1936 Denny Shute clinches PGA Championship

On this day, In 1936 Denny Shute won the 19th PGA Championship at Pinehurst

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The 1936 PGA Championship was the 19th PGA Championship, held in mid November at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Then a match play championship, Denny Shute won the first of his consecutive PGA Championships, defeating Jimmy Thomson 3 & 2 on the No. 2 Course.

Danny Shute
Denny Shute

On this day, In 1936 Denny Shute won the 19th PGA Championship at Pinehurst

It was Shute’s second major title; his first was at the British Open in 1933 at St. Andrews. He previously made the finals at the PGA Championship in 1931.

Fay Coleman was the medalist in the stroke play qualifier at 143 (–1). Five-time champion Walter Hagen and two-time winner Leo Diegel both shot 157 (+13), one stroke out of the playoff. Defending champion Johnny Revolta lost in the second round to Harold “Jug” McSpaden in 19 holes.

Shute repeated as champion less than seven months later in May 1937. He was the last to successfully defend his title at the PGA Championship until Tiger Woods won consecutive titles in 1999 and 2000 and again in 2006 and 2007.