Best all-time performances at the PGA Championship

From 1916 to 1957, the PGA Championship featured a match play format. In the third installment in 1920 at Flossmoor Country Club outside Chicago, Jock Hutchison became the first American to win the PGA, and he did so as a late addition to the field. Hutchison failed to qualify for the event but was added when some golfers were unable to play. He rolled through the early matches before beating James Douglas Edgar 1 up in the final.

Walter Hagen joins Jack Nicklaus as the only five-time winners of the PGA Championship — each of Hagen's victories coming during the 1920s. His first win came in 1921 over Englishman Jim Barnes, winner of the first two PGA Championships. Hagen then won four in a row, from 1924-27, beating Barnes again to begin that run.

The only golfer to win the PGA Championship other than Hagen from 1921-27 was Gene Sarazen. In 1922 the 20-year-old Sarazen became the youngest PGA champion, with a win over Emmet French. A year later, he outlasted Walter Hagen at Pelham Country Club in the first PGA Championship decided by an extra-hole finale in what some consider to be golf's greatest match. Sarazen almost won a third PGA in 1930 but lost to Tommy Armour in another classic final.

Walter Hagen was riding a 22-match winning streak at the 1928 PGA Championship when fellow American Leo Diegel held on to upset "The Haig" 2 and 1 in the 1928 quarterfinals. Diegel wasn't done, however, beating Gene Sarazen 9 and 8 in the semifinals and downing Al Espinosa 6 and 5 to win the first of his back-to-back titles. 

American Denny Shute wasn't a big hitter, but his iron play and putter were hard to beat in the 1930s. Shute won consecutive PGA Championships in 1936 and '37. For his first title, Shute sank an eagle putt on the 34th hole to beat Jimmy Thomson 3 and 2. In '37, Shute needed an extra hole to top Harold “Jug” McSpaden.

Paul Runyan won his first PGA Championship in 1934, but his performance en route to claiming the '38 title was one of the most dominant in the tournament's history. Runyan pounded legend Sam Snead 8 and 7 in that final. Runyan finished 24-under-par for the tournament, and according to PGA.com, he made one bogey over his final 70 holes. 

When Byron Nelson won his second PGA Championship in 1945 — over former professional baseball player Sam Byrd — he extended a remarkable streak of 11 consecutive tournament victories. Admitting he felt the pressure of the streak, Nelson needed to rally to beat Byrd on the final 18. 

Two years after winning his first PGA Championship, legend Ben Hogan was at his most dominant in 1948 with a 7 and 6 victory over Mike Turnesa in the final. Hogan, who became the first golfer since 1922 to win the U.S. Open and PGA in the same season, shot 35-under for the tournament.

Most of Jack Nicklaus' PGA Championship success came in the 1970s (wins in 1971, '73, '75), but his first title was in the searing heat of Dallas in 1963. With stroke play now the tournament format, Nicklaus was in third place, three shots off the lead, heading into the final round. That's when the Golden Bear made his presence felt, shooting 68 to win by two strokes.

A little more than a decade removed from being injured in a serious auto accident, American Bobby Nichols made history at Columbus Country Club in 1964. Nichols became the first wire-to-wire winner of the PGA Championship, and he did so with a record nine-under-par 271 —a mark that stood for 30 years.

It was 16 years after his first major victory (1952 U.S. Open) that Julius Boros became the oldest golfer to win the PGA Championship — or a major — in 1968. At age 48, Boros carded a final-round 69 to outlast Arnold Palmer and Bob Charles in the San Antonio heat to win his third and final major championship.

On the 10th anniversary of his first PGA Championship title, Gary Player's 1972 victory at Oakland Hills was memorable for one of the most miraculous shots in the history of the tournament. The South African standout sliced his tee shot on the 16th hole behind a willow tree. Despite being unable to see the flag, Player clubbed a 9-iron that barely cleared the tree and the water near the green before stopping just feet from the cup. He sank the birdie putt en route to his second title.

At Oakmont in 1978, John Mahaffey trailed leader Tom Watson by seven strokes with 14 holes to play. No problem. Mahaffey's charge to his only major title included a 35-foot birdie putt on the sixth hole and a 12-footer on the eighth. He carded a Sunday 66 then outlasted Watson, who shot 73, and Jerry Pate in the first three-player playoff in the tournament's history.

It was 1974 when Lee Trevino won his first PGA Championship, but his run 10 years later to the 1984 crown was most impressive. The 44-year-old Trevino topped fellow veterans Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins by becoming the first winner of the event to shoot in the 60s for all four rounds en route to his 15-under-par finish.

Bob Tway's first and only major victory was in 1986 and came via the greatest finishing shot  in the history of the PGA Championship. Tied with Greg Norman heading into the 72nd hole at Inverness, Tway knocked his approach into a green-side bunker. With Norman watching, Tway's shot flew out of the bunker, hit the green and kept rolling right into the cup for birdie. Norman made bogey, and Tway lifted the Wanamaker Trophy. 

Golf fans' love affair with good ol' boy John Daly began with the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick. Daly, an alternate who earned his spot when Nick Price withdrew to be with his pregnant wife, opened with a 69 without the help of a practice round. Thanks to his length off the tee, the rookie followed with rounds of 67 and another 69 before finishing with a 71 for an improbable three-shot victory.

Bobby Nichols' PGA Championship-winning score of 271 stood for 30 years until Nick Price came along with an 11-under-par 269 to win the tournament for the second time in three years. Price led wire to wire at Southern Hills; however, his record score lasted only a year, as Steve Elkington and Colin Montgomerie each carded a 267 at Riviera Country Club in 1995.

Davis Love III's impressive victory in 1997 at Winged Foot featured three rounds of 66 for an 11-under-par 269 — still the lowest of any winning major score at the famed New York course. After sinking his final putt on 18, Love gave a whipping gesture with his visor while acknowledging a rainbow above. His father, PGA professional Davis Love Jr., died nine years earlier in a plane crash. 

Sergio Garcia didn't win the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, but he certainly won over the galleries at the Chicago area course. The 19-year-old, known then as "El Nino," led after a first-round 66 and battled Tiger Woods hole for hole on the final 18. His brilliant shot around a tree Sunday on the 16th and his skip down the fairway that followed are two of the most memorable moments in the event's history. Despite a second-place finish, a star was born. 

Tiger Woods was already a star looking to become the first back-to-back PGA Championship winner since Denny Shute in 1936-37. Bob May was a journeyman without a PGA Tour victory. Yet, their final-round duel in 2000 at Valhalla was one of the best in the history of any major. Both shot 31s on the back nine Sunday, but Woods, thanks to his famed point toward his successful birdie putt on the first playoff hole, claimed the repeat.

From his hole-in-one on the par-3 15th at the Atlanta Athletic Club in the third round to his famous layup at 18 on Sunday, David Toms enjoyed a historic run toward his only major championship, in 2001. Toms' 15-under-par 265 broke the tournament record while edging Phil Mickelson by one shot.

In 2005 at Baltusrol, rain forced six golfers to finish their rounds on Monday. One was Phil Mickelson, tied for the lead heading to the 18th hole. Mickelson tapped the plaque commemorating Jack Nicklaus’ 1-iron shot at the 1967 U.S. Open then flopped a chip from the deep grass to within 2 feet and made the birdie putt for the victory.

Tiger Woods had never lost a major when holding at least a share of the lead after 54 holes, but that run was about to end. Korean Y.E. Yang took advantage of Woods' final-round struggles (75) to shoot 70 and rally from two shots down after three rounds to win by three strokes in 2009. Yang's final round was highlighted by a chip-in for eagle on the 14th.

Rory McIlroy won his first of two PGA Championships in three years by rolling to a decisive eight-shot victory over runner-up David Lynn at Kiawah Island. McIlroy's impressive margin of victory topped Jack Nicklaus' seven-stroke advantage form 1980. McIlroy shot a final-round 66 to finish at 13-under.

Perhaps no PGA Championship victory was more emotional than Jason Day's triumph at Whistling Straits in 2015. After Day sank his final putt to secure his first major title with a record 20-under-par finish, he wept while hugging caddie, childhood coach and father figure Colin Swatton. His wife and son joined him on the green for a truly unforgettable moment.