The PGA Championship

Nicknamed “Glory’s Last Shot,” the PGA Championship is the culmination of professional golf’s majors, the last of the four to be played during the season. Customarily held in mid-August, the PGA is usually played four weeks after the U.S. Open.

The PGA is a high stakes match, pitting the best of the tour against entries form the best club professionals in the U.S. And if a winner has not yet solidified his place on the tour, a win here does that trick. PGA Championship winners are automatically invited to compete in golf’s other three majors – the Masters, the British Open, and the U.S. Open – the following season.

Tour card status isn’t the only thing at the PGA. It’s an official money match for the PGA, European, and Japan Golf tours, with a purse of $7.5 million in 2009, and a course length that would make weekend enthusiasts buckle, with a projected yardage of more that 7,500 for the 2010 competition at Whistling Straights.