PGA Championship Bringing Back The Long Drive Contest

Details are still being finalized, but PGA of America president Ted Bishop revealed at yesterday's Churchill Downs media day for his August's PGA Championship that the long drive contest is coming back.

Then the other thing that we're going to do that's pretty cool is that it was brought to our tension just a few weeks ago that Jack Nicklaus is actually carrying a money clip from the long drive contest that he won at the 1963 PGA Championship.  So we are going to reintroduce along drive contest during the week of the PGA Championship, it's probably going to be on Wednesday, we don't know the details of how this whole thing is going to unfold, but you'll hear more about that on top of the extension of the pick the hole location that we started last year at Oak Hill.

You can read about Jack Nicklaus winning the 1963 PGA and the place the long drive holds in his heart and...pocket

The long drive has been an on-and-off part of early week PGA Championship festivities and was the predecessor of the Remax World Long Drive Championship (until it became a standalone event in 1985).

Past winners:

National Long Drive Championship

1962    George Bayer              
1963    Jack Nicklaus               341/17         Dallas (Texas) Athletic Club
 
1974    Evan Williams             366               Tanglewood GC, Winston-Salem, N.C.
1975    Jeff Long (Amateur), Fort Mitchell, Ky. 322-2    Butler National Golf Club

1976 - Evan Williams, 307-23         Congressional Country Club
1977 - Evan Williams, 353/24         Pebble Beach
1978 - John McComish, 330            Oakmont CC
1979 - Andy Franks, 314                Oakland Hills CC
1980 - Scott DeCandia, 295/18       Oak Hill CC
1981 - Lon Hinkle, 338/6                Atlanta Athletic Club
1982 - Andy Franks, 346/17.5        Southern Hills, Tulsa, Okla.
1983 - Terry Forcum, 307               Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
1984 – Lawrence “Wedgy” Winchester, 319/14  Shoal Creek Country Club