The 1971 PGA Championship was the 53rd

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 February 25–28 at the original PGA National Golf Club, presently known as BallenIsles Country Club (East Course) in

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida, 77 miles north of downtown Miami. , the population was 59,182. Palm Beach Gardens is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6 ...

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

won the second of his five PGA Championships, two strokes ahead of

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 ...

, the reigning Masters champion. Nicklaus led wire-to-wire, and held a four-stroke lead over

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

after 54 holes, with Casper seven shots back. The two were pre-tournament favorites, along with

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

, who shot an opening round 75 and finished at 289 (+1), eight strokes back. Nicklaus became the first in history to complete the modern career

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

for a second time; two victories in each of the four major championships. He completed his third career grand slam at the

1978 Open Championship The 1978 Open Championship was the 107th Open Championship, held 12–15 July over the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Jack Nicklaus won his third and final Open championship, two strokes ahead of runners-up Ben Crenshaw, Raymond ...

. The championship was played in February rather than August, due to anticipated oppressive summer weather in Florida. The rescheduling changed the PGA Championship from the fourth and final major of the calendar year to the first in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, and the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and 1971 editions were consecutive majors. It returned to August in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Oakland Hills Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

''Thursday, February 25, 1971'' Source:

Second round

''Friday, February 26, 1971'' Source:

Third round

''Saturday, February 27, 1971'' Source:

Final leaderboard

''Sunday, February 28, 1971'' Source:

References

External links

PGA Media Guide 2012PGA Championship: history
– 1971 PGA Championship {{coord, 26.832, -80.117, type:event, display=title PGA Championship Golf in Florida Sports competitions in Florida Sports in Palm Beach County, Florida