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100th PGA: Walter Hagen's 1927 win vs Jack Nicklaus' 1973 win

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100th PGA: Walter Hagen's 1927 win vs Jack Nicklaus' 1973 win

In celebration of the 100th PGA Championship that takes place this year at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, we’ve unveiled the PGA 100 – a bracket-style competition to determine which year’s championship was the greatest in PGA Championship history. Over the course of six weeks, you can help us identify the greatest championship in the tournament’s history by voting once a day as the field is narrowed from 16 championships on July 8 to the single greatest championship on August 12.

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You can vote and join the conversation here. In this matchup, the No. 8-seeded 1927 PGA Championship faces the No.-9 seeded 1973 PGA Championship.

No. 8 seed: 1927 PGA Championship

In the 1927 PGA Championship at Cedar Crest Country Club in Dallas, Texas, the great Walter Hagen accomplished something that will likely never be matched. 
It was there in Dallas where Hagen won the PGA Championship for the fourth year in succession and his record fifth PGA overall. 

Hagen came out on top with a 1-up victory over Joe Turnesa in the final. 

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Incredibly, that victory bumped Hagen’s match play record at the PGA Championship during the 1920s to an amazing 30-1. His lone loss in that span came in the 1923 finals – which went 38 holes – to Gene Sarazen.

The 1927 PGA Championship was the ninth of Hagen’s 11 career major wins.

No. 9 seed: 1973 PGA Championship

Ohio native Jack Nicklaus was victorious at the 1973 PGA Championship played in his home state at Beachwood’s Canterbury Golf Club.

Nicklaus defeated Australia’s Bruce Crampton by four strokes for his third of five PGA Championship victories overall. 

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It marked the 12th of Nicklaus’ 18 career professional major wins, surpassing Walter Hagen’s mark of 11, and pulled him to within one of Bobby Jones for the most major wins all time. 

With two U.S. Amateur victories prior to his professional career, if you denoted the U.S. Amateur as a major like in Jones’ day, Nicklaus actually surpassed Jones with the 1973 PGA win that pushed him to 14 majors overall.