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 peaked 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, 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, which returned in 2006. The tournament was televised by TBS Sports and CBS Sports.

Course layout

West Course
Lengths of the course for previous majors:

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 14, 1997
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1John Daly66−4
T1Davis Love III66−4
3Robert Allenby67−3
T4Paul Azinger68−2
T4Tom Kite68−2
T4Justin Leonard68−2
T4Shigeki Maruyama68−2
T4Greg Norman68−2
T4Chris Perry68−2
T4Paul Stankowski68−2
T4Bob Tway68−2

Second round

Friday, August 15, 1997
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Lee Janzen69-67=136−4
2Davis Love III66-71=137−3
T3Phil Blackmar70-68=138−2
T3Fred Couples71-67=138−2
T3Justin Leonard68-70=138−2
T3Jeff Maggert69-69=138−2
T3Shigeki Maruyama68-70=138−2
T3Phil Mickelson69-69=138−2
T3Costantino Rocca69-69=138−2
T10John Daly66-73=139−1
T10Greg Norman68-71=139−1
T10Chris Perry68-71=139−1
T10Vijay Singh73-66=139−1
T10Paul Stankowski68-71=139−1

Third round

Saturday, August 16, 1997
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Justin Leonard68-70-65=203−7
T1Davis Love III66-71-66=203−7
T3Lee Janzen69-67-74=210E
T3Tom Kite68-71-71=210E
T5Fred Couples71-67-73=211+1
T5David Duval70-70-71=211+1
T5Scott Hoch71-72-68=211+1
T5Jeff Maggert69-69-73=211+1
T5Phil Mickelson69-69-73=211+1
T5Tiger Woods70-70-71=211+1

Final round

Sunday, August 17, 1997
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Davis Love III66-71-66-66=269−11470,000
2Justin Leonard68-70-65-71=274−6280,000
3Jeff Maggert69-69-73-65=276−4175,000
4Lee Janzen69-67-74-69=279−1125,000
5Tom Kite68-71-71-70=280E105,000
T6Phil Blackmar70-68-74-69=281+185,000
T6Jim Furyk69-72-72-68=281+185,000
T6Scott Hoch71-72-68-70=281+185,000
9Tom Byrum69-73-70-70=282+270,000
T10Tom Lehman69-72-72-70=283+360,000
T10Scott McCarron74-71-67-71=283+360,000
T10Joey Sindelar72-71-71-69=283+360,000

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