Arnold Daniel Palmer was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and the circuit now known as PGA Tour Champions. Nicknamed "The King", Palmer was one of golf's most popular stars and seen as a trailblazer, the first superstar of the sport's television age, which began in the 1950s.
The Professional Golfers' Association of America is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf.
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major golf championships.
Jack William Nicklaus, nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is a retired American professional golfer and golf course designer. He is widely considered to be either the greatest or one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won 117 professional tournaments in his career. Over a quarter-century, he won a record 18 major championships, three more than second-placed Tiger Woods. Nicklaus focused on the major championships—the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship—and played a selective schedule of regular PGA Tour events. He competed in 164 major tournaments, more than any other player, and finished with 73 PGA Tour victories, third behind Sam Snead (82) and Woods (82).
Thomas Sturges Watson is an American retired professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions, formerly on the PGA Tour.
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for a total of 97 weeks. His 41 professional wins include 30 victories on the European Tour and six major championships: three Open Championships and three Masters.
John Laurence Miller is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ranked second in the world on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in both 1974 and 1975 behind Jack Nicklaus. Miller won 25 PGA Tour events, including two majors. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. He was the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, a position he held from January 1990 to February 2019. He is also an active golf course architect.
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the major championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the most prestigious tournaments in golf. Historically, the national open and amateur championships of Great Britain and the United States were regarded as the majors. With the rise of professional golf in the middle of the twentieth century, the majors came to refer to the most prestigious professional tournaments.
The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large neighborhood called Muirfield Village, which includes a 1999 bronze sculpture of Nicklaus mentoring a young golfer located in the wide median of Muirfield Drive.
Raymond Loran Floyd is an American retired professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour, including four majors and four senior majors. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.
William Earl Casper Jr. was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.
The Players Championship is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The Players Championship at one point offered the highest purse of any tournament in golf. The field usually includes the top 50 players in the world rankings, but, unlike the major championships, it is owned by the PGA Tour and not an official event on other tours.
The following is a partial timeline of the history of golf.
Robert Herman Nichols is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1964.
The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21, 2008, in the United States at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Team USA won 161⁄2 - 111⁄2 to end the streak of three successive victories for Europe. This was USA's largest margin of victory since 1981 and the first time since 1979 that the Americans had held the lead after every session of play. The team captains were Paul Azinger for the US and Nick Faldo for Europe.
The 2000 PGA Championship was the 82nd PGA Championship, held August 17–20 at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. It was the second time for the event at Valhalla, which hosted four years earlier in 1996. Tiger Woods won his second straight PGA Championship and fifth major in a three-hole playoff over Bob May. Woods and May finished at 18 under par to set the PGA Championship record to par, later equaled by Woods in 2006. It was the first time since 1937 that a PGA Championship title was successfully defended, and the first as a stroke play event. Woods and May were five shots ahead of third-place finisher Thomas Bjørn.
The 1996 PGA Championship was the 78th PGA Championship, held August 8–11 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Mark Brooks won his only major championship with a birdie at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Kentucky native Kenny Perry. Defending champion Steve Elkington was a stroke out of the playoff, in a tie for third. It was the second consecutive and final sudden-death playoff at the PGA Championship, which changed to a three-hole aggregate format, first used in 2000 at Valhalla.
The 2014 PGA Championship was the 96th PGA Championship, played August 7–10 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. This was the third PGA Championship at Valhalla, which previously hosted in 1996 and 2000, both won in playoffs, as well as the Ryder Cup in 2008.
