1958 PGA Championship Winner and Scores
The 1958 PGA Championship was the 40th time the tournament was played. But for the first of those 40 times, stroke play, not match play, was the format.
Winner: Dow Finsterwald, 276
Where it was played: Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, Pennsylvania
Tournament dates: July 17-20, 1958
Leader after first round: Dow Finsterwald, 67
Leader after second round: Dow Finsterwald and Jay Hebert, 139
Leader after third round: Sam Snead, 207
What Happened at the 1958 PGA Championship
Dow Finsterwald had the lowest score in the first round, and also the lowest score in the last round. On the strength of that opening and closing, Finsterwald became the first PGA Championship winner in the tournament's new stroke-play era. A year earlier, the 1957 PGA Championship, like every previous one going back to the first in 1916, used a match-play format. Finsterwald was runner-up in 1957, losing in the final to Lionel Hebert.When Finsterwald left the 1957 PGA, neither he nor any of the other golfers knew it was the last match-play PGA. But at the PGA of America's national meetings in November, the organization announced it was switching to stroke play, the same format used by each of the other professional majors. Finsterwald wound up being the runner-up in the last match-play PGA and the winner in the first stroke-play PGA.
Finsterwald's opening 67 gave him a one-stroke lead. He was still tied for first after a 72 in the second round, but a 70 in the third round dropped him to third. Sam Snead was the leader, one stroke ahead of Billy Casper and two ahead of Finsterwald.
Then Finsterwald threw another 67 on the board in the final round that included a 31 on the front nine. It was enough to give him the two-stroke win over Casper, who was making his PGA Championship debut. Snead, going for a fourth PGA Championship win, scored 73 and finished third. For Finsterwald, this was the fourth of his 11 career wins on the PGA Tour. It remained his only win in a major.
This wasn't just the first stroke-play PGA Championship, but also the first one televised. The CBS network aired the final three holes of tournament play, plus the trophy presentation.
And it wasn't just Casper's first PGA Championship, but also Arnold Palmer's. Palmer finished tied for 40th place. Casper went on to win 51 PGA Tour titles, and Palmer won 62. But neither one ever won the PGA Championship.
1958 PGA Championship Final Scores
| Dow Finsterwald | 67-72-70-67—276 |
| Billy Casper | 73-67-68-70—278 |
| Sam Snead | 73-67-67-73—280 |
| Jack Burke Jr. | 70-72-69-70—281 |
| Tommy Bolt | 72-70-73-70—285 |
| Julius Boros | 72-68-73-72—285 |
| Jay Hebert | 68-71-73-73—285 |
| Buster Cupit | 71-74-69-73—287 |
| Ed Oliver | 74-73-71-69—287 |
| Mike Souchak | 75-69-69-74—287 |
| Doug Ford | 72-70-70-76—288 |
| Bob Rosburg | 71-73-76-68—288 |
| Art Wall | 71-78-67-72—288 |
| Fred Hawkins | 72-75-70-73—290 |
| Dick Mayer | 69-76-69-76—290 |
| John Barnum | 75-69-74-73—291 |
| Walter Burkemo | 76-73-66-76—291 |
| Lionel Hebert | 69-73-74-75—291 |
| Bo Wininger | 76-73-69-73—291 |
| Ted Kroll | 69-74-75-74—292 |
| Cary Middlecoff | 71-73-76-72—292 |
| Eric Monti | 73-71-73-75—292 |
| Bob Toski | 79-70-71-72—292 |
| Ken Venturi | 72-73-74-73—292 |
| Pete Cooper | 74-77-73-69—293 |
| George Fazio | 72-74-73-74—293 |
| Bob Gajda | 75-70-75-73—293 |
| Billy Maxwell | 75-69-74-75—293 |
| Dick Shoemaker | 79-72-73-70—294 |
| Don Whitt | 71-72-73-78—294 |
| Mike Fetchick | 74-76-71-74—295 |
| Frank Stranahan | 76-76-74-69—295 |
| Errie Ball | 79-72-72-73—296 |
| Tom Talkington | 75-73-73-75—296 |
| Herman Barron | 75-71-75-76—297 |
| Dick Cline | 75-72-77-73—297 |
| Bill Collins | 71-70-77-79—297 |
| Mike Dietz | 77-70-74-76—297 |
| Felice Torza | 69-72-75-81—297 |
| Henry Castillo | 75-76-75-72—298 |
| Bill Ezinicki | 76-70-80-72—298 |
| Arnold Palmer | 76-71-77-74—298 |
| Skee Riegel | 76-77-74-71—298 |
| Eddie Burke | 75-75-77-72—299 |
| Bob Crowley | 70-76-73-80—299 |
| Bill Johnston | 75-72-77-75—299 |
| Dave Marr | 72-79-74-74—299 |
| Ed Furgol | 78-76-72-74—300 |
| Jackson Bradley | 77-77-73-74—301 |
| Jack Isaacs | 74-75-78-74—301 |
| Chuck Klein | 78-75-74-74—301 |
| Henry Williams | 75-74-77-75—301 |
| Mike Krak | 74-78-74-76—302 |
| Toby Lyons | 75-73-74-80—302 |
| Thorne Wood | 77-75-70-80—302 |
| Brien Charter | 72-75-80-76—303 |
| Vic Ghezzi | 75-74-76-78—303 |
| Claude Harmon | 77-75-76-75—303 |
| Al Brosch | 75-79-74-78—306 |
| James Gantz | 76-76-75-79—306 |
| Gus Salerno | 79-75-74-78—306 |
| Larry Bartosek | 75-79-74-79—307 |
| Ewing Pomeroy | 80-74-74-82—310 |
| George Griffin | 74-76-78-83—311 |
Previous and next:
1957 PGA Championship - 1959 PGA Championship
