1928 PGA Championship
Prior to the finals, Diegel defeated both Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, the winners of the previous seven PGA Championships, in the two preceding matches. He prevailed 2 and 1 over nemesis Hagen in the quarterfinals and 9 and 8 over Sarazen in the semifinals. Diegel had lost to Hagen in the 1925 quarterfinals (40 holes) and the 1926 finals.
Five-time champion Hagen had won 22 consecutive matches and four straight titles at the PGA Championship. Prior to his loss to Diegel in the quarterfinals, his match record in the 1920s was 32–1 (.970), falling only to Sarazen in 38 holes in the 1923 finals.
The Five Farms Course, now the East Course, was designed by A. W. Tillinghast and opened two years earlier in September 1926.
Diegel continued the tradition of repeat champions and successfully defended his title in 1929.
Format
The match play format at the PGA Championship in 1928 called for 12 rounds (216 holes) in six days:
- Monday – 36-hole stroke play qualifier
- top 32 professionals advanced to match play
- Tuesday – first round – 36 holes
- Wednesday – second round – 36 holes
- Thursday – quarterfinals – 36 holes
- Friday – semifinals – 36 holes
- Saturday – final – 36 holes
Final results
Saturday, October 6, 1928
| Place | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Leo Diegel
|
| 2 | Al Espinosa
|
| T3 | Gene Sarazen
|
| Horton Smith
| |
| T5 | Perry Del Vecchio
|
| Ed Dudley
| |
| Walter Hagen
| |
| Jock Hutchison
|
Final eight bracket
| Quarter-finals October 4 | Semi-finals October 5 | Finals October 6 | ||||||||||||
| Leo Diegel | 2&1 | |||||||||||||
| Walter Hagen | ||||||||||||||
| Leo Diegel | 9&8 | |||||||||||||
| Gene Sarazen | ||||||||||||||
| Gene Sarazen | 7&6 | |||||||||||||
| Ed Dudley | ||||||||||||||
| Leo Diegel | 6&5 | |||||||||||||
| Al Espinosa | ||||||||||||||
| Al Espinosa | 5&4 | |||||||||||||
| Jock Hutchison | ||||||||||||||
| Al Espinosa | 6&5 | |||||||||||||
| Horton Smith | ||||||||||||||
| Horton Smith | 2up | |||||||||||||
| Perry Del Vecchio | ||||||||||||||