Golfers Who Won PGA Championship, Players Championship in Same Year

The PGA Championship is one of the four majors of men's professional golf. And The Players Championship is the most-important non-major on the PGA Tour, so important it is sometimes referred to as "the fifth major." Has any golfer won both these big titles in the same year? Yes — but it has only happened once.

The PGA Championship dates to 1916 and is run by the PGA of America. The PGA Tour was once part of the PGA of America, too, but pro tournament golfers broke away from the PGA beginning in the 1960s to establish a tour they could run on their own. While each of four professional majors is run by an organization other than the PGA Tour, the Tour does run The Players Championship, which was created in 1974.

Winning Players Championship, PGA Championship in Same Year

So if only one golfer has won both the biggest PGA of America-run event and the biggest PGA Tour-run event in the same year, who is it?
  • Hal Sutton, 1983
While many golfers have won both the PGA Championship and Players Championship at some point over the course of their careers, Sutton is the only golfer so far to win both in the same year.

Sutton won the 1983 Players Championship (then called the Tournament Players Championship) in late March, beating runner-up Bob Eastwood by one stroke.

Then, in early August, Sutton won the 1983 PGA Championship. It was a wire-to-wire victory, although 5-time champion Jack Nicklaus threw a final-round 66 at him. Sutton held on to beat Nicklaus by one stroke.

Not surprisingly, Sutton finished 1983 as the PGA Tour's leading money winner and its Player of the Year award winner. Perhaps surprisingly, no other golfer since Sutton has won both the PGA Championship and Players Championship in the same year.

Related articles:

Sources:
PGA Tour. The Players Official Media Guide 2022, Championship Records, "Champions who have also won the PGA Championship."
PGA Tour. The Players Official Media Guide 2022, Championship Records, "Champions who have won majors the same year as their victory at The Players."