1971 PGA Championship 1971" "Saturday, February 27, 1971" "Sunday, February 28, 1971" 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
1928 PGA Championship semifinals. Diegel had lost to Hagen in the 1925 quarterfinals (40 holes) and the 1926 finals. Five-time champion Hagen had won 22 consecutive matches and four straight titles at the PGA Championship. Prior to his loss to Diegel in the quarterfinals, his match record in the 1920s was 32–1 (), falling only to Sarazen in 38 holes in the 1923 finals. The Five Farms Course, now the East Course, was designed by A. W. Tillinghast and opened two years earlier in September 1926. Diegel continued the tradition of repeat champions and successfully defended his title in 1929. The match play