July 27, 2016: Byeong Hun An’s 347-yard drive on Hole No. 1 of the Lower Course of Baltusrol Golf Club rolled past both Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (345 yards) and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (341 yards), to capture the 2016 PGA Long Drive Championship at the 98th PGA Championship.
An’s tee shot was the longest drive in this competition since Andy Franks’ 346-yard drive in 1982, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The longest drive recorded in a PGA-sanctioned Long Drive competition was by Evan “Big Cat” Williams in 1974, with a 366-yard drive at Tanglewood Golf Club in Clemmons, North Carolina.
Following in the tradition of the Championship, the top three finishers will receive a gold, silver and bronze money clip (respectively in order), inspired by the one that Jack Nicklaus received when winning the first of his two consecutive PGA Championship Driving Contest titles, in 1963. That year, Nicklaus, using a persimmon driver and wound golf ball, hit a winning drive of 341 yards, 17 inches.
Additionally, through PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America, the top three finishers will be granted charitable donations of $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000, respectively, to the player’s designated charity of their choice.
Harold Williams won the original PGA Championship Driving Contest in 1952, with a 329-yard drive. The competition was discontinued from 1965-73, before returning in 1974, as an open event. Before its return at the 96th PGA Championship, the last National Open Long Drive Championship conducted at a PGA Championship site was in 1984, at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.
PGA Tour Release
