The 1981 PGA Championship was the 63rd PGA Championship, held August 6–9 at Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Georgia, a suburb northeast of Atlanta. Larry Nelson won the first of his three major titles, four strokes ahead of runner-up Fuzzy Zoeller.
Lee Trevino, 1974 champion, did not sign his scorecard after an opening round 74 and was disqualified after turning himself in. Bob Murphy led after each of the first two rounds, but was 8-over on the weekend and finished ten strokes back in 18th place. After a second consecutive 66 on Saturday, Nelson held the 54-hole lead, four strokes ahead of Zoeller
Tom Watson was the PGA Tour money list leader in August 1981, but missed the cut by a stroke.
It was the second major held at the Highlands Course, which hosted the U.S. Open in 1976. The PGA Championship returned in 2001 and 2011.
Course layout Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4564584692105464451854224193,6103744705103904152154102134633,4607,070Par444354344354454434343570
Round summaries First round Thursday, August 6, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bob Murphy 66 −4 T2 Bob Eastwood 67 −3 Mark Lye T4 Rex Caldwell 68 −2 Vance Heafner Andy North T7 Charles Coody 69 −1 Lon Hinkle Roger Maltbie Dan Pohl Ron Streck Source:
Second round Friday, August 7, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bob Murphy 66-69=135 −5 T2 Bob Eastwood 67-69=136 −4 Larry Nelson 70-66=136 Dan Pohl 69-67=136 5 Andy North 69-68=137 −3T6 Vance Heafner 68-70=138 −2 Tom Kite 71-67=138 Fuzzy Zoeller 70-68=138T9 Gil Morgan 70-69=139 −1 Jack Nicklaus 71-68=139 Jerry Pate 71-68=139 Source:
Third round Saturday, August 8, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Larry Nelson 70-66-66=202 −8 2 Fuzzy Zoeller 70-68-68=206 −4 T3 Tom Kite 71-67-69=207 −3 Andy North 69-68-70=207T5 Bob Eastwood 67-69-72=208 −2 Vance Heafner 68-70-70=208 Bob Murphy 66-69-73=208 Greg Norman 73-67-68=208T9 Isao Aoki 75-68-66=209 −1 Jerry Pate 71-68-70=209 Dan Pohl 69-67-73=209 Source:
Final round Sunday, August 9, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Larry Nelson 70-66-66-71=273 −7 60,0002 Fuzzy Zoeller 70-68-68-71=277 −3 40,0003 Dan Pohl 69-67-73-69=278 −2 25,000T4 Isao Aoki 75-68-66-70=279 −1 13,146 Keith Fergus 71-71-69-68=279 Bob Gilder 74-69-70-66=279 Tom Kite 71-67-69-72=279 Bruce Lietzke 70-70-71-68=279 Jack Nicklaus 71-68-71-69=279 Greg Norman 73-67-68-71=279 Source:
References
External links PGA.com – 1981 PGA Championship Yahoo! Sports: 1981 PGA Championship leaderboard