US PGA Championship boasts rich history

We delve into the past ahead of the final major championship of the season.

1. The history

The US PGA Championship is often regarded as the poor relation when it comes to golf’s four majors, but every professional still wants to win it.

The tournament began in 1916, with 32 competitors. It was a matchplay format and it was won by Englishman Jim Barnes, who received $500 (€455).

A century later, the US PGA will be played for the 98th time, as a strokeplay event, and the winner will receive $1.89m (€1.72m), from a purse of over $10m (€9.1m).

2. The winners

From 1916 to 1957, the Championship was a matchplay tournament, only taking a break during the two World Wars. Winners included Ben Hogan (twice), Sam Snead (three times), Gene Sarazen (three times) and Walter Hagen (five times).

Of the 39 times it was played, the event was won 34 times by an American and twice by Scots who went on to become American citizens.

It has been a strokeplay tournament since 1958, and Americans have won the US PGA 43 times — that’s a 75% success rate.

On five of those occasions it was won by Jack Nicklaus, who remains the most prolific winner, one ahead of Tiger Woods.

European victors have been few and far between, with Rory McIlroy’s two victories, Pádraig Harrington’s win in 2008 and Martin Kaymer’s success at 2010 providing the highlights.

3. Oldest and youngest

To find the oldest winner, you have to go back to 1968, when Julius Boros beat Bob Charles and Arnold Palmer by a stroke.

He was 48 and still holds the record as the oldest winner of a major. Interestingly, the fifth-oldest winner of the US PGA is Jack Nicklaus, who won by seven shots in 1980, at the age of 40 but he is also the fifth-youngest winner, having won in 1963.

Gene Sarazen is the youngest ever winner of the PGA. He was 20 years and five months old when he claimed the (matchplay) title in 1922, at Oakmont Country Club.

He is also the third-youngest winner as he returned to win the tournament the following year. Since becoming a strokeplay event, the youngest winner (and fourth-youngest overall) is Rory McIlroy, who won in 2012 at 23 years and three months.

He pips Jack Nicklaus by three months and Tiger Woods by four months.

4. The courses

There is no rota of courses but since becoming a 72-hole strokeplay event in 1958, Southern Hills, in Oklahoma is the only course to have hosted the event on four occasions. The last time was 2007, when it was won by Tiger Woods.

In the past 20 years, two courses have held the US PGA on three occasions (Whistling Straits and Valhalla) and three courses have held it twice, including this year’s venue at Baltusrol, New Jersey.

When it was last played here in 2005, the winner was Phil Mickelson, who beat Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington by a stroke. Given his performance at Royal Troon, who’s to say Mickelson won’t deliver in 2016, too?

Golf in America is quite different to Ireland. Many of the clubs are private which makes them inaccessible unless you’re a member or a guest of a member. So, as much as golfers may enjoy looking at these courses on TV, that is as close as they’re going to get.

Of the courses which have hosted the US PGA Championship in the past 30 years, just two of them are public. One of these is Whistling Straits, where the Ryder Cup will be held in 2020.

5. Ten most memorable moments

1986:

Greg Norman found himself on the receiving end once again in 1986. He entered the final round with a four-shot lead at Inverness Club, Ohio. That year, he had led all four majors going into the final round (the ‘Saturday Slam’ as it became known) and he had just won his first Open Championship, so expectations were high.

Playing alongside Bob Tway, the two were well clear of the field after 10 holes, with Norman still leading by four.

However, Norman’s double bogey at 11 and two miracle par saves by Tway ultimately led to them playing the 72nd hole tied for the lead. Tway then hit the bunker shot of his life from beside the green which trickled into the cup. Victory was his.

1991:

John Daly won by three strokes at Crooked Stick, Indiana, having qualified for the tournament as the ninth alternate.

He had only joined the US PGA Tour that year… no surprise then that he was awarded 1991 US PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

1999:

The running, jumping Sergio Garcia may have lost out to Tiger Woods, at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois, but his shot on the 16th, from the base of a tree, became part of golfing folklore.

He slashed at the ball with his six iron, and with his eyes closed, hit a soaring fade of 189 yards that found the green. The 19-year-old Spaniard lost to Tiger by one shot but it signalled his arrival on the big stage.

Only a few weeks earlier he had claimed his maiden professional victory, at Druid’s Glen in the Irish Open.

2002:

The little-known journeyman Rich Beem won his only major at Hazeltine, Minnesota. The victory was unexpected — he was a rank outsider — but it was all the more remarkable as he had to hold off the challenge of a charging Tiger Woods, who birdied the last four holes.

Beem eagled the par-five 11th — the only eagle at that hole over the four days — and then drained a 35-foot birdie putt on 16 to hold off Woods. It was only Beem’s third victory on the US PGA Tour... and it was to be his last.

2005:

Phil Mickelson added a touch of class for his second major title, at Baltusrol, when he made a brief detour on the 18th fairway of his final round.

His destination was a fairway plaque immortalising the one-iron shot played by Jack Nicklaus, during the 1967 US Open. He tapped the plaque as a sign of respect or perhaps inspiration.

Phil had led the 2005 tournament, wire-to-wire, but he only won by a single stroke when he birdied that final hole to beat Bjorn and Elkington.

2008:

Harrington, following back-to-back Open Championship victories, came to the 2008 US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in the form of his life. But his opening two rounds left him on five-over par.

It was his weekend fightback that led to a tremendous final day battle between Padraig, Sergio and Ben Curtis.

Playing alongside Sergio and Charlie Wi, he started the final round three strokes behind Ben Curtis, who was in the final group. Harrington’s back nine of 32 gave him a two-stroke victory, thanks to a red-hot putter and some misfortune from the Spaniard.

Garcia bogeyed both 16 and 18 to become Harrington’s bridesmaid for the second time in two years. Curtis also finished with two late bogeys to tie for second.

2009:

YE Yang beat Tiger Woods at Hazeltine, Minnesota, to become the first Asian golfer to win a major.

It was also the first time that Tiger Woods had lost a tournament when he’d been leading the field after 54 holes. Yang trailed Tiger by two (as did Harrington) as they started the fourth round but when he chipped in for eagle at the par four 14th he took the lead and never relinquished it.

Yang won by three strokes. It’s worth noting that Tiger started playing golf at two years of age; Yang took up the game at 19, before going on to complete his military service in South Korea.

2012:

McIlroy has won the US PGA twice. In 2012, he dominated the field at Kiawah Island, from start to finish, closing with a bogey-free six under par 66. Having won the US Open the year before, by eight shots, he turned to caddie JP Fitzgerald on the final tee and quipped: “I’m going to win this one by eight as well”.

He rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the final green to do just that and set a record winning margin.

2014:

Rory’s second victory came on the back of his Open Championship win at Royal Liverpool. This was to be no eight-shot stroll as a poor start to the final round meant he had to make up a three-shot deficit on Rickie Fowler, with nine holes to play.

An eagle at the 10th started the fireworks and when he birdied the 17th he held a two-shot lead. In fading light, McIlroy managed a chaotic par on the last to win by one, from Phil Mickelson.

2015:

Jason Day won his first major with a four round aggregate of 20-under par (68-67- 66-67), beating Jordan Spieth by three strokes. That total was a record low score across all four majors until Henrik Stenson matched it at Royal Troon a fortnight ago.