The PGA Championship is the second major on the golf calendar. Moved up from August to May five years ago, the second major season is rich in history, and its inception was forged by the need to elevate the status of professional golfers. Rodman Wanamaker was the brain behind the establishment of the Professional Golfers Association of America. It was Wanamaker’s idea to host a professional-only golf tournament.

At that time, pro golfers neither received the treatment they do today nor did youngsters consider that to be a profession. Hence, the first PGA Championship was held in 1916. But despite its long history, the PGA Championship is also a tournament that has gone through the most shakeups and changes in its 100-odd years of history.

The PGA Championship followed a match-play format

The PGA Championship followed a match-play format for a better part of its early years. For 39 editions between 1916 and 1957, barring three years for World War I and World War II, the PGA Championship was a match-play event. Only 32 professionals took part in the first edition. That grew to 128 in 1957. The following year, there were two cuts in the stroke play format.

Jim Barnes, the English golfer who won three modern-day majors, claimed the first PGA Championship title. He earned $500 and a medal. Barnes successfully defended his title three years later, when the PGA Championship resumed after two lost years because of World War I. The final match-play event was won by Lionel Herbert with a 2&1 victory over Dow Finsterwald.

Why was the PGA Championship moved up to April?

The PGA Championship has undergone some schedule changes in recent years. Traditionally, the PGA Championship took place in August. In 2016, when the Olympics committee introduced golf after 112 years, the PGA major moved to July after the Open Championship. The rumor was that it was scheduled to change for good some time later.

While the PGA Championship was played in August both in 2017 and 2018, a decisive change was made in 2019. A heavy shake-up of the PGA Tour schedule to stop losing viewers to NFL and College football saw the PGA Championship move to May. THE PLAYERS moved to March, and the PGA Championship became the second major instead of the US Open.

The strange history of the ‘lost and found’ Wanamaker Trophy

The PGA Championship receives the Wanamaker trophy in addition to the paycheck. 28 inches tall. 27 pounds of weight. 27 inches from one side to the other. 10 and a half inches in diameter. It’s not just one of the best, but one of the biggest trophies in golf as well. And, like the major itself, it comes with a history.

Rodman Wanamaker, the architect of Professional Golfers of America and the host of the first tournament, ordered the trophy to be presented to the first winner. Wanamaker first established the PGA with a group of friends, including pro golfer Walter Hagen, who dominated the PGA Championship in its matchplay days.

Now, Hagen, apparently, lost it. Apparently, because the veteran claimed to have lost it. But the whereabouts were a little vague. Per Hagen, he jumped out of a cab, asking the cabbie to deliver the trophy to his hotel. But it never reached. It was not a problem because Hagen was the winner between 1924 and 1927. In 1926, when asked where the trophy was, he claimed he didn’t bring it with him because he wouldn’t surrender it any time soon.

However, two years later, Hagen was finally bettered by Leo Diegel. The 11-time Major winner finally had to accept that he had lost it. The funny thing was that the trophy was, however, found five years later.

In 1931, the PGA announced a janitor had found the trophy while cleaning the basement of the Walter Hagen Golf Products Corporation building. The trophy was inside a huge box lying there. “The taxi driver probably dropped it at the hotel, and the hotel sent it to his company headquarters,” Paul Wold, the Rochester Club historian, told the New York Times. Nevertheless, the PGA offers only a 90% replica of the trophy to the winner, while the actual one is kept inside the clubhouse.

Aside from the trophy, the winner gets a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship and a five-year exemption into all three other majors. A five-year PGA Tour card is also guaranteed with that. Also, a spot in the next year’s PLAYERS and the Sentry the next year. But they have to be a member of the PGA Tour.

Where will the PGA Championship be held in 2024?

This year’s PGA Championship will be held at Valhalla Golf Club. This will be the fourth time the PGA Championship returns to the Jack Nicklaus-designed course. Valhalla was the venue of the 2008 Ryder Cup.

The par 72 layout is heavily lined with trees by the fairway. The rolling greens and the sudden elevation changes make it a little trickier, often favoring risk-reward gameplay. The signature par-4, 13th hole, features a dogleg, but that’s only the first part of the challenge. An island green on top of the rolling hills demands precision and flight control.

Brooks Koepka will head to Kentucky to defend his title. One more will put him on the same pedestal as Tiger Woods, who has won four major PGA Championship titles. Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen share the top spot with five titles each. At Valhalla, the 18-hole course record stands at 63, set by Jose Maria Olazabal in 2000. Koepka holds the lowest scoring record at 264; however, the lowest score in relation to par is set by Jason Day at 20-under.