1996 PGA Championship


The 1996 PGA Championship was the 78th PGA Championship, held August 8–11 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Mark Brooks won his only major championship with a birdie at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Kentucky native Kenny Perry. Defending champion Steve Elkington was a stroke out of the playoff, in a tie for third. It was the second consecutive and final sudden-death playoff at the PGA Championship, which changed to a three-hole aggregate format, first used in 2000 at Valhalla.
It was the second major played in Kentucky and the first in 44 years; the PGA Championship, a match play event through 1957, was played in Louisville in 1952 at Big Spring [Country Club]. The championship returned to Valhalla just four years later in 2000, and again in 2014 and 2024, and after hosting the Ryder Cup in 2008.
Course designer and five-time champion Jack Nicklaus missed the cut by a single stroke at age 56. He also missed the cut by one stroke in 2000 at age 60, his final appearance in the PGA Championship.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4255151993554604156051654153,5545651654703502084104504325403,5907,144
Par453444534365344344453672

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 8, 1996
Friday, August 9, 1996
Kenny Perry shot a first round 66 to take the lead, finishing in the dark. Weather delayed play for nearly four hours and sixty players completed their first rounds on Friday morning.
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1

Second round

Friday, August 9, 1996
Phil Mickelson, age 26, played 24 holes on Friday and carded consecutive rounds of 67 to take a three stroke lead at 134.
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1

Third round

Saturday, August 10, 1996
Kentucky native Russ Cochran shot a course record 65 to take the 54-hole lead, two strokes ahead of Mark Brooks and Vijay Singh. Brooks eagled the par-4 15th, holing out from the fairway. Seeking his first major title, Mickelson fell three strokes back after a 74.
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1

Final round

Sunday, August 11, 1996
Native sons of Kentucky had different results on Sunday as Cochran shot 77 in the final pairing and faded while Perry had a 68 and waited as the clubhouse leader at 277. Playing with Cochran, Brooks birdied the par-5 final hole to force a playoff. Perry bogeyed the same hole after a hooked tee shot and was in the television booth with CBS-TV, not hitting balls. The second shot of defending champion Steve Elkington found a greenside bunker; he had a birdie putt to join the playoff, but could not convert. Tolles had a long eagle putt to tie but missed, while Singh also needed a birdie to join the playoff but made bogey to finish 2 behind.
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T1

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6789101112131415161718
Par453444534534434445

Playoff

The sudden-death playoff began on the 18th hole; the par-5 was the course's second-easiest hole on Sunday. Brooks reached the green in two and birdied while Perry's tee shot again found the rough on the left and his fourth was a chip that did not reach the green, ending the playoff. It was Brooks' second birdie at the hole in twenty minutes; in regulation he hit his third shot from the greenside sand to within four feet.
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1