2008 PGA Championship

2008 PGA Championship
Tournament information
Dates August 7–10, 2008
Location Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Course(s) Oakland Hills Country Club,
South Course
Organized by PGA of America
Tour(s) PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par 70
Length 7,395 yards (6,762 m)
Field 156 players, 73 after cut
Cut 148 (+8)
Prize fund $7,500,000 [1]
€4,804,330
Winner's share $1,350,000
€867,219
Champion
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
277 (–3)
«2007
2009»
Oakland Hills 
Country Club
Location in the United States

The 2008 PGA Championship was the 90th PGA Championship, played from August 7–10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. It was the ninth major championship contested at the South Course and the first in twelve years, when Steve Jones won the 1996 U.S. Open. The PGA Championship returned to "The Monster" for the first time in 29 years; the 1979 event was won by David Graham.

Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive major and third overall, two strokes ahead of than runners-up Ben Curtis and Sergio García. He earned $1.35 million for the victory, and became the first European-born winner of the PGA Championship in 78 years, last accomplished in the match play era by Tommy Armour of Scotland in 1930 (by then a naturalized U.S. citizen). Harrington was the first winner from Ireland, and the first European to win The Open Championship and the PGA Championship in the same year.

Tiger Woods, the two-time defending champion, did not compete due to rehabilitation for a season-ending knee surgery following his playoff victory in the U.S. Open in June.

The South Course previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1972 and 1979, and the U.S. Open in 1924, 1937, 1951, 1961, 1985, and 1996.

Field

The following is the qualification criteria that was used to select the field.[2] 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
Paul Azinger, Rich Beem, Mark Brooks, John Daly, Steve Elkington, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson (3,8,9,10), Vijay Singh (8,10), David Toms (9), Bob Tway
(Eligible but not competing: Jack Burke, Jr., Dow Finsterwald, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Al Geiberger, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Hubert Green, Don January, John Mahaffey, Shaun Micheel, Larry Nelson, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nick Price, Bob Rosburg, Jeff Sluman, Dave Stockton, Hal Sutton, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins, Tiger Woods)

2. Last five U.S. Open Champions
Ángel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy (6,8,10)

3. Last five Masters Champions
Trevor Immelman (6,8), Zach Johnson (8,9)

4. Last five British Open Champions
Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington (8)

5. Current Senior PGA Champion
Jay Haas

6. 15 low scorers and ties in the 2007 PGA Championship
Stephen Ames (8,10), Stuart Appleby (8), Woody Austin (8), K.J. Choi (8,10), Simon Dyson, Ernie Els (8,10), Anders Hansen, Justin Rose (8), Adam Scott (8,10), John Senden (8), Kevin Sutherland (8), Scott Verplank (8,9), Boo Weekley (8,10)
(Eligible but not competing due to hand surgery – Arron Oberholser[3])

7. 20 low scorers in the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship
Sam Arnold, Ryan Benzel, Bradley Dean, Eric Dugas, Frank Esposito, Jr., Jim Estes, Kyle Flinton, Scott Hebert, Vince Jewell, Rick Leibovich, David Long, Eric Manning, Brad Martin, Jeff Martin, Alan Morin, Curt Sanders, Sonny Skinner, Tim Thelen, Tim Weinhart, Don Yrene

8. 70 leaders in official money standings from the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open to the 2008 RBC Canadian Open
Robert Allenby, Tommy Armour III, Aaron Baddeley, Briny Baird, Bart Bryant, Mark Calcavecchia, Chad Campbell (9,10), Daniel Chopra (10), Stewart Cink (9,10), Tim Clark, Ken Duke, Steve Flesch (10), Jim Furyk (9), Sergio García (10), Brian Gay (10), Mathew Goggin, Paul Goydos, J. B. Holmes (10), Ryuji Imada (10), Fredrik Jacobson, Jerry Kelly, Anthony Kim (10), Justin Leonard (10), Peter Lonard, Steve Lowery (10), Hunter Mahan, John Mallinger, Steve Marino, Billy Mayfair, George McNeill (10), Rocco Mediate, John Merrick, Ryan Moore, Sean O'Hair (10), Rod Pampling, Pat Perez, Kenny Perry (10), Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Jeff Quinney, Andrés Romero (10), Rory Sabbatini, Heath Slocum, Brandt Snedeker (10), Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker (10), D. J. Trahan (10), Camilo Villegas, Johnson Wagner (10), Mike Weir (10), Dean Wilson
(Eligible but not competing due to wrist injury – Luke Donald[4])

9. Members of the 2006 United States Ryder Cup team
Chris DiMarco, J. J. Henry, Vaughn Taylor
(Eligible but not competing due to back injury – Brett Wetterich[5])

10. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the 2007 PGA Championship
Richard S. Johnson, Greg Kraft, Parker McLachlin, Chez Reavie

11. The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above
Mark Brown, Jonathan Byrd, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke, Fred Couples, Ben Crane, Ben Curtis, Nick Dougherty, Niclas Fasth, Ross Fisher, Alastair Forsyth, Hiroyuki Fujita, Richard Green, Søren Hansen, Peter Hanson, Peter Hedblom, Charles Howell III, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Brendan Jones, Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer, James Kingston, Søren Kjeldsen, Pablo Larrazábal, Tom Lehman, Graeme McDowell, Colin Montgomerie, Nick O'Hern, Louis Oosthuizen, Hennie Otto, Corey Pavin, Prayad Marksaeng, Jyoti Randhawa, Charl Schwartzel, Jeev Milkha Singh, Scott Strange, Toru Taniguchi, Bubba Watson, Steve Webster, Lee Westwood, Oliver Wilson
(Declined invitation: Greg Norman – scheduling,[6] Jason Bohn – back surgery,[7] Shingo Katayama – back injury)

12. Vacancies are filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in official money standings)

  1. Charlie Wi (73) – replaced Brett Wetterich[5]
  2. Nicholas Thompson (77) – replaced Jason Bohn[7][8]
  3. Alex Čejka (78) – replaced Luke Donald[4][8]
  4. Cliff Kresge (79) – filled spot for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner Vijay Singh (already qualified)[9]
  5. Michael Allen (81) – replaced Shingo Katayama (back injury)[8]
  6. Tom Pernice, Jr. (83) – replaced Alex Čejka (arm injury)[8]

Course layout

The 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club
Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yardage n/a 4355291984464903874494912573,682 4624235931915014014062384983,7137,395
Par 4 5 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 35 4 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 4 35 70

Lengths of the course for previous majors:

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player Country Year won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Phil Mickelson  United States 2005 70 73 71 70 284 +4 T7
David Toms  United States 2001 72 69 72 74 287 +7 T15
Steve Elkington  Australia 1995 71 73 73 75 292 +12 T39
Paul Azinger  United States 1993 72 76 76 75 299 +19 T63

Missed the cut

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 Total To par
Rich Beem  United States 2002 73 76 149 +9
John Daly  United States 1991 74 75 149 +9
Bob Tway  United States 1986 75 74 149 +9
Mark Brooks  United States 1996 74 76 150 +10
Davis Love III  United States 1997 77 75 152 +12
Vijay Singh  Fiji 1998, 2004 76 76 152 +12

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A lengthy weather delay forced a few pairings to complete their first round on Friday morning. It was clear though on Thursday that Robert Karlsson and Jeev Milkha Singh would share the 18-hole lead after shooting matching 68s. Sergio García, still looking for his first major championship, headed up a group of five that shot one-under 69s. Phil Mickelson shot an even-par 70 to place him in an eight-way tie for eighth. Retief Goosen appeared to be piecing together a fabulous opening round when he birdied four of his first seven holes to get to -4. His fortunes would change, however, as he shot six-over the rest of the way to drop four strokes off the lead after the first day. Like Goosen, 2008 Open Champion, Pádraig Harrington, got off to a flying start by birdieing his first three holes. Unfortunately for him, he shot four-over the rest of the way to finish his round with a 71. Kenny Perry was forced to withdraw due to the effects of an eye problem that began plaguing him earlier in the week.[10]

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Robert Karlsson Sweden68–2
Jeev Milkha Singh India
T3Ken Duke United States69–1
Sergio García Spain
Billy Mayfair United States
Sean O'Hair United States
Andrés Romero Argentina
T8Michael Allen United States70E
Ángel Cabrera Argentina
Brian Gay United States
Anthony Kim United States
Phil Mickelson United States
Ryan Moore United States
Rod Pampling Australia
Charlie Wi South Korea

Second round

Friday, August 8, 2008

At the midway point of the 90th PGA Championship, the only golfer under par was J. B. Holmes. Holmes, whose best finish at a major was a tie for 25th at the Masters earlier in 2008, shot a two-under 68 to post a -1 after 36 holes. He was as many as three shots under par for the tournament, but bogeyed two of his final four holes. Ben Curtis and Justin Rose shared the best round of the day with three-under 67s to settle into a tie for second at even par with Charlie Wi. After withdrawing from the Open Championship, 2001 PGA Championship winner, David Toms, regained his form by shooting a one-under 69 to put himself in a tie for fifth with Henrik Stenson. Sergio García shot a three-over 73 to place himself in a seven way tie for seventh. García appeared as if he would be higher on the leaderboard at the close of the day, but he double-bogeyed the 17th hole. Phil Mickelson bogeyed two of his final four holes to finish in a seven way tie for 14th going into the weekend.

Seventy-three golfers would survive the cut which was set at 148 (+8). The winner at Bridgestone the previous week and world #4, Vijay Singh, was the most notable golfer to miss the cut when he five-putted his last hole. World #8, Adam Scott, world #9, Stewart Cink, 2007 PGA Championship runner-up, Woody Austin, and 2008 Masters champion, Trevor Immelman, were also among those who missed the cut.[11]

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1J. B. Holmes United States71-68=139–1
T2Ben Curtis United States73-67=140E
Justin Rose England73-67=140
Charlie Wi South Korea70-70=140
T5Henrik Stenson Sweden71-70=141+1
David Toms United States72-69=141
T8Aaron Baddeley Australia71-71=142+2
Ángel Cabrera Argentina70-72=142
Ken Duke United States69-73=142
Sergio García Spain69-73=142
Sean O'Hair United States69-73=142
Jeev Milkha Singh India68-74=142
Brandt Snedeker United States71-71=142

Third round

Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008

At 2:16 pm, scattered thunderstorms halted play before the leaders had a chance to begin their round. It appeared as if some golf was going to be played Saturday afternoon, but around 6:30 pm play was officially suspended for the day due to the persistent threat of thunderstorms. Andrés Romero was among those who had the chance to complete their round, and he posted a tournament low, five-under 65 to finish three strokes off the lead.[12]

Third round play resumed Sunday at 7:15 am. The 2003 Open Champion, Ben Curtis stormed into the lead with birdies at four of his first six holes, and despite a bogey at the 18th hole, Curtis shot two-under 68 for a one stroke lead after 54 holes. Second round leader J. B. Holmes remained in contention with an even par 70 to place himself in a tie for second with Henrik Stenson. 2007 and 2008 Open Champion, Pádraig Harrington shot a four-under 66 to shoot up the leaderboard into a tie for fourth. Also among those at +1 was Sergio García, who shot a one-under 69. South Korean, Charlie Wi shot a one-over 71 to place himself in the three way tie for fourth. Andrés Romero, who completed his round Saturday, woke up much higher on the leaderboard as his five-under 65 put him four strokes off the lead and in a tie for seventh. Former PGA Champions in David Toms and Phil Mickelson sat five and six strokes off the lead respectively.[13]

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Ben Curtis United States73-67-68=208–2
T2J. B. Holmes United States71-68-70=209–1
Henrik Stenson Sweden71-70-68=209
T4Sergio García Spain69-73-69=211+1
Pádraig Harrington Ireland71-74-66=211
Charlie Wi South Korea70-70-71=211
T7Andrés Romero Argentina69-78-65=212+2
Jeev Milkha Singh India68-74-70=212
T9Aaron Baddeley Australia71-71-71=213+3
Steve Flesch United States73-70-70=213
David Toms United States72-69-72=213
Camilo Villegas Colombia74-72=67=213

Final round

Sunday, August 10, 2008

With the third round concluding Sunday morning due to the thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon, the final round began at 12:30 pm EDT, in groups of three on split tees: the top half of the remaining field began at the first hole, and the remainder started at the tenth.[14]

Pádraig Harrington claimed his second consecutive major championship and third in the last six majors, two strokes ahead of runners-up Ben Curtis and Sergio García. Harrington shot his second straight 66 (–4), and like his victory three weeks earlier at Royal Birkdale, he won with tremendous play on the back nine. Harrington birdied three of four holes at one point to erase a three-stroke deficit. He made three critical putts at each of the final three holes to seal the victory, which included an 18-foot (5.5 m) par putt on the 72nd hole to make García's upcoming par putt meaningless. Harrington became the first European since 1930 to win the PGA Championship, and only the fourth golfer to win the Open Championship and PGA Championship in the same year.

García flew out of the gate with a birdie and eagle on the first two holes. He went the first 15 holes without registering a bogey allowing him to play with the lead most of the day. However, his fortunes would change when he found the water at the 16th hole. He would lose sole ownership of the lead on this hole, and ultimately the tournament after failing to match the crucial putts made by Harrington. This marked the second time that Garcia has lost a major to Harrington going down the stretch after his playoff defeat to Harrington at the 2007 Open Championship. Curtis held at least a share of the lead until he bogeyed the final two holes on the front nine. He would come back and tie García briefly for the lead when he birdied the 14th hole. Curtis even found a way to earn par on the 16th despite his drive landing on the platform in front of a hospitality tent. However, he bogeyed two of his final four holes to finish two strokes off the lead.

Camilo Villegas had his best major finish with a tie for fourth, which was his second top 10 finish at the 2008 majors. He backed up his 67 earlier in the third round with a two-under 68 to finish four strokes behind Harrington. J. B. Holmes, who was one shot back to start the final round, triple bogeyed the first hole en route to an 11-over-par 81. Henrik Stenson had his second straight top 5 at the majors despite shooting a two-over 72 to fall into a tie with Villegas. Steve Flesch found the cup from the fairway on the 18th to become the first on the day to birdie the hole. He finished by himself in sixth place and recorded his second top 10 finish at the majors in 2008. Phil Mickelson birdied three of his first four holes to put himself in contention, but did not birdie another hole and fell into a tie for seventh with Andrés Romero. Romero was unable to back up the 65 he shot in the third round and never mustered up a challenge for the leaders.

Final Leaderboard
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)
1Pádraig Harrington Ireland71-74-66-66=277–31,350,000
T2Ben Curtis United States73-67-68-71=279–1660,000
Sergio García Spain69-73-69-68=279
T4Henrik Stenson Sweden71-70-68-72=281+1330,000
Camilo Villegas Colombia74-72-67-68=281
6Steve Flesch United States73-70-70-69=282+2270,000
T7Phil Mickelson United States70-73-71-70=284+4231,250
Andrés Romero Argentina69-78-65-72=284
T9Alastair Forsyth Scotland73-72-70-70=285+5176,725
Justin Rose England73-67-74-71=285
Jeev Milkha Singh India68-74-70-73=285
Charlie Wi South Korea70-70-71-74=285

Source:[15][16]

Complete leaderboard

Scorecard

Final round

Birdie Eagle Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+
Hole  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 
Par453444443 445344434
Republic of Ireland Harrington+1EEE+1EEEE–1–1–2–3–2–2–2–3–3
United States Curtis–3–3–3–3–3–4–4–3–2–2–1–2–2–3–2–2–1–1
Spain GarcíaE–2–2–2–2–2–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–2–2–1
Sweden StensonE–1–1–1–1–2–2–1–1–1–1EEE+1+2+2+1
Colombia Villegas+2+2+2+1+2+1+2+2+3+2+3+3+3+2+1+1+1+1
South Korea WiEEE–1E+1+1+1+3+4+4+3+4+4+5+5+5+5
United States Holmes +2+3+4+4+5+4+6+7+7+6+6+5+6+7+8+8+9+10

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[17][18]

Television

Television coverage was provided nationally by CBS and TNT and on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. Coverage was in High Definition.

References

  1. ↑ 2008 PGA Championship - Preview notebook
  2. ↑ "2008 PGA Championship Eligibility". PGA. June 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 16, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Oberholser to be out two months after hand surgery". PGA Tour. July 30, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
  4. 1 2 "It looks like Luke Donald's Ryder Cup participation is in doubt". PGA Tour. July 28, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
  5. 1 2 Wi's Arrival On PGA Tour Better Late Than Never
  6. ↑ "Greg Norman turns down exemption to PGA Championship". USA Today. Associated Press. July 29, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
  7. 1 2 Jason Bohn has officially withdrawn from the PGA Championship
  8. 1 2 3 4 To them, winner's circle foreign land - Ins and Outs
  9. ↑ Field Study: PGA Championship
  10. ↑ "Karlsson takes inspiration from Tiger for share of lead". ESPN. Associated Press. August 7, 2008. Archived from the original on August 11, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Holmes seizes lead with 68; run of 3 straight birdies key". ESPN. Associated Press. August 8, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Undaunted by course, Romero shoots 5-under 65 before play suspended". ESPN. Associated Press. August 9, 2008. Archived from the original on August 12, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Curtis takes PGA Championship lead after completed third round". ESPN. Associated Press. August 10, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  14. ↑ "Harrington catches Garcia, rallies to win second straight major". ESPN. Associated Press. August 9, 2008. Archived from the original on August 13, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  15. ↑ PGA.com 2008 PGA Championship - results
  16. ↑ "2008 PGA Championship". databasegolf.com. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  17. ↑ "2008 PGA Championship leaderboard". Yahoo! Sports. August 10, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  18. ↑ "2008 PGA Championship leaderboard". ESPN. August 10, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2013.

External links

Preceded by
2008 Open Championship		 Major Championships Succeeded by
2009 Masters

Coordinates: 42°32′38″N 83°16′37″W / 42.544°N 83.277°W / 42.544; -83.277

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