The 1990 PGA Championship was the 72nd PGA Championship, held August 9–12 at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Wayne Grady won his only major championship, three strokes ahead of runner-up Fred Couples.

In the final round, Couples led by a stroke after a birdie at the 12th hole, but then had four consecutive bogeys, while Grady shot par for the rest of the round. Defending champion Payne Stewart was in the final pairing with Grady, but was two-over par on the front nine. On the par-5 11th hole, he put his third shot into the water and fell from contention with a triple bogey.

Grady became the third Australian-born player to win the PGA Championship, preceded by Jim Ferrier in 1947 and David Graham in 1979. It was Grady's second and final win on the PGA Tour.

Concerns about racial discrimination in the club's membership caused many sponsors to pull their network television advertising, including IBM. This was the final year that ABC carried the broadcast, replaced by CBS in 1991.

Controversy Leading up to the tournament, Shoal Creek founder Hall Thompson doubled down on the club's policy of excluding African-Americans from membership. Various groups threatened to protest the event and sponsors pulled out, and the PGA considered moving the tournament away from Shoal Creek. In the end, a local African-American executive accepted an invitation to become an honorary member and the tournament was held as planned.

Venue

This was the second PGA Championship at Shoal Creek, which hosted six years earlier in 1984. Opened in 1977, the course was designed by Jack Nicklaus; it was the venue for the Regions Tradition, a senior major championship, from 2011 through 2015, and the U.S. Women's Open in 2018.

Course layout Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4104175164561905404481734373,5874215164511953794052155304463,5587,145 Par445435434364543443543672

Previous course lengths for major championships – par 72, 1984 PGA Championship

Round summaries First round Thursday, August 9, 1990

PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bobby Wadkins68−4T2 Fred Couples69−3 Mark O'MearaT4 Billy Mayfair70−2 Scott VerplankT6 Chip Beck71−1 Nick Faldo Robert Gamez Mike Hulbert Steve Pate Mike Reid Tim Simpson Payne Stewart Brian Tennyson Stan Utley

Second round Friday, August 10, 1990 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Wayne Grady72-67=139−5T2 Fred Couples69-71=140−4 Larry Mize72-68=140T4 Chip Beck71-70=141−3 Billy Mayfair70-71=141T6 Payne Stewart71-72=143−1 Stan Utley71-72=143 Bobby Wadkins68-75=143 Fuzzy Zoeller72-71=143T10 Ben Crenshaw74-70=144E John Huston72-72=144 Davis Love III72-72=144 Loren Roberts73-71=144 Tim Simpson71-73=144

Third round Saturday, August 11, 1990

PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Wayne Grady72-67-72=211−5T2 Fred Couples69-71-73=213−3 Payne Stewart71-72-70=213T4 Gil Morgan77-72-65=214−2 Loren Roberts73-71-70=214T6 Billy Mayfair70-71-75=216E Larry Mize72-68-76=2168 Steve Pate71-75-71=217+19 Bill Britton72-74-72=218+2T10 Chip Beck71-70-78=219+3 Bob Boyd74-74-71=219 David Frost76-74-69=219 Hale Irwin77-72-70=219 Tim Simpson71-73-75=219 Brian Tennyson71-77-71=219 Scott Verplank70-76-73=219 Ian Woosnam74-75-70=219 Fuzzy Zoeller72-71-76=219

Final round Sunday, August 12, 1990 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Wayne Grady 72-67-72-71=282 −6 225,0002 Fred Couples 69-71-73-72=285 −3 135,0003 Gil Morgan 77-72-65-72=286 −2 90,0004 Bill Britton 72-74-72-71=289 +1 73,500T5 Chip Beck 71-70-78-71=290 +2 51,667 Billy Mayfair 70-71-75-74=290 Loren Roberts 73-71-70-76=290T8 Mark McNulty 74-72-75-71=292 +4 34,375 Don Pooley 75-74-71-72=292 Tim Simpson 71-73-75-73=292 Payne Stewart 71-72-70-79=292

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par445435434 454344354 Grady −6−5−6−7−7−7−7−7−6−7−7−6−6−6−6−6−6−6 Couples −3−3−4−4−4−5−5−5−5−5−6−7−6−5−4−3−3−3 Morgan −3−3−3−2−2−3−4−4−4−5−5−5−3−3−3−2−2−2 Stewart −3−2−2−2−1−2−2−2−1−1+2+2+2+3+4+4+4+4

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |style="background: Olive;" width=10| |Triple bogey+

References

External links PGA.com – 1990 PGA Championship Yahoo! Sports: 1990 PGA Championship leaderboard