Valhalla Golf Club, located in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, is a private golf club designed by Jack Nicklaus, opened in 1986. In 1992, Valhalla was selected to host the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

in the year 1996, one of golf's four majors. The following year (1993), the

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

purchased a 25% interest in the club. After the championship in 1996, the PGA of America raised its stake to 50% and announced that the event would return to Valhalla in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. At its conclusion, the PGA of America exercised an option to purchase the remaining interest in the club. Later that year, it announced that the Ryder Cup would be held at Valhalla in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Valhalla also hosted the

PGA Club Professional Championship The PGA Professional Championship is a golf tournament for golf club professionals and teachers who are members of the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It has been held by the PGA of America since 1968, when touring professionals spl ...

in 2002 and the

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

in 2004. The PGA Championship was originally scheduled to be played at Valhalla in 2004, but the PGA of America switched it to

Whistling Straits Whistling Straits is one of two 36-hole links-style golf courses associated with Destination Kohler, a luxury golf resort owned and operated by the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin. The other course is Blackwolf Run, located in the Village ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In 2009, the PGA of America announced that the Senior PGA Championship and the PGA Championship would return to Valhalla in 2011 and 2014, respectively. in November 2017, the PGA of America announced that the PGA Championship would return to Valhalla in 2024. On June 1, 2022, the club and the PGA of America jointly announced that the club had been sold to a group of club members led by Jimmy Kirchdorfer, CEO of locally based piping supplier ISCO Industries. Other group members include former

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CEO

David Novak David Novak, (born August 19, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studie ...

, businessman and former NBA player

Junior Bridgeman Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman (born September 17, 1953) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball League (NBA) for twelve years from 1975 until 1987, beginning with the Milw ...

, and hotelier Chester Musselman. The course sits on a property on Shelbyville Road (

US 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as Pacific Avenue, in the ...

) in the eastern portion of Louisville just outside the Gene Snyder Freeway (

I-265 Interstate 265 (I-265) is a Interstate Highway partially encircling the Louisville metropolitan area. Starting from I-65 in the southern part of Louisville, it runs through Jefferson County, Kentucky, crosses the Ohio River on the Lewis ...

) It was envisioned by local business leader Dwight Gahm (pronounced "game") and his three sons in 1981, and opened five years later. Steve Houg is the head professional as of March 2016.

Major tournaments hosted

The 1996 PGA Championship was won in a playoff; Mark Brooks won his only major title with a birdie on the first extra hole, the par-5 18th.

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native

Kenny Perry James Kenneth Perry (born August 10, 1960) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He won 14 PGA Tour events and has won nine PGA Tour Champions events including four senior major championships: the 201 ...

was the runner-up in the event's final sudden-death playoff. Four years later, the 2000 PGA Championship also went to a playoff;

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

won by one stroke over Bob May in the revised three-hole format. Woods had a 3-4-5=12 to May's 4-4-5=13 on the course's final three holes. It was Woods' second consecutive PGA Championship, his fifth major title and his third of his eventual "Tiger Slam" of four consecutive major titles – the PGA Championship was preceded by the 2000 U.S. Open at

Pebble Beach Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of the golf course ...

and the

2000 Open Championship The 2000 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 129th Open Championship, held from 20 to 23 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Tiger Woods, 24, won his first Open Championship and fourth major title, eight ...

at the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

and then followed by the 2001 Masters at

Augusta National Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. Unlike most private clubs which operate as non-profits, Augusta National is a for-profit corporation, and it does no ...

.) Valhalla hosted its third PGA Championship in 2014, when Rory McIlroy beat

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), two ...

also by one stroke. Beforehand, the course had undergone a major "modernization" after it hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 2011, which included the rebuilding of all 18 greens. In addition, Valhalla hosted the Ryder Cup in

, with the United States defeating Europe 16½ to 11½ for the first U.S. win since their comeback victory in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

The Country Club The Country Club, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the oldest golf-oriented country club in the United States. (The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, was the first country club for any sport.) It holds an important place in ...

in Brookline, Massachusetts. Perry and another native Kentuckian –

J. B. Holmes John Bradley "J.B." Holmes (born April 26, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Early life Holmes, born in Campbellsville, Kentucky, began to play on the varsity golf team at Taylor County High School in Campbel ...

of Campbellsville, who made the team as one of American captain

Paul Azinger Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official ...

's four picks - were part of the victorious Team USA and accounted for a combined five points. The Club will host the 2024 PGA Championship, marking the fourth time as host site for that major.

Scorecard

Course setup for the 2014 PGA Championship

References

External links

*
Nicklaus.com
Valhalla Golf Club

{{Ryder Cup venues , state=collapsed Golf clubs and courses in Kentucky Golf clubs and courses designed by Jack Nicklaus Ryder Cup venues Sports venues in Louisville, Kentucky 1986 establishments in Kentucky Sports venues completed in 1986

Major tournaments hosted

Scorecard

See also

References

External links