1978 PGA Championship

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Template other The 1978 PGA Championship was the 60th PGA Championship, played August 3–6 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. John Mahaffey won his only major championship in a sudden-death playoff over Jerry Pate and Tom Watson.

Watson led the tournament each day and held a five-shot lead after 54 holes, but he faltered on Sunday with a 73 (+2) in his best opportunity for a PGA Championship, the only major he has never won. Pate had a four-foot (1.3 m) putt for a par and the victory on the 72nd hole, but it lipped out. After opening with a four-over 75 on Thursday, Mahaffey rebounded to go 12-under for the next three rounds, including a five-under 66 in the final round to gain the seven strokes on Watson. He had a history of hard luck in majors: at the U.S. Open, he lost the 18-hole playoff in 1975 and was the 54-hole leader in 1976, won by tour rookie Pate. Mahaffey broke that streak when he birdied the second extra hole to win the playoff at Oakmont. It was the second of three consecutive playoffs at the PGA Championship.

Like Arnold Palmer, Watson won numerous majors but never the PGA Championship, the only leg missing for a career grand slam. At this time he had won three of his eight majors; his next best finish at the PGA Championship came fifteen years later in 1993, placing fifth at Inverness. Pate finished in the top five for the third straight year (and would again the next year) but never won another major.

Jack Nicklaus, age 38, shot a 79 in the first round and missed the cut by five strokes in one of his worst performances in a major. It was his only missed cut in a major the entire 1970s decade. Four-time champion Nicklaus was a pre-tournament favorite: in his previous majors at Oakmont (two U.S. Opens), he won in 1962, his first major and first win as a professional, and tied for fourth in the 1973. At the previous year's PGA Championship at Pebble Beach, he finished third, one stroke out of the playoff.

This was the eighth major held at Oakmont and its third PGA Championship; the previous two in 1922 and 1951 were match play events.

Course layout

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	469	343	425	561	379	201	434	255	480	3,547	462	371	603	185	360	453	230	322	456	3,442	6,989
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	36	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	35	71

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

, par 71 - 1973 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1962 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1953 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1951 PGA Championship

, par 72 - 1935 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1927 U.S. Open , par 74 - 1922 PGA Championship

Before 1962, the 1st hole was played as a par 5.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 3, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Template:Flagicon Tom Watson	67	−4
2	Template:Flagicon Dave Stockton	68	−3
T3	Template:Flagicon Dave Hill	69	−2
	Template:Flagicon Ben Crenshaw
	Template:Flagicon Johnny Miller
	Template:Flagicon Lee Trevino
T7	Template:Flagicon Grier Jones	70	−1
	Template:Flagicon Phil Hancock
	Template:Flagicon Lanny Wadkins
	Template:Flagicon Mike Sullivan
	Template:Flagicon Mike Morley
	Template:Flagicon Billy Kratzert
	Template:Flagicon Jerry McGee
	Template:Flagicon Rod Funseth
	Template:Flagicon Craig Stadler

Second round

Friday, August 4, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Template:Flagicon Tom Watson	67-69=136	−6
T2	Template:Flagicon Tom Weiskopf	73-67=140	−2
	Template:Flagicon Joe Inman	72-68=140
	Template:Flagicon Ben Crenshaw	69-71=140
5	Template:Flagicon Johnny Miller	69-72=141	−1
T6	Template:Flagicon John Mahaffey	75-67=142	E
	Template:Flagicon Bobby Nichols	75-67=142
	Template:Flagicon Bob Zender	73-69=142
	Template:Flagicon Jerry Pate	72-70=142
	Template:Flagicon Tom Purtzer	72-70=142
	Template:Flagicon Hubert Green	71-71=142
	Template:Flagicon Lee Trevino	69-73=142

Source:

Third round

Saturday, August 5, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Template:Flagicon Tom Watson	67-69-67=203	−10
2	Template:Flagicon Jerry Pate	72-70-66=208	−5
T3	Template:Flagicon Joe Inman	72-68-69=209	−4
	Template:Flagicon Tom Weiskopf	73-67-69=209
5	Template:Flagicon John Mahaffey	75-67-68=210	−3
6	Template:Flagicon Craig Stadler	70-74-67=211	−2
7	Template:Flagicon Lee Trevino	69-73-70=212	−1
T8	Template:Flagicon Gil Morgan	76-71-66=213	E
	Template:Flagicon Kermit Zarley	75-71-67=213
	Template:Flagicon Phil Hancock	70-73-70=213
	Template:Flagicon Johnny Miller	69-72-72=213

Source:

Final round

Sunday, August 6, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Template:Flagicon John Mahaffey	75-67-68-66=276	−8	Playoff
	Template:Flagicon Jerry Pate	72-70-66-68=276
	Template:Flagicon Tom Watson	67-69-67-73=276
T4	Template:Flagicon Gil Morgan	76-71-66-67=280	−4	14,500
	Template:Flagicon Tom Weiskopf	73-67-69-71=280
6	Template:Flagicon Craig Stadler	70-74-67-71=282	-2	10,000
T7	Template:Flagicon Andy Bean	72-72-70-70=284	E	8,000
	Template:Flagicon Graham Marsh	72-74-68-70=284
	Template:Flagicon Lee Trevino	69-73-70-72=284
10	Template:Flagicon Fuzzy Zoeller	75-69-73-68=285	+1	6,500

Source:

Playoff

The sudden death playoff began on the front nine at hole #1, a par-4 which all three parred.
After Watson and Pate could not birdie hole #2, Mahaffey sunk a birdie putt to win the title.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Template:Flagicon John Mahaffey	4-3	−1	50,000
T2	Template:Flagicon Jerry Pate	4-x	E	25,000
	Template:Flagicon Tom Watson	4-x

External links

• PGA.com – 1978 PGA Championship