1950 PGA Championship Winner and Scores

The 1950 PGA Championship was the 32nd time this major was played. Both finalists were little-known at the time, but there was a 10-year-old boy in attendance who later become incredibly famous.

Winner: Chandler Harper (def. Henry Williams Jr. in championship match)

Semifinalists: Harper, Williams, Jimmy Demaret, Henry Picard

Where it was played: Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio

Tournament dates: June 21-27, 1950

What Happened in the 1950 PGA Championship

The championship match of the 1950 PGA Championship pitted two golfers not well-known to the public at that time. Chandler Harper, with just two PGA Tour victories, defeated Henry Williams Jr., with zero tour victories, 4 and 3 in the 36-hole final.

Harper went on to win four more times, for seven career PGA Tour wins, and played on one Ryder Cup team. Williams won only once in an official PGA Tour event, the 1952 Tucson Open (the Tucson Open was also one of Harper's wins).

Harper reached the finals by beating Fred Annon and Dick Metz in 18-hole first- and second-round matches; and then, in 36-hole matches, Bob Toski, Lloyd Mangrum and Jimmy Demaret. Williams beat Bill Heinlein, Emery Thomas, Claude Harmon, Dave Douglas and Henry Picard en route to the finals, the matches against Harmon and Picard going 38 holes each.

Both finalists showed their nerves in the championship match: Williams shot 79 and Harper 75, and after that morning 18 Harper was 3-up. Williams was never able to make a move; Harper was still 3-up with nine holes to play and closed it out on the 33rd hole.

Defending champion Sam Snead was knocked out in the second round by Eddie Burke. Former PGA champions Vic Ghezzi and Paul Runyan each lost in the first round.

Ben Hogan, who won the 1950 U.S. Open a couple weeks earlier, did not enter. Hogan stopped playing the PGA Championship following his 1949 car crash, until the tournament switched to stroke play.

Scioto Country Club — the course Jack Nicklaus learned on — was the host course, and young Nicklaus was in attendance. Nicklaus' instructor, Jack Grout, took Nicklaus into the lockerroom during the tournament. In 2015, Nicklaus told PGA.com: "I met Sam Snead and got Sam's autograph. I met Bob Hamilton and Skip Alexander. And I'll never forget walking up to Lloyd Mangrum. He had a scotch sitting on the table, cards in one hand and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and he said, 'What do you want, kid?' I remember it like it was yesterday."

Perhaps that memory of Mangrum wasn't much inspiration to Nicklaus, but he did grow up to win five PGA Championships.

Late-Round Match Scores in 1950 PGA Championship

Round of 16 (36 holes)
Ray Gaffard def. Eddie Burke, 1-up
Jimmy Demaret def. Denny Shute, 4 and 3
Lloyd Mangrum def. Chick Harbert, 6 and 5
Chandler Harper def. Bob Toski, 2 and 1
Henry Williams Jr. def. Claude Harmon, 1-up (38 holes)
Dave Douglas def. Elmer Reed, 5 and 4
Henry Picard def. Jackson Bradley, 1-up
Johnny Palmer def. Ted Kroll, 1-up

Quarterfinals (36 holes)
Chandler Harper Jr. def. Lloyd Mangrum, 1-up
Jimmy Demaret def. Ray Gaffard, 5 and 4
Henry Williams Jr. def. Dave Douglas, 1-up
Henry Picard def. Johnny Palmer, 10 and 8

Semifinals (36 holes)
Chandler Harper def. Jimmy Demaret, 2 and 1
Henry Williams Jr. def. Henry Picard, 1-up (38 holes)

Championship Match (36 holes)
Chandler Harper def. Henry Williams Jr., 4 and 3

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