The 1978 PGA Championship was the 60th PGA Championship, played August 3–6 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. John Mahaffey won his only major championship in a sudden-death playoff over Jerry Pate and Tom Watson.

Watson led the tournament each day and held a five-shot lead after 54 holes, but he faltered on Sunday with a 73 (+2) in his best opportunity for a PGA Championship, the only major he has never won. Pate had a four-foot (1.3 m) putt for a par and the victory on the 72nd hole, but it lipped out. After opening with a four-over 75 on Thursday, Mahaffey rebounded to go 12-under for the next three rounds, including a five-under 66 in the final round to gain the seven strokes on Watson. He had a history of hard luck in majors: at the U.S. Open, he lost the 18-hole playoff in 1975 and was the 54-hole leader in 1976, won by tour rookie Pate. Mahaffey broke that streak when he birdied the second extra hole to win the playoff at Oakmont. It was the second of three consecutive playoffs at the PGA Championship.

Like Arnold Palmer, Watson won numerous majors but never the PGA Championship, the only leg missing for a career grand slam. At this time he had won three of his eight majors; his next best finish at the PGA Championship came fifteen years later in 1993, placing fifth at Inverness. Pate finished in the top five for the third straight year (and would again the next year) but never won another major.

Jack Nicklaus, age 38, shot a 79 in the first round and missed the cut by five strokes in one of his worst performances in a major. It was his only missed cut in a major the entire 1970s decade. Four-time champion Nicklaus was a pre-tournament favorite: in his previous majors at Oakmont (two U.S. Opens), he won in 1962, his first major and first win as a professional, and tied for fourth in 1973. At the previous year's PGA Championship at Pebble Beach, he finished third, one stroke out of the playoff.

This was the eighth major held at Oakmont and its third PGA Championship; the previous two in 1922 and 1951 were match play events.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4693434255613792014342554803,5474623716031853604532303224563,4426,989Par444543435364453443443571

Lengths of the course for previous major championships: , par 71 - 1973 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1962 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1953 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1951 PGA Championship, par 72 - 1935 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1927 U.S. Open , par 74 - 1922 PGA Championship Before 1962, the 1st hole was played as a par 5.

Round summaries First round Thursday, August 3, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson 67 −42 Dave Stockton 68 −3T3 Dave Hill 69 −2 Ben Crenshaw Johnny Miller Lee Trevino T7 Grier Jones 70 −1 Phil Hancock Lanny Wadkins Mike Sullivan Mike Morley Billy Kratzert Jerry McGee Rod Funseth Craig Stadler

Second round Friday, August 4, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson 67-69=136 −6T2 Tom Weiskopf 73-67=140 −2 Joe Inman 72-68=140 Ben Crenshaw 69-71=1405 Johnny Miller 69-72=141 −1T6 John Mahaffey 75-67=142E Bobby Nichols 75-67=142 Bob Zender 73-69=142 Jerry Pate 72-70=142 Tom Purtzer 72-70=142 Hubert Green 71-71=142 Lee Trevino 69-73=142 Source:

Third round Saturday, August 5, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson 67-69-67=203 −102 Jerry Pate 72-70-66=208 −5T3 Joe Inman 72-68-69=209 −4 Tom Weiskopf 73-67-69=2095 John Mahaffey 75-67-68=210 −36 Craig Stadler 70-74-67=211 −2 7 Lee Trevino 69-73-70=212 −1T8 Gil Morgan 76-71-66=213 E Kermit Zarley 75-71-67=213 Phil Hancock 70-73-70=213 Johnny Miller 69-72-72=213 Source:

Final round Sunday, August 6, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 John Mahaffey 75-67-68-66=276 −8 Playoff Jerry Pate 72-70-66-68=276 Tom Watson 67-69-67-73=276T4 Gil Morgan 76-71-66-67=280 −4 14,500 Tom Weiskopf 73-67-69-71=2806 Craig Stadler 70-74-67-71=282 -2 10,000T7 Andy Bean 72-72-70-70=284 E 8,000 Graham Marsh 72-74-68-70=284 Lee Trevino 69-73-70-72=28410 Fuzzy Zoeller 75-69-73-68=285 +1 6,500 Source:

Playoff The sudden death playoff began on the front nine at hole #1, a par-4 which all three parred.After Watson and Pate could not birdie hole #2, Mahaffey sunk a birdie putt to win the title. PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 John Mahaffey 4-3−150,000T2 Jerry Pate 4-x E25,000 Tom Watson 4-x

References

External links

PGA.com – 1978 PGA Championship