PGA Championship 2009

The PGA Championship (sometimes referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship outside of North America) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in professional golf, and it is the golf seasons final major, usually played in mid-August (customarily four weeks after the British Open, but it was advanced a week in 2007 and 2008 because of local scheduling conflicts). Due to its distinction as the seasons final major, the PGA Championship is nicknamed Glorys last shot. It is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour, with a purse of $7.5 million in 2008.

In line with the other majors, winning The PGA gives a golfer several privileges which make his career much more secure, if he is not already one of the elite players of the sport. PGA champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open) for the next five years, and are exempt from qualifying for the PGA Championship for life. They also receive membership on the PGA Tour for the following five seasons and invitations to The Players Championship for five years.

The PGA Championship has been held at a large number of venues, some of the early ones now quite obscure, but currently it is usually staged by one of a small group of celebrated courses, each of which has also hosted several other leading events.