PGA Championship countdown: Stats and facts
Everything you need to know about the second Major Championship of the year
Valhalla Golf Club is set to host the PGA Championship for the fourth time next week with the Jack Nicklaus-designed masterpiece offering a stunning backdrop for the second men’s Major Championship of the year. Here we take a look at some of the key stats and facts in the only Major that is exclusively for professional players.
Wanamaker Trophy
One of the largest and grandest trophies in the sporting world, this piece of silverware is named after Rodman Wanamaker, who owned several department stores and was also a key player in the founding of the PGA of America. The trophy stands 28 inches high and weighs a whopping 27 pounds.
99
The PGA Championship perennially showcases the strongest field in golf (a record equalling 99 of the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) competed last year) and also features the top 20 PGA Club Professionals. No amateurs can compete in the event.
3
Valhalla Golf Club has hosted the tournament on three previous occasions. The first two were settled by a play-off with Mark Brooks coming out on top in 1996 before Tiger Woods needed extra holes to win four years later. Rory McIlroy beat Phil Mickelson by a stroke in 2014, which remains the last time the Northern Irishman tasted Major silverware.
8
Rory McIlroy’s eight-shot victory at Kiawah Island in 2012 remains the biggest winning margin at the tournament.
128
With a 63 and a 65 in his first two rounds, Brooks Koepka set the lowest opening 36-hole score (128) in Major championship history at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York. The American went on to win the tournament for a second time, successfully defending the title he won in 2018.
5
Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen hold the record for most PGA Championship victories. Hagen was victorious in 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927 while Nicklaus won in 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980.
50
Phil Mickelson holds the record for the oldest winner of a Major after triumphing at the 2021 PGA Championship when he was 50 years, 11 months and 7 days old.
6
There have only been six European winners in 105 editions of the event – Jim Barnes, Jock Hutchinson, Tommy Armour, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy (x2). The last eight champions have all been American.
-20
Jason Day became the first player to finish on 20-under par in Major Championship history in the 2015 edition at Whistling Straits. Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson have since equaled that total at the 2016 Open and 2020 Masters respectively.
A first for Asia
In 2009 South Korea’s Y.E Yang etched his name in the history books with a come-from-behind victory over 54-hold leader Tiger Woods at Hazeltine to become the first Asian-born male player to win a Major title.