10 best moments in PGA Championship history

5. Jack Nicklaus beats the heat and everyone else in 1963

Moving onto another 23-year-old winning his first PGA Championship, we come to the greatest major champion in the history of the sport, Jack Nicklaus.

Coming to the 1963 PGA Championship at Dallas Athletic Club, Nicklaus had taken his place among the game’s greats, already having won two major championships, the 1962 U.S. Open and The Masters in 1963. A few weeks prior to Dallas, Nicklaus had taken third at The Open Championship, finishing just one stroke out of a playoff and put himself in position to win his second major of the year with an opening-round 69, just three shots behind leader Dick Hart. He fell one more shot behind heading into the weekend but was still very much in the mix in a tie for fifth.

He moved back to within three with a third-round 69 but the players had no idea of the conditions they would have to deal with during Sunday’s final round. It had been hot but it was sweltering on Sunday afternoon with the temperature in downtown Dallas reaching 110 degrees at one point. It had been cool overseas and the adjustment was difficult for many players in the field but Nicklaus stayed the course and was able to overcome the odds to shoot a 68 in the final round, his best round of the week, to overcome leaders Bruce Crampton and Dow Finsterwald, who if you’re looking for a bit of a trivia answer was the first to win the PGA Championship when it moved to stroke play in 1958.

Nicklaus won by two for the first of his record five PGA Championship titles. If you’re looking for another fun fact, The Golden Bear also won a long-drive competition by smacking one 341 yards. That may not seem like a lot today but just think about the equipment then and you’ll realize how impressive that is.