PGA Championship

The PGA Championship (sometimes, especially outside of the United States, referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship or U.S. PGA) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America. It is one of the four major championships in professional golf, and it is the golf season's final major, played in mid-August on the 3rd weekend prior to Labor Day weekend (although it is being rescheduled in 2016 to accommodate golf's return to the Olympics). It is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour, with a purse of $10 million for the 96th edition in 2014 (making it the most lucrative of the four majors.)

In line with the other majors, winning "the PGA" gives a golfer several privileges which make his career much more secure, if he is not already one of the elite players of the sport. PGA champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, and The Open Championship) for the next five years, and are exempt from qualifying for the PGA Championship for life. They receive membership on the PGA and European Tours for the following five seasons and invitations to The Players Championship for five years. The PGA Championship has been held at a large number of venues, some of the early ones now quite obscure, but currently it is usually staged by one of a small group of celebrated courses, each of which has also hosted several other leading events, including the U.S. Open and Ryder Cup.

Jordan Spieth

Jordan Alexander Spieth (/ˈspiːθ/; SPEETH; born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour, and is the world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a two-time major winner and the defending FedEx Cup champion.

Spieth won his first major at the 2015 Masters Tournament with a score of 270 (−18), earning him $1.8 million. Spieth tied the 72-hole record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and became the second youngest to win the Masters, behind Woods. He then won the 2015 U.S. Open with a final score of 5-under-par. He is the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923. He followed up with a win in the 2015 Tour Championship, which clinched the 2015 FedEx Cup.

Background

Spieth was born in Dallas, Texas, to Shawn T. Spieth and Mary Christine (née Julius) Spieth. He attended St. Monica Catholic School and graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School in 2011.

Amateur career

Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2009 and 2011, joining Tiger Woods as its only multiple winners. Before turning 18 in July 2011, he was No. 1 in the Polo Golf Rankings, which promotes the best junior golfers in the world. He finished second in the 2008 and 2009 Junior PGA Championship. The American Junior Golf Association named him the Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009.