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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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1997 PGA Championship

The 1997 PGA Championship was the 79th PGA Championship, held August 14–17 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, a suburb northeast of New York City. Davis Love III won his only major championship, five strokes ahead of runner-up Justin Leonard, winner of the 1997 Open Championship.

The last few holes on Sunday were played in a steady rain. However, when Love reached the final green with the tournament wrapped up, the sun peeked through the clouds and a rainbow appeared in the sky. Many took it as a symbol of Love finally winning his first major after several close calls and of his late father, a PGA professional, approvingly looking down from above.

Love's performance is remembered as one of the best in modern major championship history. Only two players finished within 10 shots of him. The sports analytics expert Bill Barnwell statistically identified the victory as the second most dominant win of the modern era (1960–2011), only behind Tiger Woods' 15-shot triumph at the 2000 U.S. Open.

This was the first PGA Championship at the West Course and the fifth major; it previously hosted four U.S. Opens (1929, 1959, 1974, and 1984), which later returned in 2006 and 2020. The tournament was televised by TBS Sports and CBS Sports.

Course layout

West Course

Hole Name Yards Par Hole Name Yards Par
1 Genesis 446 4 10 Pulpit 190 3
2 Elm 411 4 11 Billows 396 4
3 Pinnacle 216 3 12 Cape 540 5
4 Sound View 460 4 13 White Mule 212 3
5 Long Lane 515 5 14 Shamrock 432 4
6 El 324 4 15 Pyramid 423 4
7 Babe-in-the-Woods 161 3 16 Hells Bells 457 4
8 Arena 442 4 17 Well-Well 449 4
9 Meadow 467 4 18 Revelations 448 4
Out 3,442 35 In 3,545 35
Source: Total 6,987 70

Lengths of the course for previous majors:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 14, 1997

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States John Daly 66 −4
United States Davis Love III
3 Australia Robert Allenby 67 −3
T4 United States Paul Azinger 68 −2
United States Tom Kite
United States Justin Leonard
Japan Shigeki Maruyama
Australia Greg Norman
United States Chris Perry
United States Paul Stankowski
United States Bob Tway

Second round

Friday, August 15, 1997

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Lee Janzen 69-67=136 −4
2 United States Davis Love III 66-71=137 −3
T3 United States Phil Blackmar 70-68=138 −2
United States Fred Couples 71-67=138
United States Justin Leonard 68-70=138
United States Jeff Maggert 69-69=138
Japan Shigeki Maruyama 68-70=138
United States Phil Mickelson 69-69=138
Italy Costantino Rocca 69-69=138
T10 United States John Daly 66-73=139 −1
Australia Greg Norman 68-71=139
United States Chris Perry 68-71=139
Fiji Vijay Singh 73-66=139
United States Paul Stankowski 68-71=139

Third round

Saturday, August 16, 1997

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Justin Leonard 68-70-65=203 −7
United States Davis Love III 66-71-66=203
T3 United States Lee Janzen 69-67-74=210 E
United States Tom Kite 68-71-71=210
T5 United States Fred Couples 71-67-73=211 +1
United States David Duval 70-70-71=211
United States Scott Hoch 71-72-68=211
United States Jeff Maggert 69-69-73=211
United States Phil Mickelson 69-69-73=211
United States Tiger Woods 70-70-71=211

Final round

Sunday, August 17, 1997

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Davis Love III 66-71-66-66=269 −11 470,000
2 United States Justin Leonard 68-70-65-71=274 −6 280,000
3 United States Jeff Maggert 69-69-73-65=276 −4 175,000
4 United States Lee Janzen 69-67-74-69=279 −1 125,000
5 United States Tom Kite 68-71-71-70=280 E 105,000
T6 United States Phil Blackmar 70-68-74-69=281 +1 85,000
United States Jim Furyk 69-72-72-68=281
United States Scott Hoch 71-72-68-70=281
9 United States Tom Byrum 69-73-70-70=282 +2 70,000
T10 United States Tom Lehman 69-72-72-70=283 +3 60,000
United States Scott McCarron 74-71-67-71=283
United States Joey Sindelar 72-71-71-69=283

Source:

References

  1. ^ "Tournament Info for: 1997 PGA Championship". PGA of America. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  2. ^ Diaz, Jaime (August 25, 1997). "At long last, Love". Sports Illustrated. p. 28. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (August 18, 1997). "Color this one special". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. B1.
  4. ^ Barnwell, Bill (June 24, 2011). "Relative Dominance". Grantland. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  5. ^ D'Amato, Gary (August 14, 1997). "1997 PGA Championship: course". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. p. 6C.
  6. ^ "1997 PGA Championship". databasegolf.com. Retrieved July 28, 2012.