A Look at Major Golf Tournaments Held at Shoal Creek
Designed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, Shoal Creek is an 18-hole course in Birmingham, Alabama, that opened in 1977. Nicklaus, a three-time Open champion, played the first round on the course on November 1 with fellow Open champions Jerry Pate and Hubert Green. Shoal Creek has since hosted several major golf championships, including the 1984 and 1990 PGA Tour Championships.
More than 138,000 spectators watched the PGA Championship in 1984. At the time, this marked the second-most fans to attend a major championship, behind the 1979 PGA Championship at Bloomfield, Michigan’s Oakland Hills. Lee Trevino won his sixth and final major championship with a four-round score of 273. Lanny Wadkins and Gary Player finished second and third, respectively.
Wadkins was tied for the lead following the first round, while Trevino was one shot back with a first round score of 69. Trevino, Wadkins, and Player were tied for first place following the second round. Player followed a 74 in the first round with a major championship record-tying 63 in round two to ascend the leaderboard. Trevino shot a 67 in the third round, while Wadkins and Player shot 68 and 69, respectively.
Shoal Creek stands as one of 16 courses to have hosted the PGA Championship multiple times. It last hosted the major championship in 1990. Australian Wayne Grady won the tournament that year, with a four-round total score of 282; Fred Couples finished three strokes behind in second place, while Gil Morgan, Bill Britton, and Chip Beck rounded out the top five. Bobby Wadkins, the younger brother of the runner-up in the 1984 PGA Championship, led after the first round, but shot 75, 80, and 81 in the subsequent three rounds to finish near the bottom of the leaderboard.
Between hosting the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championships, Shoal Creek hosted the 1986 U.S. Amateur. Buddy Alexander, one of only two players to earn a semifinal berth, defeated Chris Kite in the final to win the championship. A coach with the Louisiana State University golf team at the time, Alexander later played five events on the PGA Tour.
Shoal Creek has not hosted a PGA Tour event in the 21st century, but it has served as the site of multiple prominent tournaments. It hosted the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2008, in which Cameron Peck defeated Evan Beck in the final. A 30-year-old native of Olympia, Washington, Peck has since played 34 events on the PGA Tour and registered three top-10 finishes.
The 2010 Southern Amateur was the next major golf tournament played at Shoal Creek. Alex Carpenter of Abilene Christian University won the 104th annual edition of the tournament, while Patrick Cantlay finished in second place. Carpenter has since only played in two PGA Tour events, while Cantlay has played 120 events and won more than $22 million. He won three tournaments in 2021.
Shoal Creek subsequently hosted the Champions Tour’s Regions Tradition Championship for five consecutive years beginning in 2011. The most recent major tournament it hosted was the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. Ariya Jutanugarn won her second major championship at the event by defeating Hyo Joo Kim in a four-hole playoff.
