The 1945 PGA Championship was the 27th

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 July 9–15 at

Moraine Country Club Moraine Country Club is a country club located in Kettering, Ohio, in the Dayton Metropolitan Area. The development of the Moraine Country Club started at a meeting in 1927, when Colonel Deeds, Charles Kettering, Frederick Rike, Governor James C ...

in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb south of

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

. 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,

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 ...

won 4 & 3 in the final over Sam Byrd, a former major league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. It was Nelson's fifth and final major title and his second win at the PGA Championship; he also won 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 was a runner-up three times ( 1939, 1941,

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

). The winner's share of the purse was $5,000 in

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

. The victory was the ninth of Nelson's record eleven consecutive wins in 1945. Defending champion

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 ...

was defeated in the first round by

Jack Grout John Frederick Grout (March 24, 1910 – May 13, 1989) was an American professional golfer who competed on the PGA Tour from 1931 to 1953. Though he taught many Hall of Fame players, he is best known as the 'first and only' golf teacher of Ja ...

, 4 & 3. Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the PGA Championship was the sole major played in 1945 (and

). The three others returned in 1946.

Format

The

format at the PGA Championship in 1945 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; **defending champion

and top 31 professionals advanced to match play * 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

Final results

''Sunday, July 15, 1945''

Final eight bracket

Final match scorecards

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

References

External links

PGA Media Guide 2012
– 1945 PGA Championship {{coord, 39.690, -84.196, type:event, display=title PGA Championship Golf in Ohio Kettering, Ohio