2015 PGA Championship

The 2015 PGA Championship was the 97th PGA Championship, held August 13–16 on the Straits Course of Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin (the course is physically in Haven but holds a Kohler mailing address due to its Kohler Company ownership).[3] It was the third PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, which previously hosted in 2004 and 2010, as well as the United States Senior Open in 2007, all held on the Straits Course.

2015 PGA Championship

Tournament information
Dates	August 13–16, 2015
Location	Kohler/Haven, Wisconsin
Course(s)	Whistling Straits Straits Course
Organized by	PGA of America
Tour(s)	PGA Tour European Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	72 [1]
Length	7,501 yards (6,859 m)
Field	156 players, 77 after cut
Cut	146 (+2)
Prize fund	$10,000,000[2] €9,213,193
Winner's share	$1,800,000[2] €1,658,375
Champion
Jason Day
268 (−20)

Whistling Straits

Location in the United States

Whistling Straits

Location in Wisconsin

Jason Day won his first major championship title with a total score of 268 (−20), at the time the lowest score in relation to par ever recorded in a major (a mark since equaled by Henrik Stenson during his win at the 2016 Open Championship).[4] Jordan Spieth, attempting to win his third major of the year, finished in second place three strokes behind. The second-place finish allowed Spieth to surpass Rory McIlroy as number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. [5] Day was the fifth Australian to win the PGA Championship, the first in twenty years.

Course layout

Main article: Whistling Straits

Straits Course

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Outward Bound	408	4		10	Voyageur	361	4
2	Cross Country	593	5		11	Sand Box	563	5
3	O' Man	181	3		12	Pop Up	143	3
4	Glory	489	4		13	Cliff Hanger	404	4
5	Snake	603	5		14	Widow's Watch	397	4
6	Gremlin's Ear	355	4		15	Grand Strand	518	4
7	Shipwreck	221	3		16	Endless Bite	569	5
8	On the Rocks	507	4		17	Pinched Nerve	223	3
9	Down and Dirty	446	4		18	Dyeabolical	520	4
Out		3,803	36		In		3,698	36
Source:[1][6]					Total		7,501	72

Previous course lengths for major championships

• 7,514 yards (6,871 m) – par 72, 2010 PGA Championship
• 7,514 yards (6,871 m) – par 72, 2004 PGA Championship

Field

The following qualification criteria were used to select the field. Each player is listed according to the first category by which he qualified with additional categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.

1. All former PGA Champions
Rich Beem, Keegan Bradley (8,9), Mark Brooks, John Daly, Jason Dufner, Pádraig Harrington (10), Martin Kaymer (2,9), Davis Love III, Rory McIlroy (2,4,6,8,9,10), Shaun Micheel, Phil Mickelson (4,6,8,9), Vijay Singh, David Toms, Tiger Woods, Yang Yong-eun

• The following former champions did not compete: Paul Azinger, Jack Burke Jr., Steve Elkington, 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, Bob Tway, Lanny Wadkins

2. Last five U.S. Open Champions
Justin Rose (8,9,10), Webb Simpson (8,9), Jordan Spieth (3,8,9,10)

3. Last five Masters Champions
Charl Schwartzel (6,8), Adam Scott (6,8), Bubba Watson (8,9,10)

4. Last five Open Champions
Darren Clarke, Ernie Els (6), Zach Johnson (8,9)

5. Current Senior PGA Champion
Colin Montgomerie

6. 15 low scorers and ties in the 2014 PGA Championship
Kevin Chappell, Jason Day (8,10), Victor Dubuisson (9), Rickie Fowler (8,9,10), Jim Furyk (8,9,10), Mikko Ilonen, Brooks Koepka (8,10), Hunter Mahan (8,9,10), Louis Oosthuizen (8), Ryan Palmer (8), Brandt Snedeker (8,10), Henrik Stenson (8,9), Steve Stricker, Jimmy Walker (8,9,10), Marc Warren, Lee Westwood (9), Bernd Wiesberger

• Graham DeLaet did not play due to a thumb injury.[7]

7. 20 low scorers in the 2015 PGA Professional National Championship
Brian Cairns, Matt Dobyns, Sean Dougherty, Charles Frost, Brian Gaffney, Ryan Helminen, Brett Jones, Ryan Kennedy, Johan Kok, Alan Morin, Jeff Olson, Austin Peters, Ben Polland, Adam Rainaud, Brent Snyder, Bob Sowards, Grant Sturgeon, Omar Uresti, Daniel Venezio, Steven Young

8. Top 70 leaders in official money standings from the 2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational to the 2015 Quicken Loans National
Bae Sang-moon (10), Daniel Berger, Jason Bohn, Steven Bowditch (10), Paul Casey, Brendon de Jonge, Harris English, Matt Every (10), Tony Finau, Sergio García (9), Fabián Gómez (10), Bill Haas (10), Chesson Hadley, James Hahn (10), Brian Harman, David Hearn, Russell Henley, Charley Hoffman (10), Morgan Hoffmann, J. B. Holmes (10), Billy Horschel (10), Dustin Johnson (10), Matt Jones, Kevin Kisner, Russell Knox, Matt Kuchar (9), Danny Lee (10), Marc Leishman, David Lingmerth (10), Ben Martin (10), Hideki Matsuyama, Troy Merritt (10), Ryan Moore (10), Kevin Na, Geoff Ogilvy, Scott Piercy (10), Ian Poulter (9), Patrick Reed (9,10), John Senden, Shawn Stefani, Robert Streb (10), Kevin Streelman, Justin Thomas, Brendon Todd, Cameron Tringale, Camilo Villegas (10), Nick Watney, Boo Weekley

• Chris Kirk (10) and Gary Woodland (neck injury)[8] did not play.

9. Members of the United States and European 2014 Ryder Cup teams (provided they are ranked in the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking on August 2, 2015)
Jamie Donaldson, Stephen Gallacher, Graeme McDowell

• Thomas Bjørn (ranked 109) did not qualify, but was invited under category 12.

10. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the 2014 PGA Championship
Alex Čejka, J. J. Henry, Shane Lowry, Nick Taylor

11. Vacancies are filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in official money standings).
Charles Howell III, Pat Perez, Rory Sabbatini, Brendan Steele

12. The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above[9][10]
An Byeong-hun, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thomas Bjørn, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Tim Clark, George Coetzee, Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Tommy Fleetwood, Branden Grace, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, David Howell, Hiroshi Iwata, Thongchai Jaidee, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Søren Kjeldsen, Anirban Lahiri, Pablo Larrazábal, Alexander Lévy, Joost Luiten, George McNeill, Francesco Molinari, James Morrison, Koumei Oda, Eddie Pepperell, Richie Ramsay, Marcel Siem, Cameron Smith, Andy Sullivan, Danny Willett, Chris Wood

• Alexander Norén was invited but did not play.

Alternates (category 11)

1. Martin Laird – took spot reserved for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner
2. Sean O'Hair – replaced Graham DeLaet[7]
3. Carl Pettersson – replaced Gary Woodland[8]

Nationalities in the field

North America (81)	South America (3)	Europe (44)	Oceania (10)	Asia (9)	Africa (9)
Canada (2)	Argentina (2)	England (14)	Australia (8)	India (1)	South Africa (8)
United States (79)	Colombia (1)	Northern Ireland (3)	Fiji (1)	Japan (3)	Zimbabwe (1)
		Scotland (7)	New Zealand (1)	South Korea (3)
		Wales (1)		Thailand (2)
		Ireland (2)
		Austria (1)
		Denmark (2)
		Finland (1)
		France (2)
		Germany (3)
		Italy (1)
		Netherlands (1)
		Spain (4)
		Sweden (2)

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Martin Kaymer	Germany	2010	70	70	65	73	278	−10	T12
Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	2012, 2014	71	71	68	69	279	−9	17
Phil Mickelson	United States	2005	72	73	66	69	280	−8	T18
Vijay Singh	Fiji	1998, 2004	73	71	71	70	285	−3	T37
Y. E. Yang	South Korea	2009	70	72	72	73	287	−1	T48
Keegan Bradley	United States	2011	76	70	72	71	289	+1	T61
Jason Dufner	United States	2013	71	75	69	77	292	+4	T68

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	2008	76	71	147	+3
Shaun Micheel	United States	2003	74	73	147	+3
Tiger Woods	United States	1999, 2000, 2006, 2007	75	73	148	+4
Davis Love III	United States	1997	79	73	152	+8
David Toms	United States	2001	77	75	152	+8
Rich Beem	United States	2002	76	78	154	+10
John Daly	United States	1991	73	82	155	+11
Mark Brooks	United States	1996	84	78	162	+18

Source:[11]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Dustin Johnson recorded five birdies and an eagle and opened with a round of 66 (−6) for a one-stroke lead. This was the third consecutive major championship in which Johnson has held at least a share of the lead after the first round. David Lingmerth birdied five out of his first seven holes on the way to a round of 67 (−5) and is a stroke behind.[12] Defending champion Rory McIlroy, playing his first tournament since the U.S. Open after an ankle injury, opened with a round of 71 (−1), as did Masters and U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth.[13][14]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Dustin Johnson	United States	66	−6
2	David Lingmerth	Sweden	67	−5
T3	Jason Day	Australia	68	−4
	Harris English	United States
	Russell Henley	United States
	J. B. Holmes	United States
	Matt Jones	Australia
	Matt Kuchar	United States
	Danny Lee	New Zealand
	Scott Piercy	United States

Source:[11]

Second round

Friday, August 14, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015

Play was suspended at 5:28 p.m. CDT due to thunderstorms with Jason Day and Matt Jones tied for the lead at nine-under par. David Lingmerth was the clubhouse leader at seven-under. Hiroshi Iwata tied a major championship record with a round of 63 (−9), the 27th time that had been achieved in a major and 13th time at the PGA Championship.[15][16]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Matt Jones	Australia	68-65=133	−11
2	Jason Day	Australia	68-67=135	−9
3	Justin Rose	England	69-67=136	−8
T4	Tony Finau	United States	71-66=137	−7
	Anirban Lahiri	India	70-67=137
	David Lingmerth	Sweden	67-70=137
T7	Scott Piercy	United States	68-70=138	−6
	Jordan Spieth	United States	71-67=138
	Brendan Steele	United States	69-69=138
T10	George Coetzee	South Africa	74-65=139	−5
	Harris English	United States	68-71=139
	Russell Henley	United States	68-71=139
	J. B. Holmes	United States	68-71=139
	Dustin Johnson	United States	66-73=139

Source:[11]

Third round

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Following the completion of the second round on Saturday morning, the third round began at 9:15 a.m. CDT. After a round of 66 (−6), which included eight birdies and an eagle to offset a double bogey at the 15th, Jason Day built a two-stroke lead after 54 holes. Day carried at least a share of the lead into the final round for the third consecutive major championship, the first since Phil Mickelson in 2006 to do so. Jordan Spieth birdied six out of his last eight holes for a bogey-free round of 65 (−7) to move into second place. Branden Grace had the low round of the day with a 64 (−8) and jumped from 28th at the start of the round to a tie for third.[17]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jason Day	Australia	68-67-66=201	−15
2	Jordan Spieth	United States	71-67-65=203	−13
T3	Branden Grace	South Africa	71-69-64=204	−12
	Justin Rose	England	69-67-68=204
5	Martin Kaymer	Germany	70-70-65=205	−11
T6	Tony Finau	United States	71-66-69=206	−10
	Matt Jones	Australia	68-65-73=206
T8	Dustin Johnson	United States	66-73-68=207	−9
	Anirban Lahiri	India	70-67-70=207
T10	J. B. Holmes	United States	68-71-69=208	−8
	Billy Horschel	United States	72-68-68=208
	Matt Kuchar	United States	68-72-68=208

Source:[11]

Final round

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Jason Day set a major championship scoring record on the way to a three-stroke victory and his first career major. After a round of 67 (−5) he finished the tournament at 20-under-par, breaking the previous major scoring record set by Tiger Woods at the 2000 Open Championship. Jordan Spieth, looking to join Woods and Ben Hogan with three major victories in a year, began the final round two strokes behind but was never able to close that deficit, finishing three shots behind. Spieth finished the year 54-under-par at the majors, also surpassing Woods' record from 2000. Branden Grace and Justin Rose also got to within two shots of the lead but fell from contention after double bogeys at the 10th and 13th, respectively.[18][19]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Jason Day	Australia	68-67-66-67=268	−20	1,800,000
2	Jordan Spieth	United States	71-67-65-68=271	−17	1,080,000
3	Branden Grace	South Africa	71-69-64-69=273	−15	680,000
4	Justin Rose	England	69-67-68-70=274	−14	480,000
T5	Brooks Koepka	United States	73-69-67-66=275	−13	367,500
	Anirban Lahiri	India	70-67-70-68=275
T7	George Coetzee	South Africa	74-65-70-67=276	−12	293,000
	Dustin Johnson	United States	66-73-68-69=276
	Matt Kuchar	United States	68-72-68-68=276
T10	Tony Finau	United States	71-66-69-71=277	−11	243,000
	Robert Streb	United States	70-73-67-67=277

Source:[11]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	5	4	3	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	5	3	4
Day	−15	−16	−16	−16	−17	−18	−19	−18	−18	−18	−19	−19	−19	−20	−19	−20	−20	−20
Spieth	−13	−13	−14	−13	−14	−15	−15	−15	−14	−15	−15	−15	−16	−16	−16	−17	−17	−17
Grace	−12	−12	−13	−13	−14	−15	−16	−16	−16	−14	−14	−14	−15	−15	−14	−14	−15	−15
Rose	−12	−12	−12	−12	−13	−14	−14	−14	−14	−15	−16	−16	−14	−14	−14	−15	−15	−14
Koepka	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−10	−10	−11	−12	−12	−11	−11	−12	−14	−13	−13
Lahiri	−10	−10	−10	−10	−11	−12	−12	−12	−13	−12	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−14	−14	−13
Coetzee	−7	−7	−7	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−9	−10	−10	−10	−10	−11	−12	−13	−12
Johnson	−5	−6	−5	−4	−5	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−10	−11	−11	−11	−11	−13	−12	−12
Kuchar	−8	−9	−9	−9	−10	−11	−11	−11	−10	−11	−13	−13	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:[11]

References

1. "PGA Championship: course tour". PGA of America. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
2. "PGA Championship Facts and Format". PGA of America. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
3. "2015 PGA Championship". PGA of America. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
4. Crouse, Karen (August 17, 2015). "Jason Day Wins P.G.A. Championship for First Major Title". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
5. Harig, Bob (August 16, 2015). "Jordan Spieth surpasses Rory McIlroy to become No. 1 in world ranking". ESPN. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
6. "The Straits, hole-by-hole". Whistling Straits. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
7. "Graham DeLaet withdraws from PGA Championship". Toronto Star. August 10, 2015.
8. Lavner, Ryan (August 13, 2015). "Woodland (neck) WDs from PGA; Pettersson in". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
9. "2015 PGA Championship Field". PGA of America. July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
10. "2015 PGA Championship Field". PGA of America. August 3, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
11. "PGA Championship: Leaderboard". ESPN. August 16, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
12. Murray, Scott (August 13, 2015). "US PGA Championship 2015: first round – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
13. "Dustin Johnson shoots 6-under 66 in first round". ESPN. August 13, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
14. Kaduk, Kevin (August 13, 2015). "Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy survive 'tough' opening round at PGA". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
15. Lavner, Ryan (August 14, 2015). "Second-round play suspended because of weather". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
16. Harig, Bob (August 14, 2015). "Jordan Spieth in PGA contention after shooting 67 in 2nd round". ESPN. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
17. "Jason Day's 6 under leads round of low scores in PGA Championship". ESPN. Associated Press. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
18. "Jason Day wins first major, notches scoring record". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
19. Murray, Scott (August 17, 2015). "US PGA Championship 2015: Jason Day wins - as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved August 19, 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Whistling Straits
• Coverage on the European Tour's official site

Preceded by 2015 Open Championship	Major Championships	Succeeded by 2016 Masters