History Of PGA Championship Golf

At the exploratory meeting of The Professionals Golfers' Association of America on January 17, 1916, 34 other golf professionals joined the legendary Walter Hagen 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.

For some players, it was their only victory. For some of golf's legendary players, it was the major championship that proved their reputation as champion and for others, such as Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, it was the one championship they could never win.

"The PGA Championship: The Season's Final Major" will tell the history of one of golf's most coveted titles from 1916 through 2007.

The first PGA Championship was played in 1916 at 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.

Denny Shute captured the PGA Championship title in 1936 and 1937, becoming the first back-to-back winner before Tiger Woods in 2000. 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.

In 1999, a 23-year-old named Tiger Woods became the fifth youngest winner in PGA Championship history when he outlasted Spain's 19-year-old Sergio Garcia by one stroke at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club.

Woods made the PGA Championship's return to Valhalla Golf Club in 2000 perhaps the most thrilling climax in history. In the process, Woods became the first back-to-back PGA Champion since Denny Shute.

In 2001 at The Atlanta Athletic Club, unheralded David Toms conquered the strongest field in golf history by finishing with a 15-under-par 265 to set a major championship record for 72 holes.

Rich Beem's stunning back-nine charge elevated him past Tiger Woods to the title in the 84th PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., and Shaun Micheel held off Chad Campbell on Sunday at brutally difficult Oak Hill Country Club to win the 85 th PGA Championship for his first career victory, icing the win with a spectacular tap-in birdie on No. 18.

Over the past nine decades, the PGA Championship has developed into one of the premier sporting events in 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.