This article is about the major golf championship held in the United States. For the European Tour Championship held at Wentworth Club, United Kingdom, seeBMW PGA Championship. For the PGA Tour's championship event, seeTour Championship.
It was formerly played in mid-August on the third weekend beforeLabor Day weekend, serving as the fourth and final men's major of the golf season. Beginning in 2019, the tournament is played in May on the weekend beforeMemorial Day, as the season's second major following the Masters in April. It is an official money event on thePGA Tour,European Tour, andJapan Golf Tour, with a purse of$11 million for the 100th edition in2018.
In line with the other majors, winning the PGA gains privileges that improve career security. PGA champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors andThe Players Championship for the next five years, and are eligible for the PGA Championship for life. They also earn a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a seven-year membership on theDP World Tour.
The PGA Championship has been held at various venues. Some of the early sites are now quite obscure, but in recent years, the event has generally been played at a small group of celebrated courses.
In 1894, with 41 golf courses operating in the United States, two unofficial national championships foramateur golfers were organized. One was held atNewport Country Club inRhode Island, and the other atSaint Andrew's Golf Club inNew York. In addition, and at the same time as the amateur event, Saint Andrew's conducted an Open championship forprofessional golfers. None of the championships was officially sanctioned by a governing body for American golf, causing considerable controversy among players and organizers. Later in 1894 this led to the formation of theUnited States Golf Association (USGA), which became the first formal golf organization in the country. After the formation of the USGA, golf quickly became a sport of national popularity and importance.[4]
In February 1916 the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) was established inNew York City. One month earlier, the wealthy department store ownerRodman Wanamaker hosted a luncheon with the leading golf professionals of the day at theWykagyl Country Club in nearbyNew Rochelle. The attendees prepared the agenda for the formal organization of the PGA;[5] consequently, golf historians have dubbed Wykagyl "The Cradle of the PGA."[6] The new organization's first president was Robert White, one of Wykagyl's best-known golf professionals.[4]
Thefirst PGA Championship was held in October 1916 atSiwanoy Country Club inBronxville, New York.[7] The winner,Jim Barnes, received $500 and a diamond-studded gold medal donated by Rodman Wanamaker. The2016 winner,Jimmy Walker, earned $1.8 million. The champion is also awarded a replica of the Wanamaker Trophy, which was also donated by Wanamaker, to keep for one year, and a smaller-sized keeper replica Wanamaker Trophy.[8][9]
The PGA Championship was originally amatch play event in the early fall, but it varied from May to December. AfterWorld War II, the championship was usually in late May or late June, then moved to early July in1953 and a few weeks later in1954, with the finals played on Tuesday. As a match play event (with a stroke play qualifier), it was not uncommon for the finalists to play over 200 holes in seven days. The1957 event lost money,[10] and at the PGA meetings in November it was changed tostroke play, starting in1958, with the standard 72-hole format of 18 holes per day for four days, Thursday to Sunday. Networktelevision broadcasters, preferring a large group of well-known contenders on the final day, pressured the PGA of America to make the format change.[11]
During the 1960s, the PGA Championship was played the week afterThe Open Championship five times, making it virtually impossible for players to compete in both majors. In1965, the PGA was contested for the first time in August, and returned in1969, save for a one-year move to late February in1971, played inFlorida. The2016 event was moved to late July, two weeks after theOpen Championship, to accommodate the2016 Summer Olympics in August.[12]
Before the 2017 edition, it was announced that the PGA Championship would be moved to May on the weekend beforeMemorial Day, beginning in 2019. The PGA Tour concurrently announced that it would move itsPlayers Championship back to March the same year; it had been moved from March to May in 2007. The PGA of America cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that theFedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start offootball season in late-August.[13][14][15]
The PGA Championship has normally been played in the eastern half of the United States except eleven times, most recently in2020 atTPC Harding Park inSan Francisco.[16] It was the first for theBay Area, returning to California aftera quarter century. Prior to 2020, it was last played in thePacific time zone in 1998, at Sahalee east of Seattle. (TheMountain time zone has hosted three editions, all in suburbanDenver, in1941,1967, and 1985.) The 103rd PGA Championship was held at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort's Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, South Carolina,[17] and the 104th was held at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[18]
The state ofNew York has hosted the championship thirteen times, followed byOhio (11) andPennsylvania (9).
The tournament was previously promoted with the slogan "Glory's Last Shot". In 2013, the tagline was dropped in favor of "The Season's Final Major", as suggested by PGA Tour commissionerTim Finchem while discussing the allowance of a one-week break in its schedule before theRyder Cup. Finchem had argued that the slogan was not appropriate as it weakened the stature of events that occur after it, such as the PGA Tour'sFedEx Cup playoffs. PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua explained that they had also had discussions with CBS, adding that "it was three entities that all quickly came to the same conclusion that, you know what, there's just not much in that tag line and we don't feel it's doing much for the PGA Championship, so let's not stick with it. Let's think what else is out there."[19][20] For a time, the tournament used the slogan "This is Major" as a replacement.[21][22]
The Wanamaker Trophy, named after businessman and golferRodman Wanamaker, stands nearly 2.5 feet (75 cm) tall and weighs 27 pounds (12 kg). The trophy was lost, briefly, for a few years until it showed up in 1930 in the cellar of L.A. Young and Company. Ironically, this cellar was in the factory which made the clubs for the man responsible for losing it,Walter Hagen. Hagen claimed to have trusted a taxi driver with the precious cargo, but it never returned to his hotel. There is a smaller replica trophy that the champion gets to keep permanently, but the original must be returned for the following years tournament.[23]
The PGA Championship was established for the purpose of providing a high-profile tournament specifically for professional golfers at a time when they were generally not held in high esteem in a sport that was largely run by wealthy amateurs. This origin is still reflected in the entry system for the Championship. It is the only major that does not explicitly invite leadingamateurs to compete (it is possible for amateurs to get into the field, although the only viable ways are by winning one of the other major championships, or winning a PGA Tour event while playing on a sponsor's exemption), and the only one that reserves so many places, 20 of 156, for club professionals. These slots are determined by the top finishers in thePGA Professional Championship, which is held in late April.
The PGA Tour is an elite organization oftournament professionals, but the PGA Championship is still run by the PGA of America, which is mainly a body for club and teaching professionals. The PGA Championship is the only major that does not explicitly grant entry to the top 50 players in theOfficial World Golf Ranking, although special exemptions are commonly given to players in the top 100 (not just top 50) of the ranking who are not already qualified.[27]
As of 2023[update], the qualification criteria are as follows:[28]
The 70 leaders in PGA Championship points list (based on official money earned on the PGA Tour since the previous PGA Championship).
Members of the most recent United States and EuropeanRyder Cup Teams who are ranked the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking as of one week before the start of the tournament.
Any tournament winner co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the previous PGA Championship .
The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above.
The total field is a maximum of 156 players. Vacancies are filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in official money standings).
The table below lists the field sizes and qualification methods for the match play era. All rounds were played over 36 holes except as noted in the table.[30]
Years
Field size
Qualification
18 hole rounds
1916–21
32
sectional*
1922
64
sectional
1st two rounds
1923
64
sectional
1924–34
32
36 hole qualifier
1935–41
64
36 hole qualifier
1st two rounds
1942–45
32
36 hole qualifier
1946–55
64
36 hole qualifier
1st two rounds
1956
128
sectional
1st four rounds
1957
128
sectional
1st four rounds, consolation matches (3rd-8th place)
* In 1921, the field consisted of the defending champion and the top 31 qualifiers from the 1921U.S. Open.
Lowest 72-hole score in relation to par: −20,Jason Day (68-67-66-67=268) in 2015[38]
This is the lowest score in relation to par at any major championship.
Koepka's 2018 score was −16. The 2018 site, Bellerive Country Club, played to par 70, while the 2015 site, the Straits Course at Whistling Straits, played to par 72. (Bellerive played to par 71 when it hosted in 1992, and the Straits Course also played to par 72 when it hosted in 2004 and 2010.)
The PGA Championship is televised in the United States byCBS andESPN. Beginning 2020, ESPN holds rights to early-round and weekend morning coverage, and will air supplemental coverage through its digital subscription serviceESPN+ prior to weekday coverage and during weekend broadcast windows. CBS holds rights to weekend-afternoon coverage. Both contracts run through 2030, with ESPN's contract replacing a prior agreement withTNT. CBS has televised the PGA Championship since 1991, when it replacedABC.[40][41][42] The ESPN telecasts are co-produced withCBS Sports, mirroring the broadcast arrangements used by ESPN for theMasters Tournament.[43] ESPN BET also holds the title of "Official Sports Betting Sponsor" of the PGA Championship.
^abcdThe club has a Rochester postal address, but is located in the adjacent town ofPittsford.
^abcThe course has a Kohler postal address, but is located in the unincorporated community ofHaven.
^abcThe club is in a portion of the postal area ofDuluth that became part of the newly incorporated city ofJohns Creek in 2006. Although the club continues to be served by the Duluth post office, it now states its postal address as Johns Creek.
^abAt that time, the club had a Louisville postal address, but was located in unincorporatedJefferson County. In 2003, the governments of Louisville and Jefferson County merged, putting the club within thepolitical boundaries of Louisville.
^abPacific Palisades is a neighborhood inLos Angeles with its own postal identity.
^The club has a St. Louis postal address, but is located in the suburb ofTown and Country.
^abThese players were British born, but they were based in the United States when they won the PGA Championship, and they became U.S. citizens: Tommy Armour – Born in Scotland but moved to the U.S. in the early 1920s and became a U.S. citizen in 1942. Jock Hutchison – Born in Scotland. He became a U.S. citizen in 1920.
Scottie Scheffler
2025 PGA Championship
