The 2010 PGA Championship was the 92nd PGA Championship, played August 12–15 at the Straits Course of the Whistling Straits complex in Haven, Wisconsin (postal address Kohler).
Martin Kaymer won his first major championship in a three-hole playoff over Bubba Watson. It was the second PGA Championship in six years at Whistling Straits, the first in 2004 was won by Vijay Singh, also in a playoff.
Original venue This championship was originally slated for Sahalee Country Club, east of Seattle, which hosted in 1998 and was selected in 1999 to host the championship again in 2010. That decision was reversed by the PGA of America in January 2005, when it was abruptly moved to Whistling Straits, which had recently hosted the very profitable 2004 edition and set new attendance records.
The PGA of America stated that it was concerned about the possibility of reduced financial support in the Pacific Northwest, as it was scheduled to be held less than six months after the conclusion of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. As of 2024, the PGA of America has yet to commit to return to Sahalee, with future venues selected through 2031. Whistling Straits hosted its third PGA Championship in 2015.
Field The following qualification criteria were used to select the field.2010 PGA Championship - Player Eligibility Each player is listed according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. All former PGA Champions Mark Brooks, John Daly, Steve Elkington, Pádraig Harrington (4,6,8,9), Davis Love III, Shaun Micheel, Phil Mickelson (3,8,9,10), Vijay Singh, David Toms, Tiger Woods (2,4,6,8,10), Yang Yong-eun (6,8) (Eligible but did not compete: Rich Beem, Jack Burke Jr., Dow Finsterwald, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Al Geiberger, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Hubert Green, Don January, John Mahaffey, Larry Nelson, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nick Price, Jeff Sluman, Dave Stockton, Hal Sutton, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins)
Paul Azinger withdrew due to a foot injury.Fantasy Golf - USA Today Bob Tway withdrew for undisclosed reasons.
2. Last five U.S. Open Champions Ángel Cabrera (3,8), Lucas Glover (6,8), Graeme McDowell (6,8,9,10), Geoff Ogilvy (8,10)
3. Last five Masters Champions Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson (6,8,10)
4. Last five British Open Champions Stewart Cink (8,9), Louis Oosthuizen (8,10)
5. Current Senior PGA Champion Tom Lehman
6. 15 low scorers and ties in the 2009 PGA Championship Ernie Els (8,10), Dustin Johnson (8,10), Martin Kaymer, Søren Kjeldsen, Rory McIlroy (8,10), John Merrick, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson (9)
Lee Westwood (8,9,10) withdrew due to a calf/ankle injury.Westwood Out
7. 20 low scorers in the 2010 PGA Professional National Championship Danny Balin, Ryan Benzel, Kyle Flinton, Scott Hebert, David Hutsell, Stu Ingraham, Rob Labritz, Mitch Lowe, Robert McClellan, Bob Moss, Keith Ohr, Troy Pare, Jason Schmuhl, Mark Sheftic, Sonny Skinner, Mike Small, Bruce Smith, Rich Steinmetz, Chip Sullivan, Tim Thelen
8. Top 70 leaders in official money standings from the 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and Legends Reno-Tahoe Open to the 2010 Greenbrier Classic Stephen Ames (10), Stuart Appleby (10), Ricky Barnes, Jason Bohn (10), Chad Campbell (9), Paul Casey (9), K. J. Choi, Tim Clark (9, 10), Ben Crane (9,10), Brian Davis, Jason Day (10), Brendon de Jonge, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk (9,10), Sergio García (9), Brian Gay, Retief Goosen, Bill Haas (10), J. B. Holmes (9), Charles Howell III, Freddie Jacobson, Anthony Kim (9,10), Matt Kuchar (10), Martin Laird (10), Marc Leishman, Hunter Mahan (9,10), Steve Marino, Troy Matteson (10), Bryce Molder, Ryan Moore (10), Kevin Na, Sean O'Hair, Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer (10), Kenny Perry (9), Tim Petrovic, Carl Pettersson (10), Ian Poulter (9,10), Justin Rose (9,10), Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott (10), Heath Slocum (10), Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker (9, 10), Vaughn Taylor, Bo Van Pelt, Scott Verplank, Camilo Villegas (10), Nick Watney, Bubba Watson (10), Charlie Wi
Robert Allenby withdrew due to a knee injury.Robert Allenby to miss three weeks
9. Members of the United States and European 2008 Ryder Cup teams (provided they are ranked in the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings on August 2, 2010) Søren Hansen, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Oliver Wilson (Ben Curtis (ranked 106), Justin Leonard (101), and Boo Weekley (162) failed to qualify under this category, but played out of other categories.)
10. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the 2009 PGA Championship Cameron Beckman, Matt Bettencourt, Derek Lamely, Bill Lunde
11. Vacancies are filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in official money standings). Paul Goydos, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, George McNeill, John Senden, Kevin Stadler, Jimmy Walker
D. J. Trahan (ranked 80) replaced Paul Azinger. Matt Jones (82) replaced Bob Tway. D. A. Points (84) replaced Robert Allenby. Kevin Sutherland (85) replaced Lee Westwood. Kris Blanks (88) took spot reserved for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner
12. The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above Fredrik Andersson Hed, Grégory Bourdy, Darren Clarke,Darren Clarke receives US PGA invitation Ben Curtis, Rhys Davies, Simon Dyson, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Ross Fisher, Hiroyuki Fujita, Stephen Gallacher, Anders Hansen, Peter Hanson, Tetsuji Hiratsuka, David Horsey, Yuta Ikeda, Ryo Ishikawa,Ishikawa to play in all four majors Raphaël Jacquelin, Simon Khan, Kim Kyung-tae, Liang Wenchong, Shane Lowry, Ross McGowan, Edoardo Molinari, Colin Montgomerie, Noh Seung-yul, Koumei Oda, Corey Pavin, Álvaro Quirós, Michael Sim, Thongchai Jaidee, Boo Weekley, Mike Weir, Danny Willett, Chris Wood
Course layout
Previous course lengths for major championships – par 72, 2004 PGA Championship
Round summaries First round Thursday, August 12, 2010
The start of play was delayed on Thursday morning by over three hours due to fog; when the early starters finally got out, Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari posted the best scores, setting a clubhouse target of four-under-par. Play was suspended on Thursday evening with half the field yet to complete their rounds; a second fog delay on Friday morning further delayed completion of the first round. Matt Kuchar defied the stoppages to take the first round lead, chasing his first win after a year of top-10s. Teenager Noh Seung-yul was only one shot behind, in the group at four-under, looking to become the second successive Korean PGA Championship winner.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Matt Kuchar67−5T2 Ernie Els68−4 Francesco Molinari Noh Seung-yul Bubba WatsonT6 Jason Day69−3 Charles Howell III Zach Johnson Simon Khan Ryan Moore Nick Watney
Second round Friday, August 13, 2010
Matt Kuchar fired a second-round 69 to lead by one shot after day two. Fog again delayed the start by two and a half hours, but Kuchar was eight under at the close, one ahead of fellow American Nick Watney. The late start meant half the field would finish their rounds on Saturday.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Matt Kuchar67-69=136−82 Nick Watney69-68=137−7T3 Jim Furyk70-68=138−6 J. B. Holmes72-66=138T5 Jason Dufner73-66=139−5 Dustin Johnson71-68=139 Zach Johnson69-70=139 Simon Khan69-70=139 Rory McIlroy71-68=139 Bryce Molder72-67=139 Noh Seung-yul68-71=139 Ryan Palmer71-68=139 Vijay Singh73-66=139 Bubba Watson68-71=139
Third round Saturday, August 14, 2010
In the third round, Liang Wenchong shot a course-record 64 and moved into a tie for fourth place.ESPN.com - Nick Watney claims 3-shot lead at PGA Overnight leader Matt Kuchar dropped back to seven under, and Nick Watney shot a 66 to take a three-stroke lead over Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson going into the final round. Half the 156 starters were forced to complete their seconds rounds on the Saturday after almost six hours were lost because of fog over the first two days.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Nick Watney69-68-66=203−13T2 Dustin Johnson71-68-67=206−10 Rory McIlroy71-68-67=206T4 Jason Day69-72-66=207−9 Martin Kaymer72-68-67=207 Liang Wenchong72-71-64=207T7 Jason Dufner73-66-69=208−8 Steve Elkington71-70-67=208 Jim Furyk70-68-70=208 Zach Johnson69-70-69=208
Final round Sunday, August 15, 2010
Seven different players held at least a share of the lead in the final round. Overnight leader Watney collapsed with an 81 (+9), including a triple-bogey on the 7th hole when he hit his ball into the water after hearing a camera click. Steve Elkington made a run towards the end, tying for the lead with a birdie on 16, but bogeyed the last two holes to finish two strokes back. Bubba Watson frequently drove his tee shots over and shot 68, including a birdie on the 16th hole to tie for the lead. He finished at 277, 11-under par. Kaymer, who held the lead for most of the day, made a par putt at the 18th hole to tie Watson for the clubhouse lead. McIlroy had a 15-footer for birdie on the 72nd green to tie for the lead with Watson and Kaymer, but missed. Dustin Johnson birdied 16 and 17 to take a one-shot lead with one hole to play, but bogeyed the final hole to apparently tie for the lead. After further review, it was decided that he had "grounded his club" in a bunker just off the edge of the 18th fairway, which is a contravention of Rule 13.4 of the Rules of Golf. Johnson readily admitted that he grounded his club but he did not know that the sandy patch beside the 18th fairway from which he played his second shot was deemed to be a bunker. He was given a two-stroke penalty and fell into a tie for fifth place.ESPN.com - Martin Kaymer wins PGA in playoff
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 Martin Kaymer72-68-67-70=277−11 Playoff Bubba Watson68-71-70-68=277T3 Zach Johnson69-70-69-70=278−10435,000 Rory McIlroy71-68-67-72=278T5 Jason Dufner73-66-69-71=279−9270,833 Steve Elkington71-70-67-71=279 Dustin Johnson71-68-67-73=279T8 Camilo Villegas71-71-70-68=280−8210,000 Liang Wenchong72-71-64-73=280T10 Jason Day69-72-66-74=281−7175,800 Matt Kuchar67-69-73-72=281 Complete leaderboard
Scorecard Final round Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par453454344453444534 Kaymer−9−10−10−11−11−11−11−11−11−12−12−12−12−12−11−11−11−11 Watson−7−8−8−7−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−11−11−12−11−11 Z. Johnson−9−9−9−8−8−9−8−9−9−10−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10 McIlroy−10−10−10−9−9−9−10−9−9−10−10−10−10−11−10−10−10−10 Dufner−8−8−8−8−9−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−8−9 Elkington−8−8−7−7−8−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−10−10−11−10−9 D. Johnson−11−11−10−9−10−10−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−11−12−9 Villegas −5 −5 −6 −5 −5 −6 −7 −8 −6 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −6 −8 −8 −8 Liang −8 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9 −8 −8 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −8 −8 −8 Day−9−10−10−10−9−10−10−10−8−8−8−8−8−7−6−7−6−7 Watney−11−11−11−10−10−11−8−7−6−6−4−4−3−3−2−3−4−4 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Double Eagle -->EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+ Source: Dustin Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty on 18th hole, resulting in a triple bogey seven.
Playoff