship four times (second only to Sam Snead all-time), Irwin also has five other top-five finishes in this Championship. Irwin turns 67 on June 3.

The 2012 Senior PGA Championship to tee off at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor this week

The bad news is that one of senior golf's marquee names - Tom Watson - won't be playing this week at Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Watson withdrew with an injured wrist.

But it's still sure to be an exciting week of golf at The Golf Club of Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor. For those of you looking to attend, the pairings for the first two rounds (Thursday, May 24 and Friday, May 25) are set. Among the featured groups are:

* Jeff Sluman, Fred Couples, Kenny Perry
Thursday at 8:10 a.m., 1st Tee
Friday at 1:20 p.m., 10th Tee

* Brad Faxon, Peter Jacobsen, John Cook
Thursday at 8:30 a.m., 1st Tee
Friday at 1:40 p.m., 10th Tee

* Hale Irwin, Andy North, Bob Tway
Thursday at 8:40 a.m., 1st Tee
Friday at 1:50 p.m., 10th Tee

* Tom Wargo, Mike Reid, Scott Simpson
Thursday at 8:30 a.m., 10th Tee
Friday at 1:40 p.m., 1st Tee

* Denis Watson, Craig Stadler, Mark Brooks
Thursday at 8:50 a.m., 10th Tee
Friday at 2 p.m, 1st Tee

* Tom Lehman, Olin Browne
Thursday at 1:20 p.m., 10th Tee
Friday at 8:10 a.m., 1st Tee

* Hal Sutton, Mark Calcavecchia, Larry Mize
Thursday at 1:30 p.m., 10th Tee
Friday at 8:20 a.m., 1st Tee

* Fred Funk, Michael Allen, Bernhard Langer
Thursday at 1:40 p.m., 10th Tee
Friday at 8:30 a.m., 1st Tee

Here are some other news and notes about the tournament.

* This year marks the inaugural playing of the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid in the state of Michigan and the first time that a major golf championship has been conducted in Southwest Michigan. Michigan also will be the venue of another major championship this year on the Champions Tour, when the U.S. Senior Open is played July 12-15, at Indianwood Golf & Country Club in Lake Orion.

* A total of 23 players have won the Senior PGA Championship in their first attempts. That group includes Arnold Palmer (1980), Gary Player (1986), Hale Irwin (1996), Fuzzy Zoeller (2002), and Michael Allen (2009). Allen and Palmer share the distinction of claiming their titles in their debut on the Champions Tour. There are two notable first-timers in the field: Andrew Magee and Tim Thelen. Thelen is a two-time PGA Professional National Champion from College Station, Texas. The member of the European Senior Tour is one of five PGA Professional National Champions in the field -- Barry Evans (2002 National Champion), Jeff Freeman (1999), Darrell Kestner (1996) and J.R. Roth (1993) are the others. Magee, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, makes his Champions Tour debut next week in the 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Magee turns 50 on Tuesday, May 22. Roth also has Michigan ties.

* The 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid is the strongest field in senior golf this year and includes these figures:
32 States represented in the field
17 Major Champions in the field (totaling 30 major championships won)
18 Countries represented in the field
8 Senior PGA Champions in the field
6 Ryder Cup Captains in the field
5 World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field

* Kirk Hanefeld of Acton, Mass., leads a current contingent of 40 PGA club professionals into the field next week. Hanefeld won the 2011 Southworth Senior PGA Professional National Championship to automatically earn a spot into the field. Local fans will want to watch Lee Houtteman, a Traverse City teaching pro from Glen Arbor.

Visit by Jack Nicklaus generates excitement for Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor

There was a rare Golden Bear sighting in Michigan last week.

A site visit by Jack Nicklaus to his Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor on June 29 created a sense of reality to the Harbor Shores Development, a $450-million, 530-acre real estate, recreation and redevelopment project that has been more than five years in the planning and more than 20 years in the making.

The 6,981-yard par-71 Nicklaus course, one of just three in Michigan, will open nine holes for preview play on July 15, with a complimentary 10th hole, for greens fees of $75. The course winds through a former superfund sight where more than 117,000 tons of toxic debris and soil have been removed. At a press conference, Nicklaus marveled that defunct factories and dilapidated buildings have been replaced by the beauty of green fairways and white-splashed bunkers. The Paw Paw River flows through several holes.

"I saw the property (several years ago) and thought, 'Where will you put a golf course?' All I see are buildings and roads," he said. "... That will be one heck of a golf course. It's beautiful. It plays nice, flows nice."

Jeff Fettig, the Chairman and CEO of Whirlpool Corp., which owned much of the land, said the site looks better every time he sees it.

"If you didn't see what was there before, you never realize how spectacular this is," he said.

Nicklaus made the trip to give his final blessings on the layout, paying special attention to holes No. 6-9 that are still in the early stages of construction, delayed by several lawsuits that oppose their proximity to the beach and Jean Klock Park. The seventh tees sit as islands among a large wetland with the green atop a sand dune. Nicklaus took out three bunkers and reduced the size of another to make the par-4 eighth more player friendly.

Nicklaus even made the brave prediction that his layout will rival nearby Point 'O Woods, a venerable private layout considered one of the top 20 courses in Michigan.

"I don't want to say what is better, but I have my opinion," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd of media and local VIPs gathered at the M-TEC building that will serve as the course's temporary clubhouse.

For a tee time, visit harborshoresgolf.com.