2017 PGA Championship

The 2017 PGA Championship was the 99th PGA Championship, held August 10–13 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was the first major at Quail Hollow, which is a regular stop on the PGA Tour.

Early in the week of the tournament, it was announced that the championship will be held in May beginning in 2019.

Justin Thomas won his first career major title, two strokes ahead of runners-up Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen, and Patrick Reed.

In the United States, the Championship was televised by CBS, with weekday and early weekend coverage on TNT. It was televised live in the United Kingdom by the BBC who secured the rights over Sky Sports who had previously screened the event since 1992.

The course hosts the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour (2003–present), though not in 2017; in 2016, it played as a par-72 at 7,575 yards (6,927 m). It was also the home of the tour's Kemper Open (1969–1979) and the senior tour's PaineWebber World Seniors Invitational in the 1980s.

Under the direction of Tom Fazio, Quail Hollow underwent an aggressive 90-day renovation in 2016 that modified four holes and added Bermuda grass. It commenced during the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday, May 8. Thousands of trees were removed, as the former first two holes were combined into a new first hole, and the old fifth hole was divided between the new fourth and fifth holes.

The following qualification criteria were used to select the field. Each player is listed according to the first category by which he qualified with additional categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.

1. All former PGA Champions

• Martin Kaymer (3,6,9) did not play due to a shoulder injury.
• David Toms did not play.
• The following former champions did not enter: Paul Azinger, Mark Brooks, Jack Burke Jr., Steve Elkington, Dow Finsterwald, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Al Geiberger, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Hubert Green, Don January, John Mahaffey, Larry Nelson, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nick Price, Jeff Sluman, Dave Stockton, Hal Sutton, Lee Trevino, Bob Tway, Lanny Wadkins, Tiger Woods

2. Last five Masters Champions

3. Last five U.S. Open Champions

4. Last five Open Champions

5. Current Senior PGA Champion

• Bernhard Langer did not play.

6. Top 15 and ties from the 2016 PGA Championship

7. 20 low scorers in the 2017 PGA Professional Championship

8. Top 70 leaders in official money standings from the 2016 RBC Canadian Open to the 2017 RBC Canadian Open

• Brandt Snedeker (8,9) did not play due to a rib injury.

9. Members of the United States and Europe 2016 Ryder Cup teams (provided they are ranked in the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking on July 30)

10. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the 2016 PGA Championship

11. Winner of the 2016 Olympic Golf Tournament

12. Special invitations

13. Players below 70th place in official money standings, to fill the field

• Jason Kokrak

Alternates (category 13)

1. Scott Brown (77th in standings; replaced David Toms)
2. Chez Reavie (79, took spot reserved for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner)
3. Scott Piercy (80, did not play)
4. Chris Kirk (81, replaced Brandt Snedeker)

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Kevin Kisner and Thorbjørn Olesen were the co-leaders at 67 (−4), with five players one shot behind.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Following a weather delay of nearly two hours in the late afternoon, play was suspended at 8:11 pm EDT due to darkness, with 25 players remaining on the course. On the leaderboard, only Chris Stroud was affected, two-under for his round with five holes remaining. Play resumed at 7:30 am on Saturday.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

With the second round completed on Saturday morning, the third round began at 9:50 am EDT in groups of three at ten-minute intervals, with the final group at 2:00 pm.

Source:

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Entering the final round with a one-stroke lead, Kevin Kisner failed to record a birdie on the front-nine and bogeyed the par-5 7th after hitting his approach into the water. Hideki Matsuyama birdied both 6 and 7 to tie Kisner. Justin Thomas began the round two back and tied for the lead with a 36-foot (11 m) birdie putt at the 9th. Chris Stroud also birdied the ninth to tie, while Francesco Molinari's run of four birdies in five holes on his back-nine meant that five players were atop the leaderboard at seven-under.

At the par-5 tenth, Thomas' putt for birdie paused on the lip of the cup for several seconds before falling in. He then chipped in at 13 for another birdie. At the par-3 17th, he hit his approach to 14 feet (4.3 m) and converted the birdie opportunity to get to nine-under. Matsuyama birdied the tenth to take solo possession of the lead, but made five bogeys to finish and fell to five-under. Kisner made his first birdie of the day at 10, but followed with two more bogeys. He managed to birdie both 14 and 15 before three-putting for bogey at the 16th. After a par at 17, Kisner needed to hole his approach from the fairway on the last to force a playoff, but found the water and made double bogey.

In the penultimate pairing and leading by three on the final tee, Thomas drove into a fairway bunker and then played conservatively. His third shot from the rough was to the right side of the green; he sank his short putt for bogey for 68 (−3) and 276 (−8). Patrick Reed had three birdies on the back to get to within a shot of the lead, but bogeyed the 18th after finding a fairway bunker off the tee and tied for second, two strokes behind Thomas. Molinari's chances were diminished when he also drove into a bunker at 16 and failed to get up-and-down. Louis Oosthuizen holed out from 34 yards on the par-5 15th for an eagle and birdied 18 to tie Reed and Molinari for second. With the finish Oosthuizen became the seventh golfer to finish runner-up in all four major championships. Stroud played the back-nine in six-over to fall to a tie for ninth.

Thomas with the Wanamaker Trophy

Note: Top 15 and ties qualify for the 2018 PGA Championship; top 4 and ties qualify for the 2018 Masters Tournament

Source:

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Source:

• Official website
• Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site
• Coverage on the European Tour's official site