Short Game

DeChambeau, Monty & Mickelson by numbers

They used to call the PGA Championship “Glory’s last

shot”. Not any more. The 2019 PGA Championship will be played at Bethpage State Park from May 16-19, making it the second major of the year after

April’s Masters.

The 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol was held in July to make way for golf’s return to the Olympics but before then, the last time the PGA Championship was held earlier than August—and earlier in the season

than any other majors—was back in 1971 at PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens in February. The 1970 PGA Championship was played in its conventional August slot, so 1970-71 remains the only time the PGA Championship was played back-to-back in terms of

the majors. Must have felt weird at the time.

Jack Nicklaus won the 1971 PGA, defeating Billy Casper by two to become the first golfer in history to complete the career grand slam twice (ultimately Nicklaus would complete three grand slams, in 1978). The Golden Bear will never forget the date he won the ’71 PGA—it was February 28 and his wife

Barbara’s 31st birthday.

The PGA was played in June, July and August going back through the 1960s

and ‘50s, but the last time it was played in May was 70 years ago in 1949, when Sam Snead won in the tournament’s old match

play format.