Dates: Aug. 13-16, 2015
Site: Whistling Straits (Straits Course)
Defending Champion: TBA
Purse and Honors:
The 2015 purse will be $10 million, with a winner’s prize of $1.8 Million. The 2015 PGA Champion will have his name inscribed on the Wanamaker Trophy, which is permanently enshrined at the PGA Museum of Golf in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The PGA Champion also receives a replica of the Wanamaker Trophy.
Method of Play: Seventy-two holes of stroke play, four rounds of 18 holes. Following the first 36 holes of play, the field of 156 players will be reduced to the low 70 scorers and ties. Those players will advance to complete the final two rounds. In the event of a tie for first place after 72 holes, there will be a three-hole aggregate-score playoff on holes No. 13, 17 and 18. If a tie still remains, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff beginning on No. 18, and, if necessary, on to holes No. 13, 17 and 18 repeated until a winner is determined.
Eligibility: The total field will be a maximum of 156 players. The entry deadline for exempt players is July 11. Conditional players will be finalized in late July.
Note: All contestants in the Championship (except international players) must be a PGA of America member in good standing. The PGA of America has approved the following list of players eligible to compete in the 97th PGA Championship:
1. All former PGA Champions
2. Winners of the last five Masters (2011 – 2015)
3. Winners of the last five U.S. Opens (2011 – 2015)
4. Winners of the last five Open Championships (2011 – 2015)
5. The 2015 Senior PGA Champion
6. The 15 low scorers and ties in the 2014 PGA Championship
7. The 20 low scorers in the 2015 PGA Professional National Championship
8. The 70 leaders from the PGA Championship Points list* from the 2014 World
9. Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational up to and including the 2014 RBC Canadian Open, ending in July, 2015.
10. Members of the 2014 United States and European Ryder Cup Teams providing they remain within the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings as of July, 2015.
11. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour from the 2014 PGA Championship to the 2015 PGA Championship (does not include pro-am and team competitions)
12. The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above.
13. The balance of the field 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 2014 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational through the 2015 RBC Canadian Open, ending July 2014).
*Note: The PGA Championship points list is comprised of Official Money earned in PGA Tour events within the defined period in categories 8 and 12 above, and is available on pgatour.com.
Television:
CBS and TNT will combine to broadcast 28 hours of live Championship coverage, CBS will broadcast 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday. TNT will broadcast 12 hours on Thursday and Friday and six on Saturday and Sunday. The PGA Championship will be broadcast to 207 countries and territories reaching approximately 673 million households.
PGA Championship Programming (All times are Eastern - Tentative)
First Round, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015 TNT: 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Second Round, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 TNT: 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Third Round, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015 TNT: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. CBS: 2:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Fourth Round, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015 TNT: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. CBS: 2:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Future Sites:
98th PGA Championship
Aug. 2016
Baltusrol Golf Club
Springfield, N.J.
99th PGA Championship
Aug. 2017
Quail Hollow Club
Charlotte, N.C.
100th PGA Championship
Aug. 2018
Bellerive Country Club
St. Louis, Mo.
101st PGA Championship
Aug. 2019
Bethpage Black
Farmington, N.Y.
History:
At the exploratory meeting of The Professional Golfers’ Association of America Jan. 17, 1916, to lay the
building blocks for the foundation of what is today, the world’s largest working sports organization. It was there that the idea for a national championship was conceived. Department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker, who hosted the meeting, would provide a trophy for the competition, as well as an initial purse of $2,580 for the match-play event.
The first PGA Championship was played in 1916 at the Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y. But it would be five years before an American-born PGA Professional claimed the Championship. England’s Jim Barnes won the inaugural Championship, but the event was interrupted for two years by World War I. Barnes came back in 1919 to capture his second consecutive Championship and began his own era of domination. Hagen would go on to post his record-tying five PGA Championships in the 1920s. Gene Sarazen would claim victories in 1922, ‘23 and ‘33.
The baptism of Byron Nelson as one of the finest competitors in PGA Championship history began in 1939 when he was defeated, 1-up by Henry Picard, in the finals. “Lord Byron” reached the finals in four of the next five PGA Championships, and etched his name on the Wanamaker Trophy twice, in 1940 and 1945. The Championship was not played in 1943 because of World War II. During the post-war years, the Wanamaker Trophy added the names of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Chick Harbert, Doug Ford and Jack Burke.
In 1958, the format of the PGA Championship was changed from match play to stroke play. The new era in PGA Championship history added the names of Dow Finsterwald, Bob Rosburg, Jay Hebert and Gary Player to its Champions roster. In 1963, Jack Nicklaus won his first of a record-tying five PGA Championships. Fittingly, Nicklaus tied Hagen’s record with his last PGA Championship triumph in 1980 at Oak Hill Country Club in Hagen’s hometown of Rochester, N.Y.
Over the past seven decades, the PGA Championship has developed into one of the premier sporting events of the world. More than 100,000 people line the fairways of the nation’s finest golf facilities during PGA Championship week to view the strongest, all-professional international field in major championship golf. As it was more than 80 years ago, the Wanamaker Trophy is still prized as one of the golf world’s greatest treasures.
Multiple Winners:
James Barnes (1916, ‘19) Nick Price (1992, ‘94)
Leo Diegel (1928, ‘29) Paul Runyan (1934, ‘38)
Raymond Floyd (1969, ‘82) Gene Sarazen (1922, ‘23, ‘33)
Walter Hagen (1921, ‘24,’25, ‘26, ‘27) Denny Shute (1936, ‘37)
Ben Hogan (1946, ‘48) Vijay Singh (1998, ‘04)
Byron Nelson (1940, ‘45) Sam Snead (1942, ‘49, ‘51)
Larry Nelson (1981, ‘87) Dave Stockton (1970, ‘76)
Jack Nicklaus (1963, ‘71, ‘73, ‘75, ‘80) Lee Trevino (1974, ‘84)
Gary Player (1962, ‘72) Tiger Woods (1999, ‘00, ‘06, ‘07)
Best 72-hole score:
265 (15-under-par) by David Toms
(66-65-65-69) in 2001
266 (14-under-par) by Phil Mickelson
(66-66-66-68) in 2001
267 (17-under-par) by Steve Elkington
(68-67-68-64) in 1995
267 (17-under-par) by Colin Montgomerie
(68-67-67-65) in 1995
269 (11-under-par) by Davis Love III
(66-71-66-66) in 1997
269 (11-under-par) by Nick Price
(67-65-70-67) in 1994
270 (18-under-par) by Tiger Woods
(66-67-70-67) in 2000
270 (18-under-par) by Bob May
(72-66-66-66) in 2000
270 (10-under-par) by Jason Dufner
(68-63-71-68) in 2013
Largest winning margin:
Eight shots by Rory McIlroy in 2012
Seven strokes by Jack Nicklaus in 1980
Lowest final-round score by winner:
64 (7-under-par) by Steve Elkington in 1995
65 (6-under-par) by Jeff Sluman in 1988
65 (5-under-par) by David Graham in 1979
66 (4-under-par) by Davis Love III in 1997
66 (4-under-par) by Bob Rosburg in 1959
66 (6-under-par) by John Mahaffey in 1978
66 (4-under-par) by Davis Love III in 1997
66 (6-under-par) by Rory McIlroy in 2012