1978 PGA Championship

August 2023 1978 PGA Championship August 3–6, 1978 Oakmont, Pennsylvania Oakmont Country Club PGA of America PGA Tour 71 6989 ydhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7wZFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6uEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2030%2C1075464 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon wire services Watson leads a PGA without Jack by four August 5, 1978 1Bhttp://www.pgamediaguide.com/pgachampionship_detail.cfm?tournament_id=404&date=1978&tourn_name_id=2 PGA.com Tournament Info for: 1978 PGA Championship May 31, 2013 November 30, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121130083229/http://www.pgamediaguide.com/pgachampionship_detail.cfm?tournament_id=404&date=1978&tourn_name_id=2 dead 149 players, 70 after cut 148 (+6) $300,240 $50,000 USA John Mahaffey 276 (−8), playoff 1977 1979 USA#USA Pennsylvania yes Oakmont Location in the United States##Location in Pennsylvania 40.526 -79.827 type:event_region:US-PA inline,title The 1978 PGA Championship was the 60th PGA Championship, played August 3–6 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. John Mahaffey won his only major championship in a sudden-death playoff over Jerry Pate and Tom Watson. Watson led the tournament each day and held a five-shot lead after 54 holes, but he faltered on Sunday with a 73 (+2) in his best opportunity for a PGA Championship, the only major he has never won. Pate had a four-foot (1.3 m) putt for a par and the victory on the 72nd hole, but it lipped out. After opening with a four-over 75 on Thursday, Mahaffey rebounded to go 12-under for the next three rounds, including a five-under 66 in the final round to gain the seven strokes on Watson. He had a history of hard luck in majors: at the U.S. Open, he lost the 18-hole playoff in 1975 and was the 54-hole leader in 1976, won by tour rookie Pate. Mahaffey broke that streak when he birdied the second extra hole to win the playoff at Oakmont.https://www.si.com/vault/1978/08/14/822876/jumping-for-joy-it-was-a-long-time-coming-and-no-one-deserved-it-more-than-john-mahaffey-who-put-his-troubles-behind-him-and-won-the-pga-championship-in-sudden-death Sports Illustrated Jenkins Dan Jumping for joy August 14, 1978 16 It was the second of three consecutive playoffs at the PGA Championship. Like Arnold Palmer, Watson won numerous majors but never the PGA Championship, the only leg missing for a career grand slam. At this time he had won three of his eight majors; his next best finish at the PGA Championship came fifteen years later in 1993, placing fifth at Inverness. Pate finished in the top five for the third straight year (and would again the next year) but never won another major. Jack Nicklaus, age 38, shot a 79 in the first roundhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7gZFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6uEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1604%2C982471 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon Associated Press Nicklaus scuffles around in 79 in the PGA August 4, 1978 1Dhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iIBIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5768%2C639611 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Axelrod Phil Dame Oakmont plays Jack August 4, 1978 11 and missed the cut by five strokes in one of his worst performances in a major. It was his only missed cut in a major the entire 1970s decade. Four-time champion Nicklaus was a pre-tournament favorite: in his previous majors at Oakmont (two U.S. Opens), he won in 1962, his first major and first win as a professional, and tied for fourth in 1973. At the previous year's PGA Championship at Pebble Beach, he finished third, one stroke out of the playoff. This was the eighth major held at Oakmont and its third PGA Championship; the previous two in 1922 and 1951 were match play events. Course layout Oakmont Country Club Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4693434255613792014342554803,5474623716031853604532303224563,4426,989Par444543435364453443443571 Lengths of the course for previous major championships: 6921 yd, par 71 - 1973 U.S. Open 6894 yd, par 71 - 1962 U.S. Open 6916 yd, par 72 - 1953 U.S. Open 6882 yd, par 72 - 1951 PGA Championship6981 yd, par 72 - 1935 U.S. Open 6965 yd, par 72 - 1927 U.S. Open 6707 yd, par 74 - 1922 PGA Championship Before 1962, the 1st hole was played as a par 5. Round summaries First round Thursday, August 3, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 USA Tom Watson 67 −42 USA Dave Stockton 68 −3T3 USA Dave Hill 69 −2 USA Ben Crenshaw USA Johnny Miller USA Lee Trevino T7 USA Grier Jones 70 −1 USA Phil Hancock USA Lanny Wadkins USA Mike Sullivan USA Mike Morley USA Billy Kratzert USA Jerry McGee USA Rod Funseth USA Craig Stadler Second round Friday, August 4, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 USA Tom Watson 67-69=136 −6T2 USA Tom Weiskopf 73-67=140 −2 USA Joe Inman 72-68=140 USA Ben Crenshaw 69-71=1405 USA Johnny Miller 69-72=141 −1T6 USA John Mahaffey 75-67=142E USA Bobby Nichols 75-67=142 USA Bob Zender 73-69=142 USA Jerry Pate 72-70=142 USA Tom Purtzer 72-70=142 USA Hubert Green 71-71=142 USA Lee Trevino 69-73=142 Source: Third round Saturday, August 5, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 USA Tom Watson 67-69-67=203 −102 USA Jerry Pate 72-70-66=208 −5T3 USA Joe Inman 72-68-69=209 −4 USA Tom Weiskopf 73-67-69=2095 USA John Mahaffey 75-67-68=210 −36 USA Craig Stadler 70-74-67=211 −2 7 USA Lee Trevino 69-73-70=212 −1T8 USA Gil Morgan 76-71-66=213 E USA Kermit Zarley 75-71-67=213 USA Phil Hancock 70-73-70=213 USA Johnny Miller 69-72-72=213 Source:https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8AZFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6uEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3373%2C1483344 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon UPI Watson has all but wrapped up the PGA August 6, 1978 B1 Final round Sunday, August 6, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 USA John Mahaffey 75-67-68-66=276 −8 Playoff USA Jerry Pate 72-70-66-68=276 USA Tom Watson 67-69-67-73=276T4 USA Gil Morgan 76-71-66-67=280 −4 14,500 USA Tom Weiskopf 73-67-69-71=2806 USA Craig Stadler 70-74-67-71=282 -2 10,000T7 USA Andy Bean 72-72-70-70=284 E 8,000 AUS Graham Marsh 72-74-68-70=284 USA Lee Trevino 69-73-70-72=28410 USA Fuzzy Zoeller 75-69-73-68=285 +1 6,500 Source:http://www.databasegolf.com/tourneys/tournament_byyear.htm?yr=1978&tid=22 databasegolf.com 1978 PGA Championship July 1, 2012https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8QZFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6uEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4213%2C1863218 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon wire services Mahaffey healthy, wealthy and alive again August 7, 1978 B1 Playoff The sudden death playoff began on the front nine at hole #1, a par-4 which all three parred.After Watson and Pate could not birdie hole #2, Mahaffey sunk a 12 ft m 1 on birdie putt to win the title.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ioBIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6710%2C889229 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Parascenzo Marino Mahaffey wins PGA in 3-way playoff August 7, 1978 11 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 USA John Mahaffey 4-3−150,000T2 USA Jerry Pate 4-x E25,000 USA Tom Watson 4-x References External links PGA.com https://web.archive.org/web/20130813115433/http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2004/history_1978.html August 13, 2013 – 1978 PGA Championship 1978 Category:PGA Championship Category:Golf tournaments in Pennsylvania PGA Championship PGA Championship PGA Championship PGA Championship