PGA Championship Fast Facts
Here’s a look at the PGA Championship, one of the four Grand Slam golf tournaments; the others are the Masters, British Open and the US Open.
May 23, 2021 – American golfer Phil Mickelson wins the 103rd PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. Mickelson, 50, becomes the oldest winner of a major championship.
August 9, 2020 – American golfer Collin Morikawa wins the 102nd PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Eligibility
All former PGA Champions.
Winners of the last five Masters, US Opens or British Opens.
Winners of the last three Players Championships.
The 15 low scorers and ties in the previous year’s PGA Championship.
The 20 low scorers in the current year’s PGA Professional National Championship.
The 70 leaders from the PGA Championship Points list from the previous year’s Players Championship through the Wells Fargo Championship.
Members of the previous year’s US and European Ryder Cup Teams providing they remain within the current year’s top 100 of the World Golf Rankings.
Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour from the previous year’s PGA Championship to the current year’s PGA Championship (does not include pro-am and team competitions).
Vacancies will be filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in the PGA Championship Points list from the previous year’s AT&T Byron Nelson through the current year’s 3M Open).
Additionally, the PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the above categories.
The total field will be a maximum of 156 players.
Records
Most wins: Two players have won the PGA Championship a record five times, Walter Hagen (1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927) and Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980).
Oldest winner: Phil Mikelson is the oldest player to win the PGA Championship at aged 50 in 2021.
Youngest winner: Gene Sarazen is the youngest player to win the PGA Championship at 20 years, 5 months, 22 days in 1922. He is famous for the “shot heard round the world.”
Winning all four majors in one year is known as the Grand Slam. Bobby Jones is the only player who ever won the Grand Slam. He did this before the Masters was founded. The tournaments he won were the British Open, the US Open, the US Amateur and the British Amateur Championship.
Five golfers have won all four current majors (British Open, US Open, Masters and PGA Championship), though none have done it in the same year: Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Timeline
January 17, 1916 – Rodman Wanamaker hosts professional golfers and industry representatives at a luncheon in New York City, with the hope of creating an organization of American golf professionals.
April 10, 1916 – The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America is formed.
October 10-14, 1916 – The first PGA Championship is held at the Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York. Jim Barnes wins the inaugural championship.
1917-1918 and 1943 – Play is suspended for two years, 1917 and 1918 due to World War I, and again in 1943 due to World War II.
1958 – The format of the tournament is changed from match play to stroke.
2009 – South Korea’s Y.E. Yang becomes the first Asian male player to win a major championship, the 2009 PGA Championship.
2015 – Jason Day becomes the first player to finish 20-under par in a major championship.
April 6, 2020 – It is announced that the 2020 tournament is being rescheduled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
January 10, 2021 – Following the violent attack on the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, the PGA of America announces it has terminated the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
