The 1958 PGA Championship was the 40th

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 ...

, played July 17–20 at Llanerch Country Club in

Havertown, Pennsylvania Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a posta ...

, a suburb west of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. It was the first PGA Championship held in its current

stroke play Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In stroke play, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the ...

format, 72 holes over four days, ending on Sunday. The previous editions were at

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 ...

, with the two most recent ones at seven rounds over five days, the final two rounds at 36 holes per match. The announcement of the change was made eight months earlier in November.

Dow Finsterwald Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. (September 6, 1929 – November 4, 2022) was an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the 1958 PGA Championship. He won 11 Tour titles between 1955 and 1963, played on four Ryder Cup teams, and serv ...

, the runner-up in 1957, shot a final round 67 to win his only

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

title, two shots ahead of runner-up

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie a ...

. Finsterwald's round-by-round scores were 67-72-70-67=276, 4-under-par on the par-70 course.

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 ...

led after 54 holes in pursuit of a fourth title, but faded to third with a final round 73 (+3). The winner's share was $5,500, down from the previous year's $8,000.

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

was held two weeks earlier in England at

Royal Lytham & St Annes Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the The Open Championship, Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being ...

, with only two Americans in the field; Gene Sarazen finished 16th, but missed the first cut at the PGA Championship.

Round summaries

''Thursday, July 17, 1958'' Source:

Second round

''Friday, July 18, 1958'' Source:

Third round

''Saturday, July 19, 1958'' Source:

Final round

''Sunday, July 20, 1958'' Source:

References

External links

PGA Media Guide 2012
– 1958 PGA Championship {{coord, 39.97, -75.314, type:event, display=title PGA Championship Golf in Pennsylvania