Newport Beach Country Club will host a PGA Tour Champions major championship beginning in 2027, making it the first senior-tour major ever played in Orange County.

The tournament, renamed the Hoag Senior Players Championship, replaces the Kaulig Companies Championship that wrapped its final edition at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, on July 12. Zach Johnson won that farewell event by six strokes, finishing at 15 under par to claim his first senior major title and the $525,000 winner's share of a $3.5 million purse.

The Senior Players Championship is one of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. Newport Beach Country Club has hosted the tour's Hoag Classic since 1996, giving it a 30-year relationship with senior professional golf.

Newport Beach-based health system Hoag is taking over as title sponsor after Kaulig Companies declined to renew its sponsorship, according to Golfweek. The event will move to a late-March window under a five-year agreement through 2031, DailyClubGolf reported, though the PGA Tour has not published specific 2027 dates.

Crowds at Firestone had thinned after the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational left for Memphis in 2018, according to Golf Digest.

Ernie Els, the 2024 champion, called the departure from Firestone "crushing" after the final round.

"I still can't believe that we're never going to come back here," Els told Golfweek. "It was one of my first professional events in 1992. Thirty-four years ago."

Johnson, a two-time PGA Tour major champion (2007 Masters, 2015 Open Championship) and former U.S. Ryder Cup captain, dominated the final Firestone event as a PGA Tour Champions rookie. He birdied his final three holes to pull away from Boo Weekley, who finished second at 9 under.

Stewart Cink, who leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings with four wins in 11 starts this season, finished fourth at 7 under. The 2027 Hoag Senior Players Championship will be the first major-championship purse Newport Beach Country Club has hosted in its three decades on the senior tour.