1963 PGA Championship explained

1963 PGA Championship
Dates:	July 18–21, 1963
Location:	Dallas, Texas
Course:	Dallas Athletic Club Blue Course
Org:	PGA of America
Tour:	PGA Tour
Par:	71
Yardage:	^[1]
Field:	165 players, 83 after cut
Cut:	151 (+9)
Purse:	$80,900^[2]
Winners Share:	$13,000
Champion:	Jack Nicklaus
Score:	279 (−5)
Previous:	1962
Next:	1964

The 1963 PGA Championship was the 45th PGA Championship, played July 18–21 at the Blue Course of Dallas Athletic Club in Dallas, Texas. Jack Nicklaus won the first of his five PGA Championship titles, two strokes ahead of runner-up Dave Ragan.^{[3] [4]} It was the second major win of the year for Nicklaus, and the third of his eighteen major titles.^[5]

Nicklaus entered the final round in third place, three shots behind 54-hole leader Bruce Crampton.^{[1] [6]} He shot a three-under 68 while Crampton fell back to third with 74 (+3) in the Texas heat, with temperatures over .^{[5] [7]} At the trophy presentation in the bright sunshine, Nicklaus grasped the very hot Wanamaker Trophy with the aid of a towel.^{[4] [8]} The temperature in downtown Dallas on Sunday reached a high of .^{[3] [5]}

With the victory, Nicklaus at age 23 joined Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, and Ben Hogan as the only winners of all three American majors: the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship.^{[2] [9]} Nicklaus completed the first of his three career grand slams three years later at Muirfield in 1966.

The Open Championship was played the previous week in northwest England at Lytham St Annes, one of five times in the 1960s that these two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July. Nicklaus bogeyed the last two holes at Lytham and finished a stroke out of the 36-hole Saturday playoff, won by Bob Charles.^[10] The PGA Championship moved permanently to August in 1969 (except 1971, when it was played in late February to avoid Florida's summer). After cool temperatures in Britain, the oppressive July heat in Dallas was difficult for many to

Nicklaus won the Masters in April, the first of his six green jackets, marking only the third time that the Masters champion won the PGA Championship in the same calendar year. He was preceded by Sam Snead in 1949 (May) and Jack Burke Jr. in 1956. Through 2016, it has been accomplished only four times, twice by Nicklaus, most recently in August 1975.

On Wednesday, Nicklaus set a record in the long drive contest at over ; breaking the record set in 1952 by 12yd.^[11]

Course layout

See main article: Dallas Athletic Club.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	521	407	356	573	206	396	229	445	402	3,535	474	428	543	206	459	424	216	341	420	3,511	7,046
Par	5	4	4	5	3	4	3	4	4	36	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	35	71

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, July 18, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		66	−5
T2		69	−2
T7		70	−1

Source:^{[12] [13]}

Second round

Friday, July 19, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		66-72=138	−4
T2		69-72=141	−1
	70-71=141
	69-72=141
T5		71-71=142	E
	70-72=142
	69-73=142
T8		70-73=143	+1
	71-72=143
	71-72=143
	74-69=143

Source:^[14]

Third round

Saturday, July 20, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		70-73-65=208	−5
2		72-72-66=210	−3
3		69-73-69=211	−2
4		75-70-67=212	−1
T5		70-72-71=213	E
	73-71-69=213
	74-69-70=213
T8		69-72-73=214	+1
	72-73-69=214
	66-72-76=214
	73-72-69=214
	71-73-70=214

Source:^{[1] [6]}

Final round

Sunday, July 21, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Jack Nicklaus	69-73-69-68=279	−5	13,000
2		75-70-67-69=281	−3	7,000
T3		70-73-65-74=282	−2	3,750
	72-72-66-72=282
T5		72-73-69-70=284	E	3,125
	73-71-69-71=284
7		73-73-70-69=285	+1	2,750
T8		72-74-74-66=286	+2	2,090
	74-72-70-70=286
	71-72-72-71=286
	74-75-67-70=286
	73-76-66-71=286

Source:^{[2] [3] [9]}

External links

• PGA Media Guide 2012
• PGA.com – 1963 PGA Championship
• Golf Channel: 1963 PGA Championship
• PGA of America   Nicklaus reflects on 1963 PGA Championship

32.841°N -96.645°W

Notes and References

1. News: Crampton snatches PGA lead . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . July 21, 1963 . 1B .
2. Web site: Tournament Info for: 1963 PGA Championship . PGA.com . July 18, 2012 . August 1, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120801154912/http://www.pgamediaguide.com/pgachampionship_detail.cfm?tournament_id=390&date=1963&tourn_name_id=2 . dead .
3. News: Nicklaus wins P.G.A. on 30-foot putt . Chicago Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 22, 1963 . 1, sec. 3.
4. News: Birdie putt on 15th clinches PGA tourney victory for Nicklaus at Dallas. Youngstown Vindicator . (Ohio). UPI. Petersen . Leo. July 22, 1963 . 19 .
5. Hottest man in a furnace . Sports Illustrated . Wright . Alfred . July 29, 1963 . 16.
6. News: Crampton leads P.G.A. meet on 208. Chicago Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 21, 1963 . 1, sec. 2.
7. News: Nicklaus fires final round 68, wins PGA. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Associated Press . July 22, 1963 . 21 .
8. The making of a major . Golf . April 13, 2017.
9. News: Nicklaus wins PGA title . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . July 22, 1963 . 3B.
10. The Ham and the Knife . Sports Illustrated . Brown . Gwilym S. . 22 July 1963 . .
11. News: Nicklaus drive of 341 yards wins contest . Chicago Tribune . Associated Press . July 18, 1963 . 5, sec. 3.
12. News: Hinsdale gets ace, 66, P.G.A. lead. Chicago Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 19, 1963 . 1, sec. 3.
13. News: Hart takes early lead in PGA, shoots ace, 66 . Palm Beach Post. Associated Press . July 19, 1963 . 25.
14. News: PGA Scores . Palm Beach Post . Associated Press . July 20, 1963. 14 .