1987 PGA Championship Tournament Results
The 1987 PGA Championship was the 69th edition of the tournament. It ended with a sudden-death playoff and the highest winning score in tournament history.
Winner: Larry Nelson, 287
Where it was played: PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Tournament dates: August 6-9, 1987
Leader after first round: Bobby Wadkins, 68
Leader after second round: Lanny Wadkins and Raymond Floyd, 140
Leader after third round: D.A. Weibring and Mark McCumber, 212
What Happened at the 1987 PGA Championship
The final round was a high-scoring day, a day of struggles for many of the contenders. Ray Floyd, one stroke off the lead after three rounds, shot an 80. Bobby Wadkins, also one behind beginning the day, had 77. Third-round co-leaders Mark McCumber and D.A. Weibring shot 77 and 76, respectively. (High winds and temperatures that peaked near 100F were the problem.) Only two golfers, Scott Hoch and Dan Pohl, broke 70 in Round 4.Larry Nelson and Lanny Wadkins, each seeking his second PGA Championship win, posted the relatively "low" rounds of 72 and 73 to tie at 287, forcing a sudden-death playoff. Nelson ended the playoff quickly, winning with a par on the first extra hole. Both players missed the green on the playoff hole. Wadkins got his chip closer, to four feet, while Nelson's chip stopped six feet from the hole. But then Nelson rolled his par putt in. Wadkins missed his four-footer, and the tournament was over.
Nelson's 287 was the highest winning score in PGA Championship history to this point, breaking the previous record by five strokes. The record that was broken? Lanny Wadkins' 282 at the 1977 PGA Championship (which he won in a playoff).
That score, though, was good enough to make Nelson the 15th multiple PGA winner in tournament history (he earlier won the 1981 PGA Championship). And it was his third win overall in a major championship. Wadkins finished second in a major for the fourth time, and it was his last time finishing inside the Top 20 in a PGA Championship. Wadkins got to share a Top 10 finish here with his brother: Bobby, despite that final-round 77, tied for seventh place for his only Top 10 in a PGA Championship.
1987 PGA Championship Final Scores
| Larry Nelson | 70-72-73-72—287 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 70-70-74-73—287 |
| Scott Hoch | 74-74-71-69—288 |
| D.A. Weibring | 73-72-67-76—288 |
| Don Pooley | 73-71-73-72—289 |
| Mark McCumber | 74-69-69-77—289 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 72-70-74-74—290 |
| Bobby Wadkins | 68-74-71-77—290 |
| Curtis Strange | 70-76-71-74—291 |
| David Frost | 75-70-71-76—292 |
| Nick Price | 76-71-70-75—292 |
| Tom Kite | 72-77-71-72—292 |
| Seve Ballesteros | 72-70-72-78—292 |
| Curt Byrum | 74-75-68-76—293 |
| David Edwards | 69-75-77-72—293 |
| Dan Pohl | 71-78-75-69—293 |
| Jeff Sluman | 72-69-78-74—293 |
| Tom Watson | 70-79-73-71—293 |
| Raymond Floyd | 70-70-73-80—293 |
| Peter Jacobsen | 73-75-73-73—294 |
| Gil Morgan | 75-74-70-76—295 |
| Bernhard Langer | 70-78-77-70—295 |
| Jim Hallet | 73-78-73-71—295 |
| Payne Stewart | 72-75-75-74—296 |
| Ken Brown | 73-74-73-76—296 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 76-73-74-73—296 |
| Gene Sauers | 76-74-68-78—296 |
| Craig Stadler | 75-72-75-75—297 |
| Chris Perry | 75-75-74-73—297 |
| Hal Sutton | 73-74-74-76—297 |
| Roger Maltbie | 74-72-75-76—297 |
| Bruce Lietzke | 75-76-74-72—297 |
| Ronnie Black | 76-70-76-75—297 |
| Bobby Clampett | 71-72-77-77—297 |
| Nick Faldo | 73-73-77-74—297 |
| Brad Fabel | 73-73-77-74—297 |
| Jay Haas | 74-70-76-77—297 |
| Russ Cochran | 73-76-69-79—297 |
| John Cook | 76-70-72-79—297 |
| Robert Wrenn | 75-72-76-75—298 |
| Denis Watson | 76-75-72-75—298 |
| Phil Blackmar | 74-72-80-72—298 |
| Bobby Cole | 71-74-75-79—299 |
| Buddy Gardner | 75-74-79-71—299 |
| Mac O'Grady | 78-70-71-80—299 |
| Tim Simpson | 71-70-81-77—299 |
| T.C. Chen | 76-75-76-73—300 |
| Bob Tway | 78-71-76-75—300 |
| Scott Simpson | 78-73-76-73—300 |
| Fred Funk | 69-79-79-73—300 |
| Mike Reid | 71-79-74-76—300 |
| Bob Betley | 72-79-77-72—300 |
| Donnie Hammond | 76-74-79-71—300 |
| Tom Byrum | 79-72-76-73—300 |
| Tom Purtzer | 75-73-81-71—300 |
| Morris Hatalsky | 76-75-75-75—301 |
| Lonnie Nielsen | 78-73-74-76—301 |
| Hubert Green | 74-73-80-74—301 |
| Chip Beck | 75-74-72-80—301 |
| Mike Sullivan | 73-72-74-82—301 |
| Steve Pate | 76-73-76-77—302 |
| Steve Jones | 72-75-74-81—302 |
| Jim Woodward | 79-72-69-82—302 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 76-71-76-80—303 |
| Andy Bean | 73-78-76-79—306 |
| Arnold Palmer | 76-75-79-76—306 |
| John Mahaffey | 77-72-77-80—306 |
| Mark Wiebe | 78-73-75-80—306 |
| Ray Freeman | 71-77-74-85—307 |
| Greg Norman | 73-78-79-79—309 |
| Lindy Miller | 73-78-82-78—311 |
| John Jackson | 77-74-84-78—313 |
| Lon Hinkle | 74-76-79-89—318 |
Previous and next:
1986 PGA Championship - 1988 PGA Championship
