PGA Championship: A look back at 100 years of tournament history
By Bill Felber
1980: Jack’s runaway
Jack Nicklaus won five PGA Championship titles, equaling Hagen’s career total. His fifth, at Oak Hill in 1980, was decidedly his most dominant.
The tournament began quietly. While Nicklaus lingered just off the pace with opening rounds of 70 and 69, Craig Stadler posted an opening 67, then Gil Morgan put a second round 70 atop his opening 68 to take the 36-hole lead by one over Nicklaus and Lon Hinkle.
It was all prologue to Nicklaus’ seizing of the stage on Saturday. Jack turned in the day’s low round, a 66, to build a three-stroke lead over Hinkle, with Morgan and Andy Bean six behind.
On Sunday, Nicklaus shot a 69 that extended his margin of victory to seven shots over Bean. His four-round total of 274 was six under par, making him the only player to beat par over four rounds that week.
Coming on top of his U.S. Open win that June, the victory was Jack’s 17th major. For a while it also appeared destined to be his last. But after failing to win any of the next 20 majors – the longest major winless streak of his career – he memorably captured the 1986 Masters to add an 18th.