1997 PGA Championship Winner and Scores
The 1997 PGA Championship was the 79th time the tournament was played. The son of a PGA Professional pulled off his only major championship win here.
Winner: Davis Love III, 269
Where it was played: Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck, New York
Tournament dates: August 14-17, 1997
Leader after first round: John Daly and Davis Love III, 66
Leader after second round: Lee Janzen, 136
Leader after third round: Justin Leonard and Davis Love III, 203
What Happened in the 1997 PGA Championship
At the time of the 1997 PGA Championship, Davis Love III was one of the names brought up when golf fans talked about the "best player yet to win a major." By the end of the week, Love had taken himself off that list.Love opened with a 66 to share the first-round lead, but dropped to second place at the halfway point following a 71 in the second round. But his weekend play was sterling with back-to-back 66s in the third and fourth rounds, and Love won by five strokes ahead of Justin Leonard. It was actually even a more dominating win than that 5-stroke winning margin indicates: Only one other golfer — third-place Jeff Maggert — finished fewer than 10 strokes behind Love. Love was on fire both off the tee and on the greens during the tournament, leading the field in driving distance (307 yards) and finishing third in putting.
A month earlier, Leonard won the 1997 British Open. Leonard shared the 54-hole lead with Love after firing a 65 in Round 3. But in the final round, Leonard shot 71 to Love's 66.
Love's father, Davis Love Jr., was a PGA Professional. When Love won here, he became the sixth son of a PGA Professional to win the PGA Championship (Chick Harbert was the first, in 1954). It turned out to be Love's only win in a major; it was his 11th overall win on the PGA Tour (he finished with 21 wins).
Tiger Woods, a future four-time winner of this major, made his PGA Championship debut here and tied for 29th place. David Toms, winner of the 2001 PGA Championship, also made his tournament debut here and missed the cut. At the other end of his career, 1978 PGA Championship winner John Mahaffey withdrew following the first round in what was his final appearance in any of the major championships.
1997 PGA Championship Final Scores
| Davis Love III | 66-71-66-66—269 |
| Justin Leonard | 68-70-65-71—274 |
| Jeff Maggert | 69-69-73-65—276 |
| Lee Janzen | 69-67-74-69—279 |
| Tom Kite | 68-71-71-70—280 |
| Phil Blackmar | 70-68-74-69—281 |
| Scott Hoch | 71-72-68-70—281 |
| Jim Furyk | 69-72-72-68—281 |
| Tom Byrum | 69-73-70-70—282 |
| Scott McCarron | 74-71-67-71—283 |
| Tom Lehman | 69-72-72-70—283 |
| Joey Sindelar | 72-71-71-69—283 |
| Bob Tway | 68-75-72-69—284 |
| Nick Price | 72-70-72-70—284 |
| Tommy Tolles | 75-70-73-66—284 |
| Mark O'Meara | 69-73-75-67—284 |
| David Duval | 70-70-71-73—284 |
| Kirk Triplett | 73-70-71-70—284 |
| Vijay Singh | 73-66-76-69—284 |
| Colin Montgomerie | 74-71-67-72—284 |
| Greg Norman | 68-71-74-71—284 |
| Tim Herron | 72-73-68-71—284 |
| Shigeki Maruyama | 68-70-74-73—285 |
| Kenny Perry | 73-68-73-71—285 |
| Mark Calcavecchia | 71-74-73-67—285 |
| Doug Martin | 69-75-74-67—285 |
| John Cook | 71-71-74-69—285 |
| Bernhard Langer | 73-71-72-69—285 |
| Paul Azinger | 68-73-71-74—286 |
| Hale Irwin | 73-70-71-72—286 |
| John Daly | 66-73-77-70—286 |
| Fred Couples | 71-67-73-75—286 |
| Tiger Woods | 70-70-71-75—286 |
| Phil Mickelson | 69-69-73-75—286 |
| Lee Westwood | 74-68-71-73—286 |
| Paul Goydos | 70-72-71-73—286 |
| Payne Stewart | 70-70-72-74—286 |
| Frank Nobilo | 72-73-67-74—286 |
| Don Pooley | 72-74-70-70—286 |
| Ronnie Black | 76-69-71-70—286 |
| Eduardo Romero | 71-72-72-72—287 |
| David Ogrin | 74-72-71-70—287 |
| Ignacio Garrido | 70-71-75-71—287 |
| Steve Jones | 69-73-75-70—287 |
| Thomas Bjorn | 72-68-77-71—288 |
| Sam Torrance | 74-72-70-72—288 |
| Steve Elkington | 72-72-70-74—288 |
| Jesper Parnevik | 76-70-71-71—288 |
| Loren Roberts | 76-70-74-69—289 |
| Robert Allenby | 67-77-74-71—289 |
| Brian Henninger | 74-68-75-72—289 |
| Chris Perry | 68-71-73-77—289 |
| Olin Browne | 70-73-74-73—290 |
| Taylor Smith | 71-71-74-74—290 |
| Billy Mayfair | 75-68-75-72—290 |
| Craig Stadler | 72-72-74-72—290 |
| Ernie Els | 70-76-74-70—290 |
| Steve Lowery | 72-69-79-71—291 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 72-72-77-70—291 |
| Larry Mize | 71-73-73-74—291 |
| Russ Cochran | 72-73-72-75—292 |
| Lee Rinker | 70-71-75-76—292 |
| Retief Goosen | 72-70-74-76—292 |
| Fred Funk | 71-74-77-70—292 |
| Stuart Appleby | 75-70-69-78—292 |
| Jay Haas | 71-69-73-79—292 |
| Peter Jacobsen | 74-72-75-72—293 |
| Paul Stankowski | 68-71-77-77—293 |
| Per-Ulrik Johansson | 73-69-73-78—293 |
| Carlos Franco | 69-74-76-75—294 |
| Michael Bradley | 73-69-80-73—295 |
| Larry Nelson | 76-70-76-73—295 |
| Yoshinori Kaneko | 72-73-76-74—295 |
| Costantino Rocca | 69-69-79-78—295 |
| Andrew Magee | 71-70-80-75—296 |
| Pete Jordan | 76-70-75-76—297 |
| Kevin Sutherland | 73-73-73-78—297 |
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