Oldest & Youngest PGA Championship Winners

Who are the oldest and youngest PGA champions?

Jack Nicklaus hits a putt during the 1994 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Country Club. / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

The 2025 PGA Championship is underway at the Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina. The 2025 edition of the championship began on Thursday, and will continue through Saturday, when a winner will be crowned.

Over the 109-year history of the PGA Championship, there have been a number of champions that have defied age, by either winning at an impressively young age or doing so at an older age. Here's a look at the five oldest and youngest PGA Champions since the tournament began in 1916.

Oldest PGA Championship Winners

Golfer	Age	Year
Vijay Singh	41	2004
Lee Trevino	44	1984
Jerry Barber	45	1961
Julius Boros	48	1968
Phil Mickelson	50	2021

Phil Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win the PGA Championship in 2021, when he won the tournament on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. It was 16 years after his first PGA Championship win in 2005, and he is the only player to win the championship in his 50s.

Jerry Barber became the first player over 40 to win the PGA Championship when he won the 1961 tournament at the age of 45. Julius Boros then surpassed his mark by winning at the Pelican Valley Golf Club at the age of 48 seven years later.

Youngest PGA Championship Winners

Golfer	Age	Year
Jack Nicklaus	23 years, 6 months	1963
Rory McIlroy	23 years, 3 months,	2012
Gene Sarzen	21	1923
Tom Creavy	20 years, 7 months	1931
Gene Sarazen	20 years, 5 months	1922

Gene Sarazen became the youngest player to both win the PGA Championship and win it in back-to-back years, earning his first win at just 20 years of age and his second at the age of 21.

Rory McIlroy was the youngest player to win the PGA Championship in the last 50 years in 2012. This year, he added his first Masters win at the age of 36. Jack Nicklaus won his first PGA Championship in 1963, and went on to win four more over the next 17 years, including his final at the age of 40. He is tied for the most PGA Championship wins ever, alongside Walter Hagen.

Both Collin Morikawa and Tiger Woods also won the PGA Championship at the age of 23, but were slightly older than Nicklaus and McIlroy when they accomplished the feat.

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