TEN things to know about the PGA Championship

This week will see the 105th edition of the PGA Championship and it will be played at Oak Hill Country Club, here are 10 facts you may not know about the major.

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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP FACTS TO KNOW

1. 17 people share the Tournament Record

An astounding 17 players have posted a 63 in PGA Championship history, ranging from 1975 to 2022. Three of those came at Southern Hills Country Club, the most of any course. Five players posting a 63 went on to win. They are in bold below:

Bruce Crampton: 1975, Firestone Country Club

Raymond Floyd: 1982, Southern Hills Country Club

Gary Player: 1984, Shoal Creek Country Club

Vijay Singh: 1993, Inverness Country Club

Brad Faxon: 1995, Riviera Country Club

Michael Bradley: 1995, Riviera Country Club

Jose Maria Olazabal: 2000, Valhalla Golf Club

Mark O’Meara: 2001, Atlanta Athletic Golf Club

Thomas Bjorn: 2005, Baltusrol Golf Club

Tiger Woods: 2007, Southern Hills Country Club

Steve Stricker: 2011, Atlanta Athletic Club

Jason Dufner: 2013, Oak Hill Golf Club

Robert Streb: 2016, Baltusrol Golf Club

Charl Schwartzel: 2018, Bellerive Golf Club

Brooks Koepka: 2018, Bellerive Golf Club

Brooks Koepka: 2019, Bethpage Black

Bubba Watson: 2022, Southern Hills

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2. New York’s hosted more PGA Championships than any state

Including Oak Hill this year, the Empire State has held 13 PGA Championships. Ohio is in second place with 11. Those are the only two states to hold over 10 championships in the major’s history.

3. The first-place check has grown 539,900 percent

In the first-ever PGA Championship in 1916, Jim Barnes’ victory earned him $500 in Bronxville, N.Y. at Siwanoy Country Club. In today’s dollars, that’s worth about $13,915. Last year, Justin Thomas took home $2,700,000, a massive 539,900 percent leap from the early days of the championship. This year’s purse has not yet been announced.

4. Oak Hill’s hosted the second most PGA Championships ever          

Oak Hill’s fourth PGA Championship is the second most in the major’s history. Southern Hills, home of last year’s major, has hosted five times, the most ever holding the tournament.

5. The major was a match-play format for its first 39 events

From 1916 to 1957, with three years missed due to World War I and World War II, the PGA Championship was played in a match-play format. Thirty-two players formed the first-ever field, evolving to 128 contestants in 1957. The last match-play edition of the PGA Championship demanded nine rounds in five days. In 1958, the format changed to stroke play with two cuts.

6. There have been 14 playoffs in tournament history

Justin Thomas’ playoff victory over Will Zalatoris was the 14th playoff that the PGA Championship has ever had. Impressively, the major had three consecutive from 1977-1979, with Lanny Wadkins (1977), John Mahaffey (1978), and David Graham (1979) going to extra holes to decide the Wanamaker Trophy. A playoff this year would mark the fourth time the tournament’s had consecutive playoffs, including 1995 (Steve Elkington) and 1996 (Mark Brooks) along with 2010 (Martin Kaymer) and 2011 (Keegan Bradley). In its past three PGA Championships here, Oak Hill has not had a playoff.

7. Jack Nicklaus’s 1980 win at Oak Hill had the second-biggest margin of victory in PGA Championship history

Nicklaus doused the field with a seven-stroke win at Oak Hill in 1980. It was the 17th major title of his career and second only to Rory McIlroy’s 2012 eight-shot win at Kiawah Island.

The other two victories at Oak Hill were two strokes by Jason Dufner (2013) and Shaun Micheel (2003).

TROPHY BACKGROUND

8.   The Wanamaker Trophy came from New York

Lewis Rodman Wanamaker, hailing from New York City, donated the trophy after it was manufactured in the Big Apple by Dieges & Clust. The same company created the Heisman Trophy 18 years later. It weighs 34 pounds.

9. Over 2000 different players have participated in a PGA Championship

Entering this year, 2,314 players made at least one start in a PGA Championship during the stroke-play era. Since the major’s inception in 1916, 2,742 people have teed it up at a PGA Championship.

10.  Oak Hill is the only course to host these marquee tournaments

Oak Hill has hosted the U.S. Open (1956, 1968), PGA Championship (1980, 2003, 2013, 2023), Ryder Cup (1995), U.S. Amateur (1949), Senior U.S. Open (1984), and Senior PGA Championship (2008, 2019). It’s the only course to have hosted all of those championships.

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This article was originally published by Wade Pretorius.