1977 PGA Championship


The 1977 PGA Championship was the 59th PGA Championship, played August 11–14 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Lanny Wadkins, 27, won his only major championship in a sudden-death playoff over Gene Littler. It was the first playoff at the PGA Championship in ten years and was the first-ever sudden-death playoff in a stroke-play major championship. The last was 36 years earlier at the 1941 PGA Championship, when the 36-hole final match went to two extra holes.
Prior to the start of the championship, the irons of several top players were deemed to have non-conforming groove dimensions, most notably those of Tom Watson. He had won the Masters and British Open earlier that year, and was attempting to become the first to win three majors in the same year since Ben Hogan in 1953. Others with non-conforming irons included major winners Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin, Gary Player, and Tom Weiskopf. The rule limiting groove width to had been around for decades. Watson shot an opening round of 68 with an old set of borrowed irons, and finished at 286, four strokes back in a tie for sixth. He won eight majors but never a PGA Championship; his only win in the U.S. Open came here at Pebble Beach in 1982.
Four-time champion Jack Nicklaus finished one stroke out of the playoff at 283. He won the previous major at this course, the U.S. Open in 1972, and was runner-up to Watson at the next in 1982.
This was the 13th consecutive professional major won by American-born golfers. The streak began with Lee Trevino's victory at the 1974 PGA Championship and continued as the Americans swept the majors in 1975, 1976, and the previous majors in 1977. This remains the second longest major-winning streak for American golfers. The longest was in the 1940s and ended with Lew Worsham's win at the 1947 U.S. Open.
This was the second major championship at Pebble Beach, which had hosted the U.S. Open in 1972. The U.S. Open returned in 1982, 1992, 2000, 2010, and 2019. It was only the second PGA Championship in California and the first as a stroke-play competition; the previous was in December 1929 in Los Angeles at Hillcrest. The 1962 event was originally awarded to Brentwood in L.A., but was moved to Philadelphia at Aronimink.
The fairways at Pebble Beach were extremely dry, due to an extended drought, in its third year in northern California.

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 11, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Gene Littler67−5
T2Mark Hayes68−4
T2Jerry McGee68−4
T2Tom Watson68−4
T5George Cadle69−3
T5Jack Nicklaus69−3
T5Lanny Wadkins69−3
T8George Archer70−2
T8Charles Coody70−2
T8John Lister70−2
T8Roger Maltbie70−2
T8Johnny Miller70−2
T8Fuzzy Zoeller70−2

Second round

Friday, August 12, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Gene Littler67-69=136−8
2Jerry McGee68-70=138−6
T3Jack Nicklaus69-71=140−4
T3Lanny Wadkins69-71=140−4
T5Charles Coody70-71=141−3
T5Al Geiberger71-70=141−3
T5Joe Inman72-69=141−3
T5Tom Watson68-73=141−3
T9George Cadle69-73=142−2
T9Gil Morgan74-68=142−2
T9Fuzzy Zoeller70-72=142−2

Third round

Saturday, August 13, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Gene Littler67-69-70=206−10
2Jack Nicklaus69-71-70=210−6
3Charles Coody70-71-70=211−5
T4George Cadle69-73-70=212−4
T4Gil Morgan74-68-70=212−4
T4Jerry Pate73-70-69=212−4
T4Lanny Wadkins69-71-72=212−4
T4Tom Watson68-73-71=212−4
T9Miller Barber77-68-69=214−2
T9Billy Casper73-71-70=214−2
T9Al Geiberger71-70-73=214−2
T9Joe Inman72-69-73=214−2
T9Don January75-69-70=214−2
T9Leonard Thompson72-73-69=214−2

Final round

Sunday, August 14, 1977
Littler, 47, was the leader in each of the first three rounds and entered Sunday at 206, with a four-shot lead over Jack Nicklaus. One-under on the front nine, Littler staggered on the back with a five-over 41. After the turn, he made five bogeys in six holes, then rallied with pars on the three finishing holes to make the playoff with a 76. Wadkins started the round six strokes back and shot a 70, which included a birdie on the par-5 18th hole to get to six-under for the championship. As the clubhouse leader, he waited for the final pairing of Nicklaus and Littler. Tied for the lead with two holes remaining, Nicklaus bogeyed the par-3 17th to miss the playoff by a stroke. He had famously birdied the same hole in the final round of the 1972 U.S. Open, which he won by three strokes.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
T1Gene Littler67-69-70-76=282−6Playoff
T1Lanny Wadkins69-71-72-70=282−6Playoff
3Jack Nicklaus69-71-70-73=283−515,000
4Charles Coody70-71-70-73=284−412,000
5Jerry Pate73-70-69-73=285−310,000
T6Al Geiberger71-70-73-72=286−27,300
T6Lou Graham71-73-71-71=286−27,300
T6Don January75-69-70-72=286−27,300
T6Jerry McGee68-70-77-71=286−27,300
T6Tom Watson68-73-71-74=286−27,300

Source:

Playoff

The sudden-death playoff began on the par-4 first hole, where Wadkins missed the green, chipped from the heavy rough to and saved par to tie. At the second hole, both reached the green of the par-5 in two shots, narrowly missed eagle putts, and tapped in for birdies. At the third hole, both missed the green in the heavy rough. Littler's difficult chip left him for a par four, while Wadkins got his chip to within five feet. After Littler missed to the right, Wadkins rolled his in for the win.
The championship had gone without a playoff since 1967. The seventh and last sudden-death playoff was in 1996; the format was changed to a three-hole aggregate, first used in 2000.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Lanny Wadkins4-4-4−145,000
2Gene Littler4-4-xE25,000