The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in professional golf, and it is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August.
Winning "The PGA" gives a golfer several privileges that make his career much more secure, if he is not already one of the elite players of the sport. PGA champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open) for the next five years, and are exempt from qualifying for the PGA Championship for life. They also receive membership on the PGA Tour for the following five seasons and invitations to The Players Championship for five years.
The PGA Championship has been held at a large number of venues, some of the early ones now quite obscure, but currently it is usually staged by one of a small group of celebrated courses, each of which has also hosted several other leading events.
