One of the memorable conclusions to a PGA Championship was on this date in 1997. Davis Love III won his lone major, holing out on the final hole for a five-shot victory at Winged Foot West. The son of a PGA professional and renowned teacher, Davis Love Jr., Love III finished just as a rainbow appeared in the sky, a heavenly confirmation of a popular victory.

Dave Stockton won the PGA on this date in 1970, and it marked the last good chance Arnold Palmer had of winning the only major he didn't win. Stockton finished two shots ahead of Palmer and Bob Murphy with a winning score of just one-under-par 279 at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Stockton shot 73 in the last round to hang on as Murphy shot 66 and Arnie 70.

The earliest year the PGA Championship ended on an August 15 took place in 1965. Dave Marr won by two shots over Billy Casper and Jack Nicklaus at Laurel Valley in western Pennsylvania. Because this was in Palmer country at the height of his power, many thought this was his year to finally finish off the career Grand Slam. Instead he tied for 33rd and never once broke par in four rounds.

One of the years the PGA Championship ended on an August 14 was in 1977, and it had a memorable element to it. Young tour gunslinger Lanny Wadkins, 27, and venerable cancer survivor Gene Littler tied at six-under-par 282 at Pebble Beach at the end of regulation. The PGA had gone to sudden death that year, the first major to do so. Littler was by far the sentimental hope, having led from the start, but he ballooned to 76 in Round 4. Wadkins made a six-foot par putt on the third extra hole to win the playoff.

On this date the PGA Championship was won by Justin Thomas in 2017 at Quail Hollow, by Steve Elkington in 1995 at Riviera, Payne Stewart won in 1989 at Kemper Lakes, and Gene Sarazen won in 1933 at Blue Mound.

August 12 has many special occurrences in the 104 playings of the PGA Championship. It was the first day of the event in 1922 (won by Gene Sarazen), 1965 (Dave Marr), 1976 (Dave Stockton), 1993 (Paul Azinger), 1999 (Tiger Woods), 2004 (Vijay Singh), and 2010 (Martin Kaymer). August 12 was the final day in 1973 (when Jack Nicklaus won a record-breaking 14th major), 1990 (Wayne Grady), 2007 (Woods) and 2012 (Rory McIlroy). For the foreseeable future, Brooks Koepka’s August 12 victory in 2018 will be the last time the PGA ends on an August 12 now that the championship has been moved to May.

The 2013, 1996, 1991, 1985 and 1974 PGA Championships all ended on August 11 of their year, won by, in order, Jason Dufner, Mark Brooks, John Daly, Hubert Green and Lee Trevino. Of the five, Daly was the most obscure and unexpected, only getting into the field at the last moment and completely shocking the golf world with his prodigious drives and composure.

The 1975 PGA ended on this date at a very familiar PGA Tour site, Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Jack Nicklaus won at four-under 276, two strokes ahead of Bruce Crampton. It was Nicklaus' fourth of five PGA victories.

The 104th playing of the PGA Championship was held in May in Southern Hills in Tulsa. The first time in its history that the PGA began on an August 9 was in 1973 at another Midwest spot, Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland. It ended in a milestone result: Jack Nicklaus won by four shots, and it was his 14th major, moving him ahead of Bobby Jones' total, which had been the record for 43 years.

In the 104 playings of the PGA Championship, the PGA of America's showcase event began on this date, August 8, six times: 1933, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996 and 2013. But it ended on this date just once: in 1982 when Raymond Floyd won by three at Southern Hills.

Amy Alcott was the qualifying medalist on this date in 1972 at the U.S. Girls' Junior at Jefferson City Country Club in Missouri. She had a leading 151 total for two rounds. But she didn't make it past the second round of match play, and the eventual winner was Nancy Lopez, who had shot a qualifying score eight shots higher.

Gary Player memorably hit a 9-iron out of wet rough on the 408-yard par-4 16th hole in winning the PGA Championship on this date in 1972. The 150-yard blind shot over a weeping willow came to rest four feet from the hole. Player made the birdie putt to increase his lead to two, and he won with a one-over-par total of 281 over Jim Jamieson and Tommy Aaron.

Chick Evans won the Chicago City Amateur on this date in 1944 decades after he had won in 1907, 1908 and 1911.

The incomparable "Lord" Byron Nelson won the Canadian Open on this date in 1945 for his record 11th consecutive PGA Tour victory, at Uplands & Thornhill C.C., on the way to winning a record 18 tournaments for the season.

Omar Uresti was born on this date in 1968, making him 54, if you can count your decades easily. Uresti typifies the journeyman aspect of PGA Tour life and now the Champions Tour, never a regular tour winner but somehow able to make a living by getting into as many tour events as possible. I got to see him first hand in July 2018 when I marshaled at the John Deere Classic on the 17th tee. He has a very exaggerated backswing motion prior to hitting the ball, but it is obviously effective for him.

The second PGA Championship to be played at stroke play ended on this date in 1959. Bob Rosburg scorched Minneapolis Golf Club with a final-round 66, allowing him a one-shot victory over Doug Sanders and Jerry Barber, who would win the title two years later.

On this date in 1914, Lloyd Mangrum was born in Trenton, Texas. A decorated World War II Army veteran, Mangrum won 36 tour events and won the 1946 U.S. Open. He finished second twice at the Masters. His distinguished appearance, which made him look like the image of a riverboat gambler, made Mangrum quite notable. He was made a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998.

The 1961 PGA Championship was due to conclude on July 30 at Olympia Fields in Illinois, but Don January and Jerry Barber tied at 277, just three under par. January was four shots ahead with three to play in regulation but Barber was a putting fiend, making 120 feet of putts on those holes, for a par and two birdies, to force the playoff. Twice Barber trailed by two shots in the playoff, but he came on to shoot 67 and win by one stroke on this date.

Today's date marks the 2006 Senior Open victory by American Loren Roberts in a playoff over Eduardo Romero of Argentina. On yesterday’s date, July 29, in another Senior Open result, this one at St. Andrews, Miguel Angel Jimenez won in 2018.

Diminutive Paul Runyan won his first of two PGA Championships on this date in 1934 when he defeated Craig Wood in 38 holes in the final at the Park Club of Buffalo, Williamsville, N.Y. At just 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, Runyan gave up great length off the tee, but his prowess with fairway woods and his short game combined to be a great equalizer.