| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | August 11–14, 1977 |
| Location | Pebble Beach, California 36°34′05″N121°57′00″W / 36.568°N 121.950°W /36.568; -121.950 |
| Course | Pebble Beach Golf Links |
| Organized by | PGA of America |
| Tour | PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6,806 yards (6,223 m)[1][2] |
| Field | 138 players, 71 after cut |
| Cut | 151 (+7) |
| Prize fund | $250,000[3] |
| Winner's share | $45,000 |
| Champion | |
 Lanny Wadkins | |
| 282 (−6), playoff | |
| Location map | |
The1977 PGA Championship was the 59thPGA Championship, played August 11–14 atPebble Beach Golf Links inPebble Beach, California.Lanny Wadkins, 27, won his onlymajor championship in a sudden-death playoff overGene Littler.[4] It was the first playoff at the PGA Championship in ten years and was the first-ever sudden-death playoff in a stroke-play major championship.[1][5] The last was 36 years earlier at the1941 PGA Championship, when the 36-hole finalmatch went to two extra holes.
Prior to the start of the championship, the irons of several top players were deemed to have non-conforming groove dimensions, most notably those ofTom Watson. He had won theMasters andBritish Open earlier that year, and was attempting to become the first to win three majors in the same year sinceBen Hogan in1953. Others with non-conforming irons included major winnersRaymond Floyd,Hale Irwin,Gary Player, andTom Weiskopf.[6][7] The rule limiting groove width to .035 inches (0.89 mm) had been around for decades. Watson shot an opening round of 68 (−4) with an old set of borrowed irons,[7][8][9] and finished at 286 (−2), four strokes back in a tie for sixth. He won eight majors but never a PGA Championship; his only win in theU.S. Open came here at Pebble Beach in1982.
Four-time championJack Nicklaus finished one stroke out of the playoff at 283 (−5). He won the previous major at this course, the U.S. Open in1972, and was runner-up to Watson at the next in 1982.
This was the 13th consecutive professional major won by American-born players. The streak began withLee Trevino's victory at the1974 PGA Championship and continued as the Americans swept the majors in1975,1976, and the previous majors in1977. This remains the second longest major-winning streak for Americans; the longest was in the 1940s and ended withLew Worsham's win at the1947 U.S. Open.
This was the second major championship at Pebble Beach, which had hosted the U.S. Open in 1972. The U.S. Open returned in 1982,1992,2000,2010, and2019. It was only the second PGA Championship in California and the first as a stroke-play competition; the previous was in December1929 inLos Angeles atHillcrest. The1962 event was originally awarded to Brentwood in L.A., but was moved toPhiladelphia atAronimink.[10][11]
The fairways at Pebble Beach were extremely dry, due to an extendeddrought, in its third year in northern California.[12]
Thursday, August 11, 1977
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Littler | 67 | −5 |
| T2 | Mark Hayes | 68 | −4 |
| Jerry McGee | |||
| Tom Watson | |||
| T5 | George Cadle | 69 | −3 |
| Jack Nicklaus | |||
| Lanny Wadkins | |||
| T8 | George Archer | 70 | −2 |
| Charles Coody | |||
 John Lister | |||
| Roger Maltbie | |||
| Johnny Miller | |||
| Fuzzy Zoeller |
Friday, August 12, 1977
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Littler | 67-69=136 | −8 |
| 2 | Jerry McGee | 68-70=138 | −6 |
| T3 | Jack Nicklaus | 69-71=140 | −4 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 69-71=140 | ||
| T5 | Charles Coody | 70-71=141 | −3 |
| Al Geiberger | 71-70=141 | ||
| Joe Inman | 72-69=141 | ||
| Tom Watson | 68-73=141 | ||
| T9 | George Cadle | 69-73=142 | −2 |
| Gil Morgan | 74-68=142 | ||
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 70-72=142 |
Saturday, August 13, 1977
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Littler | 67-69-70=206 | −10 |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus | 69-71-70=210 | −6 |
| 3 | Charles Coody | 70-71-70=211 | −5 |
| T4 | George Cadle | 69-73-70=212 | −4 |
| Gil Morgan | 74-68-70=212 | ||
| Jerry Pate | 73-70-69=212 | ||
| Lanny Wadkins | 69-71-72=212 | ||
| Tom Watson | 68-73-71=212 | ||
| T9 | Miller Barber | 77-68-69=214 | −2 |
| Billy Casper | 73-71-70=214 | ||
| Al Geiberger | 71-70-73=214 | ||
| Joe Inman | 72-69-73=214 | ||
| Don January | 75-69-70=214 | ||
| Leonard Thompson | 72-73-69=214 |
Sunday, August 14, 1977
Littler, 47, was the leader in each of the first three rounds and entered Sunday at 206 (−10), with a four-shot lead overJack Nicklaus. One-under on the front nine, Littler staggered on the back with a five-over 41. After the turn, he made five bogeys in six holes, then rallied with pars on the three finishing holes to make the playoff with a 76 (+4).[13] Wadkins started the round six strokes back and shot a 70, which included a birdie on the par-5 18th hole to get to six-under for the championship. As the clubhouse leader, he waited for the final pairing of Nicklaus and Littler. Tied for the lead at 6-under with two holes remaining, Nicklaus's tee shot on the par-3 17th landed on the downslope over the front bunker and bounced into the heavy rough which led to a long par putt and a subsequent bogey. He had famously birdied the same hole in the final round of the1972 U.S. Open, which he won by three strokes. Nicklaus then needed a birdie on 18th to tie Wadkins, but Jack's third shot into 18 came up 25 feet short and his birdie bid missed on the right. Playing in the final group behind Nicklaus, Littler's tee shot on the par-3 17th also landed on the downslope and bounced into the rough -- but Littler was able to salvage par by holing a 12-footer to remain 6-under. On the 18th, Littler's birdie putt from 20 feet past the hole to win the Championship outright stopped less than a foot short.
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Gene Littler | 67-69-70-76=282 | −6 | Playoff |
| Lanny Wadkins | 69-71-72-70=282 | |||
| 3 | Jack Nicklaus | 69-71-70-73=283 | −5 | 15,000 |
| 4 | Charles Coody | 70-71-70-73=284 | −4 | 12,000 |
| 5 | Jerry Pate | 73-70-69-73=285 | −3 | 10,000 |
| T6 | Al Geiberger | 71-70-73-72=286 | −2 | 7,300 |
| Lou Graham | 71-73-71-71=286 | |||
| Don January | 75-69-70-72=286 | |||
| Jerry McGee | 68-70-77-71=286 | |||
| Tom Watson | 68-73-71-74=286 |
The sudden-death playoff began on the par-4 first hole, where Wadkins missed the green, chipped from the heavy rough to 20 feet (6 m) and saved par to tie. At the second hole, both reached the green of the par-5 in two shots, narrowly missed eagle putts, and tapped in for birdies. At the third hole, both missed the green in the heavy rough. Littler's difficult chip left him 20 feet (6 m) for a par four, while Wadkins got his chip to within five feet (1.5 m). After Littler missed to the right, Wadkins rolled his in for the win.[13]
The championship had gone without a playoff since1967. The seventh and last sudden-death playoff was in1996; the format was changed to a three-hole aggregate, first used in2000.
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lanny Wadkins | 4-4-4 | −1 | 45,000 |
| 2 | Gene Littler | 4-4-x | E | 25,000 |
