The PGA Championship: The Season's Final Major
When Tom Kerrigan stepped up to the first tee at Siwanoy Country Club for the inaugural PGA Championship in 1916, he never could have imagined that it would become one of the most coveted titles in the history of the game. Jim Barnes, the first Champion, won $500 and a diamond medal. In 2004, 156 players will compete for over $6 million in prize money. Nearly a quarter of a million spectators will attend the event on site, and the Championship will be broadcast to over 370 million viewers in 160 territories and countries.Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Lee Trevino, Nick Price, Tiger Woods, and dozens of others have their names engraved on the Wanamaker Trophy, named in honor of department store manager Rodman Wanamaker who helped start The PGA of America, the host of the event. On Sunday at The PGA, golfers face their last opportunity to make history in a major championship each year.This is the first book to tell the story of the event. Six men dominated the first 13 years of The PGA Championship. In the next 13, there were 11 different champions. The early winners were journeymen, mainly club professionals who balanced tournament careers with their responsibilities at golf courses. Only a handful of players, namely Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, gained enough prominence to negotiate time off to play in exhibition and tournaments.This changes in the 1940s with the arrival of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson. These three men, who won a combined 21 majors during their careers, ushered in the modern era of American golf. Already deemed golf’s fourth major&mdash;along with the Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open&mdash;The PGA Championship was transformed from a match-play to a stroke-play event in 1958 and enjoyed a period of explosive growth.Like Walter Hagen before him, Jack Nicklaus dominated The PGA Championship and the world of golf. His 1973 win over Bruce Crampton gave him 14 major championship titles, surpassing Bobby Jones’ record set in 1930. When he won in 1980, he tied the record of five victories set by Hagen in The PGA over a half a century earlier. In the Foreword, Nicklaus explains that some of the toughest tests in his career came at The PGA.Recently, the PGA Championship has boasted some of the best finishes in the majors. From Bob Tway’s bunker shop on the 18th in 1986 to the epic duels between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in 1999 and Bob May in 2000, to the surprise wins of John Daly, David Toms, Rich Beem, and Shaun Micheel, The PGA remains “glory’s last shop” for players and fans each year.