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History



The tournament was founded in 2000 as the Tampa Bay Classic. It was originally an alternate event played the same week as the Presidents Cup in 2000, and the same week as the WGC-American Express Championship in 2002. It was supposed to be played the same week as the WGC-American Express Championship on September 13-16, 2001. However, the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 forced the cancelations of both tournaments.

From 2003 to 2006, the Tampa Bay event had a slot in the schedule to itself as the last full-field event before the Tour Championship. The Chrysler Corporation was the title sponsor.

Starting 2007, the Tampa Bay event will be played in early March. For a time the tournament was without a title sponsor, leading to speculation on its fate beyond 2007. Then, on January 24, 2007, tournament officials and the PGA Tour announced a sponsorship agreement with the PODS Group. Located in Clearwater, Florida, PODS, short for Portable On Demand Storage, signed on for a six-year deal.

Winners

PODS Championship

* 2007 Week of March 5-11

Chrysler Championship

* 2006 K.J. Choi - South Korea
* 2005 Carl Pettersson - Sweden
* 2004 Vijay Singh - Fiji
* 2003 Retief Goosen - South Africa

Tampa Bay Classic presented by Buick

* 2002 K.J. Choi - South Korea

Tampa Bay Classic

* 2001 - No tournament. Canceled due to the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. See also the 2001 CA Championship
* 2000 John Huston - United States