1971 PGA Championship 1971 PGA Championship The 1971 PGA Championship was the 53rd PGA Championship, played February 25–28 at the original PGA National Golf Club, presently known as BallenIsles Country Club (East Course) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Jack Nicklaus won the second of his five PGA Championships, two strokes ahead of Billy Casper, the reigning Masters champion. Nicklaus led wire-to-wire, and held a four-stroke lead over Gary Player after 54 holes, with Casper seven shots back. The two were pre-tournament favorites, along with Arnold Palmer, who shot an opening round 75 and finished at 289 (+1), eight strokes back. Nicklaus became the
1944 PGA Championship Open in 1946, all held in Spokane. The PGA Championship was the sole major played in 1944 (and 1945); the three others returned in 1946. This was the first major championship played in the Pacific Northwest. The PGA Championship was played in Portland in 1946, and at Sahalee, east of Seattle, in 1998. The first U.S. Open in the region was played in 2015 at Chambers Bay, southwest of Tacoma. The match play format at the PGA Championship in 1944 called for 12 rounds (216 holes) in seven days: "Sunday, August 20, 1944" "Morning" "Afternoon" 1944 PGA Championship The 1944