PGA National Golf Club at BallenIsles) hosted the PGA Championship in 1971, won by Nicklaus in late February. It also was the site of eight consecutive Senior PGA Championships (1966–1973), and the original qualifying school tournaments for the PGA Tour. An earlier PGA National Golf Club (1944–1962) was on the western side of the state at Dunedin, northwest of Tampa. Designed by noted architect Donald Ross it opened in 1927 as a municipal course. Acquired by the PGA of America in 1944, the course was renamed and hosted the for eighteen consecutive years (1945–1962). The PGA of America moved its national offices from Chicago
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