The 1953 PGA Championship was the 35th

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 1–7 at Birmingham Country Club in

Birmingham, Michigan Birmingham is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor ( M-1). As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,103. History The area comprising what is now the c ...

, a suburb northwest of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. Local resident

Walter Burkemo Walter E. Burkemo (October 9, 1918 – October 8, 1986) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1953 PGA Championship, 1953. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Burkemo was the youngest of 13 children of N ...

won the

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, 2 & 1 over

Felice Torza Felice Joseph Torza (March 15, 1920 – December 23, 1983) was an American professional golfer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Biography Torza was born in Naples, Italy, on March 15, 1920. Like most of the golfers of his generation, ...

in the Tuesday final. The winner's share was $5,000 and the runner-up's was $3,000. Burkemo won 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 in the second of his three finals; he lost to

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 ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

Chick Harbert Melvin R. "Chick" Harbert (February 20, 1915 – September 1, 1992) was an American professional golfer. Harbert won seven times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1954 PGA Championship, then a match play event. A three-time ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

Johnny Palmer John Cornelius Palmer (July 3, 1918 – September 14, 2006) was an American professional golfer. Born in Eldorado, North Carolina, Palmer won seven times on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s, and was a member of the Ryder Cup team 1949. Palme ...

was the medalist of the stroke play qualifier, awarded $250 for his 134 (−8), with a second round at 66. He lost in the first round to

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 ...

; also defeated on "Black Friday" were pre-tournament favorites

Cary Middlecoff Emmett Cary Middlecoff (January 6, 1921 – September 1, 1998) was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour from 1947 to 1961. His 39 Tour wins place him tied for tenth all-time, and he won three major championships. Middlecoff graduated as ...

, three-time champion

, and defending champion

Jim Turnesa James R. Turnesa (December 9, 1912 – August 27, 1971) was an American professional golfer and winner of the 1952 PGA Championship, beating Chick Harbert 1-up in the match-play final. He was one of seven famous golfing brothers; Phil (1896–198 ...

. No former past champion advanced past the second round. Burkemo's win marked the second time that all four major championships were won by Americans in a calendar year.

Format

The

format at the PGA Championship in 1953 called for 12 rounds (216 holes) in seven days: * Wednesday and Thursday – 36-hole

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 ...

qualifier, 18 holes per day; **defending champion

and top 63 professionals advanced to match play * Friday – first two rounds, 18 holes each * Saturday – third round – 36 holes * Sunday – quarterfinals – 36 holes * Monday – semifinals – 36 holes * Tuesday – final – 36 holes

Past champions in the field

Final results

''Tuesday, July 7, 1953''

Final eight bracket

Sources:

Final match scorecards

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

Conflict with British Open

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 ...

Carnoustie Carnoustie (; sco, Carnoustie, gd, Càrn Ùstaidh) is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of 11,3 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, was held July 8–10. Its mandatory 36-hole qualifier was played the two days before the first round, the same days as the semifinals and final at the PGA Championship in Michigan.

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

, the reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion, traveled to Britain for the only time to qualify for the Open. He won the

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates fr ...

by four strokes and set the course record at Carnoustie during the final round. First prize was a modest £500 ($1,400), less than one-third of the PGA's. Hogan won the PGA Championship in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

and

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

, then did not enter for over a decade. After his near-fatal automobile accident in early 1949, his battered legs could not endure the arduous double-round schedule for five consecutive days. He played in three of the events in the 1960s, after the change of format to stroke play. The concept of the modern

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 ...

and professional major championships were not firmly established in 1953, as evidenced by the schedule conflict in early July. The PGA Championship moved two weeks later in

to avoid this conflict, but during the 1960s, the two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July on five occasions. The PGA Championship was first played in August in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, and moved permanently in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, except for

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 ...

when it was played in Florida in February.

References

External links

PGA Media Guide 2012
– 1953 PGA Championship {{coord, 42.533, -83.234, type:event, display=title PGA Championship Golf in Michigan Sports in Oakland County, Michigan