The 1944 PGA Championship was the 26th

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

, held August 14–20 at

Manito Golf and Country Club Manito Golf and Country Club is a country club in the northwest United States, located in Spokane, Washington. The club was founded in 1917 at Hart Field by a small group of dedicated golf enthusiasts and moved to its current location in the Comst ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

. Then a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

championship,

Bob Hamilton Robert T. Hamilton (January 10, 1916 – December 6, 1990) was an American professional golfer. He was born, raised, and died in Evansville, Indiana. He attended and graduated from Evansville Reitz High School in 1934. Hamilton won ten profess ...

won his only major title, 1 up in the 36-hole final over heavily favored

Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hoga ...

; the winner's share was $3,500 and the runner-up's was $1,500. Hamilton defeated

Jug McSpaden Harold Lee "Jug" McSpaden (July 21, 1908 – April 22, 1996) was an American professional golfer, and golf course architect. Early career Born in Monticello, Kansas, McSpaden became interested in golf at the age of ten, after seeing Harry Va ...

2 & 1 in the quarterfinals and George Schneiter 1 up in the semifinals. It was Nelson's third runner-up finish ( 1939, 1941, 1944); he won the title in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

. Nelson was the medalist in the stroke play qualifier with a 6-under 138. This was the first PGA Championship in two years, it was not contested in 1943.

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

won in

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...

, but did not defend his title; he was at the naval hospital in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

for treatment for his ailing back, and received a medical discharge from the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

a month later. The event was sponsored by the Athletic Round Table, Spokane's notable fun and benevolence organization headed by attorney

Joe Albi Joseph Aloysius Albi (October 5, 1892 – May 8, 1962) was an American attorney and civic leader in Spokane, Washington. Early years Born in Spokane, he was the son of Garibaldi and Louise (Ottoboni) Albi, immigrants from Italy who arrived in t ...

. Following this event, the ART sponsored the

Esmeralda Open The Esmeralda Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played in 1945 and 1947 in Spokane, Washington. It was held at Indian Canyon Golf Course, a municipal facility designed in 1930 by Chandler Egan on the west end of the city, and open ...

, a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

event in 1945 and 1947, and the first

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

in 1946, all held in Spokane. The PGA Championship was the sole major played in 1944 (and

); the three others returned in 1946. This was the first major championship played in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. The PGA Championship was played in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in 1946, and at Sahalee, east of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. The first U.S. Open in the region was played in 2015 at

Chambers Bay Chambers Bay is a public golf course in the northwest United States, located in University Place, Washington, on the Puget Sound southwest of Tacoma. The British links-style course is owned by Pierce County and opened for play on June 23, 200 ...

, southwest of Tacoma.

Format

The

format at the PGA Championship in 1944 called for 12 rounds (216 holes) in seven days: * Monday and Tuesday – 36-hole stroke play qualifier, 18 holes per day, field of 78 players; **the top 32 professionals advanced to match play, defending champion

did not enter * Wednesday – first round – 36 holes * Thursday – second round – 36 holes * Friday – quarterfinals – 36 holes * Saturday – semifinals – 36 holes * Sunday – final – 36 holes

Past champions in the field

Failed to qualify

Source:

Final results

''Sunday, August 20, 1944''

Final eight bracket

Final match scorecards

''Morning'' ''Afternoon'' *Source:

References

External links

PGA Media Guide 2012
– 1944 PGA Championship {{coord, 47.609, -117.395, type:event, display=title PGA Championship Golf in Washington (state) Sports in Spokane, Washington