1996 PGA Championship: Mark Brooks wins at Valhalla Golf Club
Mark Brooks won the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky with 277 (−11), beating Kenny Perry in a playoff.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1996 in Wanamaker Avenue, the PGA Championship room, or every year on the PGA Championship winners list.
- Dates
- August 8, 1996 to August 11, 1996
- Course
- Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky
- Edition
- 78th PGA Championship
- Format
- stroke play
- Par
- 72 · 7,144 yards
- Field
- 150
- Made the cut
- 82 (cut at 145)
- Purse
- $2,400,000 · winner's share $430,000
- Champion
- Mark Brooks · age 35 · United States · born Fort Worth, Texas
- Champion's title
- 1st PGA Championship
- World ranking
- No. 44
- Winning score
- 68-70-69-70 = 277 (−11)
- Runner-up
- Kenny Perry
- 54-hole leader
- Russ Cochran (205) · Mark Brooks was 2 strokes back
- Playoff
- sudden death; beat Kenny Perry; Brooks 4 (birdie); Perry did not finish the hole; 18
- Low club professional
- Bob Boyd (289)
Winner and runner-up
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Brooks | 68 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 277 | −11 |
| 2 | Kenny Perry | 66 | 72 | 71 | 68 | 277 | −11 |
What happened at the 1996 PGA Championship
Mark Brooks birdied the par-5 18th in regulation to force a playoff, then birdied it again to beat hometown favorite Kenny Perry.
It was the last sudden-death playoff in PGA Championship history; the 3-hole aggregate format replaced it from 2000.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's PGA Championship data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: pga.json (the PGA Championship room's data: Tables 1A–1H).