1972 PGA Championship explained

1972 PGA Championship
Dates:	August 3–6, 1972
Location:	Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Course:	Oakland Hills Country Club, South Course
Org:	PGA of America
Tour:	PGA Tour
Par:	70
Field:	138 players, 77 after cut^[1]
Cut:	150 (+10)
Purse:	$224,087
Winners Share:	$45,000
Champion:	Gary Player
Score:	281 (+1)
Previous:	1971
Next:	1973

The 1972 PGA Championship was the 54th PGA Championship, played August 3–6 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Gary Player won his second PGA Championship with a total of 281 (+1), two strokes ahead of runners-up Tommy Aaron and Jim Jamieson.^[2] It was the sixth of Player's nine major titles, but his first in over four years.^{[3] [4]}

The PGA Championship returned to the month of August in 1972 after being played in late February in 1971 in Florida.

Defending champion Jack Nicklaus, winner of the year's Masters and U.S. Open and runner-up in the British Open, finished six strokes back in a tie for thirteenth place. He regained the title the following year.

It was the fifth major championship held on the South Course, which previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1924, 1937, 1951, and 1961. It later hosted the PGA Championship in 1979 and 2008, the U.S. Open in 1985 and 1996, and the Ryder Cup in 2004.

Course layout

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	446	521	202	439	442	368	408	458	227	3,511	459	420	567	173	468	388	408	201	459	3,543	7,054
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	35	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	3	4	35	70

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 3, 1972

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1		68	−2
Stan Thirsk
T3		69	−1
T8		70	E

Source:^[5]

Second round

Friday, August 4, 1972

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		69-70=139	−1
T2		69-71=140	E
	71-69=140
T4		71-70=141	+1
	69-72=141
Bob Smith	69-72=141
T7		71-71=142	+2
	70-72=142
	74-68=142
T10		73-70=143	+3
	71-72=143
	72-71=143
	70-73=143

Source:^[6]

Third round

Saturday, August 5, 1972

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		71-71-67=209	−1
2		73-70-67=210	E
T3		71-70-70=211	+1
	69-70-72=211
	71-72-68=211
T6		71-71-70=212	+2
	72-72-68=212
	70-73-69=212
Larry Wise	74-71-67=212
10		69-72-72=213	+3

Source:^[7]

Final round

Sunday, August 6, 1972

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Gary Player	71-71-67-72=281	+1	45,000
T2		71-71-70-71=283	+3	20,850
	69-72-72-70=283
T4		73-70-67-74=284	+4	9,275
	69-71-74-70=284
	70-74-71-69=284
T7		71-70-70-74=285	+5	6,383
	69-70-72-74=285
	71-72-68-74=285
	72-72-68-73=285

Source:^{[4] [8]}

External links

• PGA Media Guide 2012
• PGA.com – 1972 PGA Championship

42.544°N -83.277°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tournament Info for: 1972 PGA Championship . PGA of America . August 15, 2012 . August 9, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120809073108/http://www.pgamediaguide.com/pgachampionship_detail.cfm?tournament_id=398&date=1972&tourn_name_id=2 . dead .
2. No muzzle for the monster . Sports Illustrated . Jenkins . Dan . Dan Jenkins . August 14, 1972 . 58.
3. News: Player recoups faded prestige with win . Eugene Register-Guard . Oregon . Associated Press . 5B . August 7, 1972.
4. News: Nervy Gary Player takes PGA Crown . Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington . 10 . August 7, 1972.
5. News: Two share PGA lead with 68s . Milwaukee Sentinel . August 4, 1972 . 1, part 2 .
6. News: Heard tops PGA by stroke . Milwaukee Sentinel . UPI . August 5, 1972 . 1, part 2.
7. News: Hot round by Player tops PGA . Eugene Register-Guard . Oregon . Associated Press . August 5, 1972 . 1, sports .
8. Web site: 1972 PGA Championship . databasegolf.com . August 23, 2013.