1997 PGA Championship Winner and Scores

The 1997 PGA Championship was the 79th time the tournament was played. The son of a PGA Professional pulled off his only major championship win here.

Winner: Davis Love III, 269

Where it was played: Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck, New York

Tournament dates: August 14-17, 1997

Leader after first round: John Daly and Davis Love III, 66

Leader after second round: Lee Janzen, 136

Leader after third round: Justin Leonard and Davis Love III, 203

What Happened in the 1997 PGA Championship

At the time of the 1997 PGA Championship, Davis Love III was one of the names brought up when golf fans talked about the "best player yet to win a major." By the end of the week, Love had taken himself off that list.

Love opened with a 66 to share the first-round lead, but dropped to second place at the halfway point following a 71 in the second round. But his weekend play was sterling with back-to-back 66s in the third and fourth rounds, and Love won by five strokes ahead of Justin Leonard. It was actually even a more dominating win than that 5-stroke winning margin indicates: Only one other golfer — third-place Jeff Maggert — finished fewer than 10 strokes behind Love. Love was on fire both off the tee and on the greens during the tournament, leading the field in driving distance (307 yards) and finishing third in putting.

A month earlier, Leonard won the 1997 British Open. Leonard shared the 54-hole lead with Love after firing a 65 in Round 3. But in the final round, Leonard shot 71 to Love's 66.

Love's father, Davis Love Jr., was a PGA Professional. When Love won here, he became the sixth son of a PGA Professional to win the PGA Championship (Chick Harbert was the first, in 1954). It turned out to be Love's only win in a major; it was his 11th overall win on the PGA Tour (he finished with 21 wins).

Tiger Woods, a future four-time winner of this major, made his PGA Championship debut here and tied for 29th place. David Toms, winner of the 2001 PGA Championship, also made his tournament debut here and missed the cut. At the other end of his career, 1978 PGA Championship winner John Mahaffey withdrew following the first round in what was his final appearance in any of the major championships.

1997 PGA Championship Final Scores

Davis Love III 66-71-66-66—269
Justin Leonard 68-70-65-71—274
Jeff Maggert 69-69-73-65—276
Lee Janzen 69-67-74-69—279
Tom Kite 68-71-71-70—280
Phil Blackmar 70-68-74-69—281
Scott Hoch 71-72-68-70—281
Jim Furyk 69-72-72-68—281
Tom Byrum 69-73-70-70—282
Scott McCarron 74-71-67-71—283
Tom Lehman 69-72-72-70—283
Joey Sindelar 72-71-71-69—283
Bob Tway 68-75-72-69—284
Nick Price 72-70-72-70—284
Tommy Tolles 75-70-73-66—284
Mark O'Meara 69-73-75-67—284
David Duval 70-70-71-73—284
Kirk Triplett 73-70-71-70—284
Vijay Singh 73-66-76-69—284
Colin Montgomerie 74-71-67-72—284
Greg Norman 68-71-74-71—284
Tim Herron 72-73-68-71—284
Shigeki Maruyama 68-70-74-73—285
Kenny Perry 73-68-73-71—285
Mark Calcavecchia 71-74-73-67—285
Doug Martin 69-75-74-67—285
John Cook 71-71-74-69—285
Bernhard Langer 73-71-72-69—285
Paul Azinger 68-73-71-74—286
Hale Irwin 73-70-71-72—286
John Daly 66-73-77-70—286
Fred Couples 71-67-73-75—286
Tiger Woods 70-70-71-75—286
Phil Mickelson 69-69-73-75—286
Lee Westwood 74-68-71-73—286
Paul Goydos 70-72-71-73—286
Payne Stewart 70-70-72-74—286
Frank Nobilo 72-73-67-74—286
Don Pooley 72-74-70-70—286
Ronnie Black 76-69-71-70—286
Eduardo Romero 71-72-72-72—287
David Ogrin 74-72-71-70—287
Ignacio Garrido 70-71-75-71—287
Steve Jones 69-73-75-70—287
Thomas Bjorn 72-68-77-71—288
Sam Torrance 74-72-70-72—288
Steve Elkington 72-72-70-74—288
Jesper Parnevik 76-70-71-71—288
Loren Roberts 76-70-74-69—289
Robert Allenby 67-77-74-71—289
Brian Henninger 74-68-75-72—289
Chris Perry 68-71-73-77—289
Olin Browne 70-73-74-73—290
Taylor Smith 71-71-74-74—290
Billy Mayfair 75-68-75-72—290
Craig Stadler 72-72-74-72—290
Ernie Els 70-76-74-70—290
Steve Lowery 72-69-79-71—291
Lanny Wadkins 72-72-77-70—291
Larry Mize 71-73-73-74—291
Russ Cochran 72-73-72-75—292
Lee Rinker 70-71-75-76—292
Retief Goosen 72-70-74-76—292
Fred Funk 71-74-77-70—292
Stuart Appleby 75-70-69-78—292
Jay Haas 71-69-73-79—292
Peter Jacobsen 74-72-75-72—293
Paul Stankowski 68-71-77-77—293
Per-Ulrik Johansson 73-69-73-78—293
Carlos Franco 69-74-76-75—294
Michael Bradley 73-69-80-73—295
Larry Nelson 76-70-76-73—295
Yoshinori Kaneko 72-73-76-74—295
Costantino Rocca 69-69-79-78—295
Andrew Magee 71-70-80-75—296
Pete Jordan 76-70-75-76—297
Kevin Sutherland 73-73-73-78—297

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1996 PGA Championship - 1998 PGA Championship

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