1977 PGA Championship: New Playoff Format in Majors

The 1977 PGA Championship was the 59th time the tournament was played, and was the site of the first-ever sudden-death playoff in one of the four professional majors.

Winner: Lanny Wadkins, 282

Where it was played: Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California

Tournament dates: August 11-14, 1977

Leader after first round: Gene Littler, 67

Leader after second round: Gene Littler, 136

Leader after third round: Gene Littler, 206

Notable Notes: Lanny Wadkins won his first (and only) major championship in a playoff over Gene Littler. Littler led the first three rounds, but shot 76 in Round 4, giving Wadkins — who started the final round six shots behind — the chance to tie Littler by shooting 70. The playoff used the sudden-death format, the first time any of the four majors used a sudden-death playoff. Wadkins won it on the third hole. Jack Nicklaus, who started the final round in second place, shot 73 but missed the playoff by one stroke.

Final Scores

Lanny Wadkins 69-71-72-70—282
Gene Littler 67-69-70-76—282
Jack Nicklaus 69-71-70-73—283
Charles Coody 70-71-70-73—284
Jerry Pate 73-70-69-73—285
Al Geiberger 71-70-73-72—286
Lou Graham 71-73-71-71—286
Tom Watson 68-73-71-74—286
Don January 75-69-70-72—286
Jerry McGee 68-70-77-71—286
Joe Inman 72-69-73-73—287
Johnny Miller 70-74-73-70—287
Lee Trevino 71-73-71-73—288
Tom Kite 73-73-70-72—288
Bruce Lietzke 74-70-74-71—289
Leonard Thompson 72-73-69-75—289
George Cadle 69-73-70-77—289
Gil Morgan 74-68-70-77—289
Arnold Palmer 72-73-73-73—291
Mark Hayes 68-75-74-74—291
George Archer 70-73-76-72—291
George Burns 71-76-70-74—291
John Schroeder 73-76-68-74—291
J.C. Snead 76-71-72-72—291
Grier Jones 72-74-72-74—292
Jim Simons 74-74-69-75—292
Billy Kratzert 71-76-75-70—292
Bob Murphy 72-72-72-76—292
Lyn Lott 76-75-67-74—292
Miller Barber 77-68-69-78—292
Lon Hinkle 72-72-74-75—293
Dave Stockton 75-75-69-74—293
Gary Player 74-77-68-74—293
Roger Maltbie 70-79-70-74—293
Billy Casper 73-71-70-79—293
John Schlee 73-73-73-75—294
Ed Sneed 74-73-72-75—294
Danny Edwards 76-74-67-77—294
Rik Massengale 77-73-70-74—294
Raymond Floyd 74-72-73-76—295
Mike McCullough 77-69-72-77—295
Butch Baird 75-74-73-74—296
Bud Allin 77-72-75-72—296
Hale Irwin 74-75-73-75—297
Steve Melnyk 71-75-74-77—297
Mike Morley 71-74-80-72—297
Bob E. Smith 76-70-77-75—298
Mac McLendon 75-73-76-75—299
Wally Armstrong 73-74-77-75—299
Dave Hill 73-77-74-75—299
Kermit Zarley 76-75-75-74—300
Bobby Nichols 72-75-78-75—300
Bruce Devlin 75-73-74-78—300
Bob Duden 74-76-79-72—301
Larry Nelson 77-69-79-76—301
Fuzzy Zoeller 70-72-79-80—301
Sam Snead 80-71-71-79—301
Julius Boros 73-75-77-77—302
Graham Marsh 74-74-77-77—302
Tom Weiskopf 77-72-74-79—302
Bob Gilder 76-74-68-84—302
Hubert Green 74-77-76-76—303
Bob Payne 73-76-75-79—303
John Lister 70-75-80-78—303
Rusty Guernsey 78-72-77-80—307
Jim Ferriell 78-71-79-80—308
Tom Jenkins 78-73-77-80—308
Phil Ferranti 75-73-79-81—308
Bob Benson 74-75-75-85—309
Dow Finsterwald 76-75-84-75—310
Larry Rinker 77-74-79-85—315

Popular posts from this blog

The Vijay Singh Cheating Incident Explained

Image
Vijay Singh has had a long and very successful career as a pro golfer, including three major championships and a 2004 season in which he won nine times on the PGA Tour. But there's also something in Singh's career that he'd like to forget, and that he'd prefer everyone else forget, too. Allegations of cheating at a tournament on the precursor to the Asian Tour in 1985. Actually, we don't even have to refer to the incident as being mere "allegations," since tournament officials concluded that Singh did , in fact, cheat, and the regional governing organization banned him from the tour (today's Asian Tour was not officially founded until 1995). ( Related : The Colin Montgomerie cheating allegation explained ) Here's what happened. Vijay Singh was 22 years old when he showed up at the 1985 Indonesian Open in Jakarta. Like most young pros in their first years as a tour player, Vijay was having his ups and downs — mostly downs. He badly neede
Continue Reading »

What Ever Happened to Danielle Amiee of 'The Big Break'?

Image
Remember Danielle Amiee? If you were ever a fan of the Golf Channel series The Big Break you probably do. Amiee was the season champion on Big Break III: Ladies Only , the first Big Break series to feature women in the cast. She was a controversial figure for viewers, polarizing for fans. She was either the villain of Big Break III , or was just the contestant unlucky enough to be portrayed that way.
Continue Reading »