1951 PGA Championship

1951 PGA Championship
Tournament information
DatesJune 27 – July 3, 1951
LocationOakmont, Pennsylvania, U.S.
40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827
Course(s)Oakmont Country Club
Organized byPGA of America
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatMatch play - 6 rounds
Statistics
Par72
Length6,882 yards (6,293 m)[1]
Field140 players,[1]
64 to match play
Cut154 (+10), playoff
Prize fund$17,700[2]
Winner's share$3,500
Champion
United States Sam Snead
def. Walter Burkemo, 7 and 6
Location map
Oakmont CC is located in the United States
Oakmont CC
Oakmont CC
Location in the United States
Oakmont CC is located in Pennsylvania
Oakmont CC
Oakmont CC
Location in Pennsylvania
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The 1951 PGA Championship was the 33rd PGA Championship, held June 27 to July 3 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Sam Snead won the match play championship, 7 and 6, over Walter Burkemo in the Tuesday final; the winner's share was $3,500, and the runner-up's was $1,500.[3][4]

It marked the first time the PGA Championship returned to a venue; Oakmont had hosted in 1922[2] (at the time, it had also hosted two U.S. Opens and three U.S. Amateurs). It was Snead's third and final win in the PGA Championship and the fifth of his seven major titles. At age 39, he was the oldest at the time to win the PGA Championship, passing his old record of two years earlier. Burkemo won the title in 1953 and was runner-up again in 1954.

Defending champion Chandler Harper lost in the first round to Jim Turnesa in a match that went to 23 holes.[5] Turnesa, the runner-up to Snead in 1942, won the title the following year in 1952 and displaced Snead as the oldest champion by a few months.

Snead's win was the last by a former champion for twenty years until Jack Nicklaus won his second PGA Championship in 1971.

Claude Harmon, Lloyd Mangrum, and Pete Cooper tied for the lowest score in the stroke play qualifier at 142 (−2). Harmon won the $250 medalist prize on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff.[6]

The British Open in 1951 was held in the first week of July in Northern Ireland. Its mandatory two-day qualifier was held on the same days as the PGA's semifinals and finals, which prevented participation in both events.[7]

  1. ^ a b Gundelfinger, Phil Jr. (June 27, 1951). "140 to tee off today in PGA opening round". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  2. ^ a b "Tournament Info for: 1951 PGA Championship". PGA.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2006. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  3. ^ Gundelfinger, Phil Jr. (July 4, 1951). "Snead routs Burkemo for third PGA title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  4. ^ Bartlett, Charles (July 4, 1951). "Snead takes P.G.A. title 3d time". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  5. ^ Gundelfinger, Phil Jr. (June 30, 1951). "Favorites advance in PGA play". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  6. ^ Gundelfinger, Phil Jr. (June 29, 1951). "Harmon wins playoff to capture PGA medal". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  7. ^ "Locke favored in British Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 2, 1951. p. 1.