By Brian Gramolini
The PGA Championship is this week at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, NC. I was cleaning out my inbox when an email with the subject "Qualifying for the PGA Championship" caught my eye. I was always under the impression that you had to be a PGA of America member in order to play in this event and since I still aspire to one day make the PGA Tour (I just need to figure out how to shave 18 strokes off my handicap), naturally I clicked on it thinking it would explain to the qualifying process for this event.
Sadly, the link just showed the 20 PGA Club Professionals who qualified for the event. I decided to do some more digging, so I posed the question to Microsoft's Copilot. Here's what it had to say:
Technically, yes—but it's highly unlikely. The PGA Championship is the only men's major where top amateurs aren't invited. Unlike the U.S. Open or Open Championship, which allow amateurs to qualify, or the Masters, which extends invitations to select amateurs, the PGA Championship is reserved for professionals.
That said, there are two ways an amateur could qualify:
However, no amateur has won a major in the modern era. The last amateur to do so was Johnny Goodman at the 1933 U.S. Open. So, unless an amateur pulls off a historic feat, you won’t see an "(a)" next to a name on the PGA Championship leaderboard anytime soon!
I guess I will just focus on defending my A Flight championship this season.
Keep your eye on the weather for Saturday. The forecast calls for "a thunderstorm in spits" which isn't very helpful. Expect it to be cloudy and humid, and make sure to pack something in case it rains.