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 43.851°N 87.735°W / 43.851; -87.735
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)
Location map
Whistling Straits Location in the United States Show map of the United States Whistling Straits Location in Wisconsin Show map of Wisconsin
← 2014 2016 →

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, Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Masters Tournament, and Cameron Smith at the 2022 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
• Rafa 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

• Alex 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]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, August 13, 2015

2015 PGA Championship entrance sign

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.^[11] 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.^[12][13]

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

Source:^[14]

Second round

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

Whistling Straits clubhouse during the 2015 PGA Championship

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

Source:^[14]

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

Source:^[14]

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]

Final leaderboard

Champion

Crystal Bowl winner (leading PGA Club Pro)

(c) = past champion

Note: Top 15 and ties qualify for the 2016 PGA Championship; top 4 and ties qualify for the 2016 Masters Tournament

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

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T12	Russell Henley	68-71-70-69=278	−10	185,400
	Martin Kaymer (c)	70-70-65-73=278
	David Lingmerth	67-70-75-66=278
	Brandt Snedeker	71-70-68-69=278
	Brendan Steele	69-69-73-67=278
17	Rory McIlroy (c)	71-71-68-69=279	−9	148,000
T18	Victor Dubuisson	76-70-67-67=280	−8	126,000
	Phil Mickelson (c)	72-73-66-69=280
	Justin Thomas	72-70-68-70=280
T21	Hiroshi Iwata	77-63-70-71=281	−7	97,667
	Matt Jones	68-65-73-75=281
	Bubba Watson	72-71-70-68=281
24	J. B. Holmes	68-71-69-74=282	−6	86,000
T25	Ernie Els	71-71-69-72=283	−5	74,600
	Tyrrell Hatton	73-72-68-70=283
	Billy Horschel	72-68-68-75=283
	Cameron Smith	74-68-70-71=283
	Henrik Stenson	76-66-70-71=283
T30	Paul Casey	70-70-70-74=284	−4	56,057
	Rickie Fowler	73-70-70-71=284
	Jim Furyk	73-70-69-72=284
	Louis Oosthuizen	72-71-72-69=284
	Patrick Reed	75-69-67-73=284
	Steve Stricker	71-72-71-70=284
	Nick Watney	78-68-68-70=284
T37	Jason Bohn	74-71-66-74=285	−3	39,200
	Hideki Matsuyama	70-70-71-74=285
	Ryan Moore	73-70-75-67=285
	Charl Schwartzel	73-69-68-75=285
	Vijay Singh (c)	73-71-71-70=285
	Boo Weekley	75-70-65-75=285
T43	Kevin Chappell	73-68-78-67=286	−2	30,000
	Luke Donald	72-70-70-74=286
	Danny Lee	68-77-69-72=286
	Hunter Mahan	72-68-73-73=286
	Lee Westwood	72-72-70-72=286
T48	Thomas Bjørn	69-75-69-74=287	−1	25,750
	Harris English	68-71-76-72=287
	Scott Piercy	68-70-74-75=287
	Marcel Siem	70-70-73-74=287
	Marc Warren	72-73-69-73=287
	Yang Yong-eun (c)	70-72-72-73=287
T54	Sergio García	72-71-75-70=288	E	22,500
	Mikko Ilonen	72-73-71-72=288
	Troy Merritt	74-70-75-69=288
	Francesco Molinari	71-73-69-75=288
	Webb Simpson	71-71-72-74=288
	Kevin Streelman	73-71-74-70=288
	Danny Willett	74-70-71-73=288
T61	Keegan Bradley (c)	76-70-72-71=289	+1	20,200
	Emiliano Grillo	70-73-72-74=289
	Chesson Hadley	73-71-70-75=289
64	Bae Sang-moon	71-72-72-75=290	+2	19,400
T65	Brendon de Jonge	72-71-75-73=291	+3	18,800
	Bill Haas	73-72-71-75=291
	Charles Howell III	70-70-77-74=291
T68	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	72-72-73-75=292	+4	18,200
	Jason Dufner (c)	71-75-69-77=292
	Nick Taylor	73-73-75-71=292
71	Brian Gaffney	71-73-78-71=293	+5	17,900
T72	J. J. Henry	75-70-74-75=294	+6	17,700
	Koumei Oda	79-67-72-76=294
	Sean O'Hair	75-68-73-78=294
T75	Morgan Hoffmann	72-74-72-78=296	+8	17,450
	Carl Pettersson	76-70-75-75=296
77	James Morrison	69-74-76-78=297	+9	17,300
CUT	Pádraig Harrington (c)	76-71=147	+3
	David Hearn	76-71=147
	Zach Johnson	75-72=147
	Kevin Kisner	75-72=147
	Martin Laird	76-71=147
	Marc Leishman	79-68=147
	Shane Lowry	78-69=147
	Shaun Micheel (c)	74-73=147
	Ryan Palmer	75-72=147
	Rory Sabbatini	71-76=147
	John Senden	71-76=147
	Bernd Wiesberger	72-75=147
	Daniel Berger	74-74=148	+4
	Rafa Cabrera-Bello	73-75=148
	Tim Clark	75-73=148
	Ryan Helminen	76-72=148
	Russell Knox	77-71=148
	George McNeill	71-77=148
	Kevin Na	74-74=148
	Richie Ramsay	81-67=148
	Jimmy Walker	75-73=148
	Tiger Woods (c)	75-73=148
	An Byeong-hun	75-74=149	+5
	Steven Bowditch	74-75=149
	Matt Dobyns	76-73=149
	Tommy Fleetwood	77-72=149
	James Hahn	75-74=149
	Graeme McDowell	73-76=149
	Geoff Ogilvy	74-75=149
	Pat Perez	74-75=149
	Shawn Stefani	74-75=149
	Brendon Todd	76-73=149
	Ross Fisher	76-74=150	+6
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	76-74=150
	Søren Kjeldsen	72-78=150
	Colin Montgomerie	78-72=150
	Ian Poulter	75-75=150
	Grant Sturgeon	77-73=150
	Andy Sullivan	78-72=150
	Camilo Villegas	75-75=150
	David Howell	73-78=151	+7
	Pablo Larrazábal	79-72=151
	Adam Rainaud	74-77=151
	Adam Scott	76-75=151
	Bob Sowards	75-76=151
	Chris Wood	76-75=151
	Stephen Gallacher	76-76=152	+8
	Brian Harman	78-74=152
	Thongchai Jaidee	74-78=152
	Davis Love III (c)	79-73=152
	Joost Luiten	80-72=152
	Ben Polland	76-76=152
	David Toms (c)	77-75=152
	Cameron Tringale	78-74=152
	Brett Jones	75-78=153	+9
	Alexander Lévy	77-76=153
	Ben Martin	76-77=153
	Eddie Pepperell	78-75=153
	Rich Beem (c)	76-78=154	+10
	Matt Every	74-80=154
	Johan Kok	77-77=154
	John Daly (c)	73-82=155	+11
	Brent Snyder	76-79=155
	Fabián Gómez	79-78=157	+13
Charley Hoffman	79-78=157
Steven Young	77-81=158	+14
Darren Clarke	78-81=159	+15
Charles Frost	76-83=159
Omar Uresti	77-82=159
Sean Dougherty	79-81=160	+16
Jeff Olson	79-82=161	+17
Mark Brooks (c)	84-78=162	+18
Austin Peters	82-81=163	+19
Brian Cairns	83-81=164	+20
Daniel Venezio	89-76=165	+21
Ryan Kennedy	79-90=169	+25
Alan Morin	87-82=169
WD	Alex Čejka	76	+4
	Jamie Donaldson	79	+7

Source:^[14]

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:^[14]