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1956 PGA Championship

Field	Value
name	1956 PGA Championship
dates	July 20–24, 1956
location	Canton, Massachusetts
course	Blue Hill Country Club
org	PGA of America
tour	PGA Tour
format	Match play - 7 rounds
par	71
yardage	6634 yd
field	128 players (all match play)
purse	$40,000
winners_share	$5,000
champion	USA Jack Burke Jr.
score	def. Ted Kroll, 3 and 2
previous	[1955](1955-pga-championship)
next	[1957](1957-pga-championship)

|USA |USA Massachusetts The 1956 PGA Championship was the 38th edition of the professional golf competition, held at Blue Hill Country Club in Canton, Massachusetts, a suburb southwest of Boston. Jack Burke Jr. won his second major championship of 1956, a 3 and 2 victory over Ted Kroll; Burke had won the Masters in April. It was the penultimate PGA Championship as a match play competition; stroke play was introduced two years later in 1958. This was the tenth and final year the PGA Championship was scheduled for a Tuesday finish.

Defending champion Doug Ford was stopped in the third round by 1953 champion Walter Burkemo, 5 and 3.

Blue Hill was not highly regarded as a championship venue and calls increased for a change in format to stroke play. Also, a five-year membership in the PGA of America was necessary to compete in the PGA Championship at the time; this excluded young professionals Arnold Palmer, Dow Finsterwald, Gene Littler, and Mike Souchak.

This remains the only time the PGA Championship has been played in Massachusetts. It was the 8th major championship played in the state and the first in over 30 years, since the 1925 U.S. Open. The next major held in the state would be the 1963 U.S. Open.

Burke was the second to win the Masters and PGA Championship in the same calendar year, following Sam Snead in 1949. Through 2016, it has only been accomplished four times, with the latter two by Jack Nicklaus in 1963 and 1975.

The Open Championship was held two weeks earlier in England at Royal Liverpool Golf Club; neither Burke nor Kroll played in 1956 (or ever).

In the skills competitions held on Thursday, Joe Kraak won the long driving contest at 300 yd.

Format

The match play format at the PGA Championship was modified in 1956 and called for 9 rounds (162 holes) in five days, Friday through Tuesday. Previously, a two-day stroke play qualifying segment (36 holes) on Wednesday and Thursday preceded the match play competition to narrow the field to 64 competitors. This year, 128 players were entered in the single-elimination bracket. The first five rounds were 18-hole matches contested over the first three days, which reduced the field to four players. The semifinals and finals were 36-hole matches played on the final two days, Monday and Tuesday.

Friday – first round, 18 holes
Saturday – second and third rounds, 18 holes each
Sunday – fourth round and quarterfinals, 18 holes each
Monday – semifinals – 36 holes
Tuesday – final – 36 holes

Final results

Tuesday, July 24, 1956

Place	Player	Money ($)
1	USA Jack Burke Jr.	5,000
2	USA Ted Kroll	3,000
T3	USA Ed Furgol	1,000
USA Bill Johnston
T5	USA Sam Snead	500
USA Fred Hawkins
USA Terl Johnson
USA Henry Ransom

Final eight bracket

In the Sunday quarterfinals, Ted Kroll defeated favorite Sam Snead 2 and 1. In the semifinals, Kroll needed only 28 holes to handily defeat Bill Johnston 10 and 8, but Burke's match went 37 holes, extended to an extra hole to stop Ed Furgol, the 1954 U.S. Open champion. In the final on Tuesday, Burke was three holes down to Kroll after 19 holes, then won five of the next seven holes. The two then halved the next seven holes and Kroll's bogey at the par-3 34th hole ended the match at 3 and 2. July 22 July 23 July 24

| score-width= 35px | team-width= 100px

| RD1-team1= Jack Burke Jr. | RD1-score1= 4&2 | RD1-team2= Fred Hawkins | RD1-score2=

| RD1-team3= Ed Furgol | RD1-score3= 1up | RD1-team4= Terl Johnson | RD1-score4=

| RD1-team5= Ted Kroll | RD1-score5= 2&1 | RD1-team6= Sam Snead | RD1-score6=

| RD1-team7= Bill Johnston | RD1-score7= 3&2 | RD1-team8= Henry Ransom | RD1-score8=

| RD2-team1= Jack Burke Jr. | RD2-score1= 37h | RD2-team2= Ed Furgol | RD2-score2=

| RD2-team3= Ted Kroll | RD2-score3= 10&8 | RD2-team4= Bill Johnston | RD2-score4=

| RD3-team1= Jack Burke Jr. | RD3-score1= 3&2 | RD3-team2= Ted Kroll | RD3-score2=

Final match scorecards

Morning

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	5	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5
USA Burke	4	4	4	2	5	5	3	5	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	3	4
USA Kroll	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	3	4	4	4	3	4
Leader	–	–	–	B1	–	K1	K1	K1	K1	K2	K2	K3	K3	K3	K3	K2	K2	K2

Afternoon

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	5	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5
USA Burke	5	4	4	2	4	3	2	4	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	2	Burke
wins
3 and 2
USA Kroll	4	5	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	4
Leader	K3	K2	K2	K1	K1	–	B1	B2	B2	B2	B2	B2	B2	B2	B2	B3

Source:

References

(July 20, 1956). "Ford Confident of Retaining His PGA Title". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
Bartlett, Charles. (July 25, 1956). "Burke's rally beats Kroll for P.G.A. title, 3 and 2". Chicago Daily Tribune.
"Tournament Info for: 1956 PGA Championship". PGA.com.
(July 25, 1956). "Burkes's blazing putter wins PGA, 3 and 2". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Wind, Herbert Warren. (August 6, 1956). "Duluth playoff".
Bartlett, Charles. (July 22, 1956). "Burkemo ousts Ford from P.G.A., 5 and 3". Chicago Sunday Tribune.
(August 6, 1956). "Events & Discoveries".
Wind, Herbert Warren. (August 5, 1957). "The PGA comes back".
Bartlett, Charles. (July 20, 1956). "Kraak's blast wins driving title in P.G.A.". Chicago Daily Tribune.
(July 23, 1956). "Kroll defeats Snead to gain semifinals". Eugene Register-Guard.
(July 24, 1956). "Kroll, Burke gain PGA title round". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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