1925 PGA Championship

1925 PGA Championship
Tournament information
DatesSeptember 21–26, 1925
LocationOlympia Fields, Illinois
Course(s)Olympia Fields Country Club
Courses 3 and 4[1][2]
Organized byPGA of America
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatMatch play - 5 rounds
Statistics
Par70[3]
Length6,448 yards (5,896 m)
6,490 yards (5,934 m)[3]
Field67 players,[3]
[dead link] 32 to match play
Cut157 (+17)
Prize fund$6,330[4]
Champion
United States Walter Hagen
def. Bill Mehlhorn, 6 and 5
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Olympia  Fields  is located in the United States
Olympia  Fields 
Olympia 
Fields 
Olympia  Fields  is located in Illinois
Olympia  Fields 
Olympia 
Fields 

The 1925 PGA Championship was the eighth PGA Championship, held September 21–26 at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago. Then a match play championship, defending champion Walter Hagen defeated Bill Mehlhorn 6 and 5 in the finals on Courses 3 and 4 to win his second consecutive PGA Championship, his third overall, and the seventh of his eleven major titles.

The victory ran Hagen's match record at the PGA Championship in the 1920s to 20–1 (.952), falling only to Gene Sarazen in 38 holes in the 1923 finals. With his second consecutive title, his winning streak stood at ten matches. This was the second of four consecutive PGA Championships for Hagen; through 2013, no other player was won more than two consecutive titles.

Hagen had close calls in this event; his first round match with low qualifier Al Watrous went to 39 holes[5] and the quarterfinal match with future two-time champion Leo Diegel went to 40 holes after Diegel built an early lead.[2] Hagen defeated Diegel the following year in the finals, then Diegel beat Hagen on the way to his two titles in 1928 and 1929.

The four 18-hole courses at Olympia Fields were reduced to two in the 1940s when the club sold half of its property. Course No. 4 became the North course, and the South course is a composite of holes form the other three.[6]

  1. ^ "Al Watrous led qualifying field". Montreal Gazette. September 22, 1925. p. 18.
  2. ^ a b "Hagen beats Diegel on 40th hole". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 25, 1925. p. 11. [dead link]
  3. ^ a b c "P.G.A. tourney opens today; Watrous has 69". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 21, 1925. p. 9.
  4. ^ "Tournament Info for: 1925 PGA Championship". PGA of America. Archived from the original on October 23, 2006. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
  5. ^ "Hagen beats Watrous on 39th". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 23, 1925. p. 9.
  6. ^ Chase, Al (June 23, 1946). "Olympia Fields acres expected to be homesites". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. B, part 3.