2008 PGA Championship

Infobox Individual Golf Tournament
tournament_name = 2008 PGA Championship


location = Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
course = Oakland Hills Country Club, South Course
dates = August 7–10, 2008
par = 70
yardage = 7,395
tour = PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
field = 156 players, 73 after cut
cut = 148 (+8)
purse = $7,500,000
winners_share = $1,350,000
Champion = Pádraig Harrington
Score = 277 (-3)

The 2008 PGA Championship was the 90th PGA Championship played from August 7 through August 10, 2008 at the South Course of Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with a purse of $7.5 million. It was the first major championship played at Oakland Hills in twelve years, since the 1996 U.S. Open, won by Steve Jones. The PGA Championship returned to "The Monster" for the first time in 29 years; the 1979 event was won by Australian David Graham.

The 2008 event was won by Pádraig Harrington, his second consecutive major championship and third overall major title. His three under par 277 was two strokes better than runners-up Ben Curtis and Sergio García. Harrington 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. Harrington is the first winner of the PGA Championship 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.

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

Field

The following is the qualification criteria that was used to select the field. [cite web |url=http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2008/players/eligibility.html |title=2008 PGA Championship Eligiblity |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=PGA |date=2008-06-08] 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 [cite web |url=http://www.pgatour.com/2008/r/07/19/oberholser.surgery/index.html?eref=sitesearch |title=Oberholser to be out two months after hand surgery |accessdate=2008-08-02 |author=PGA |date=2008-07-30 |publisher=PGATour.com] )

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 Donaldcite web |url=http://www.pgatour.com/2008/r/07/28/insider.bridgestone.reno/index.html?eref=sitesearch |title=It looks like Luke Donald's Ryder Cup participation is in doubt. |accessdate=2008-07-30 |author=PGA |date=2008-07-28 |publisher=PGATour.com] )

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 [http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=710810 Wi's Arrival On PGA Tour Better Late Than Never] ] )

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 Larrazabal, 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, [cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2008-07-29-norman-pga-championship_N.htm |title=Greg Norman turns down exemption to PGA Championship |accessdate=2008-08-02 |author=Associated Press |date=2008-07-29 |work=USA Today] Jason Bohn – back surgery, [http://fantasygolf.usatoday.com/content/player.asp?sport=GOL&id=676 Jason Bohn has officially withdrawn from the PGA Championship] ] 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)

#Charlie Wi (73) – replaced Brett Wetterich
#Nicholas Thompson (77) – replaced Jason Bohn [http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/08/07/to_them_winners_circle_foreign_land/ To them, winner's circle foreign land] - Ins and Outs]
#Alex Čejka (78) – replaced Luke Donald
#Cliff Kresge (79) – filled spot for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner Vijay Singh (already qualified) [ [http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2008/news/fieldstudy_pga.html Field Study: PGA Championship] ]
#Michael Allen (81) – replaced Shingo Katayama (back injury)
#Tom Pernice, Jr. (83) – replaced Alex Čejka (arm injury)

Course layout

white18 |name=Yardage|N/A
435|529|198|446|490|387|449|491|257|3,682|462|423|593|191|501|401|406|238|498|3,713|7,395

Round-by-round results

First round

A lengthy weather delay forced a few pairings to complete the first round 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 after feeling the effects of an eye problem he started feeling earlier in the week. [cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/pgachampionship08/news/story?id=3523616 |title=Karlsson takes inspiration from Tiger for share of lead |accessdate=2008-08-08 |author=Associated Press |date=2008-08-07 |work=ESPN]

Final round

With the third round concluding Sunday morning due to the thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon, the final round was forced to begin at 12:30 pm EDT, with three golfers in each group. Those in the top half of the remaining field began from the first hole, and the remainder started at the tenth. [cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/pgachampionship08/news/story?id=3528657 |title=Harrington catches Garcia, rallies to win second straight major |accessdate=2008-08-09 |author=Associated Press |date=2008-08-09 |publisher=ESPN.com]

Pádraig Harrington claimed his second consecutive major championship and third in the last six majors with a two stroke victory over Ben Curtis and Sergio García. Harrington shot his second straight four-under 66, 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. Then, Harrington made three critical putts at each of the final three holes to seal the victory, which included an 18-foot par putt on the 72nd hole to make García's upcoming birdie 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.

Sergio 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. Ben 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. 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 golfer 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.

References

External links

* [http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2008/index.html Official site of the 90th PGA Championship]
* [http://www.oaklandhillscc.com/ Oakland Hills Country Club]