Lowest 72-hole score to par in a golf major championship

Scoring at Valhalla Golf Club for the 2024 PGA Championship was low from the start of the week in Louisville. Xander Schauffele tied the record for the lowest round in a major championship with a first-round 62, a mark that was later matched by Shane Lowry in Saturday's third round. And even if those were the only record-setting rounds, the PGA Championship was undoubtedly a birdie-fest.

Coming into Sunday's final round, Schauffele and Collin Morikawa both sat at 15-under for the week and were primed to go even lower. That was also true for the chase pack that included the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland and Lowry after his electric third round. But that put people on notice that we could potentially see one of the best scores in a major that the golf world has ever seen.

But what is the lowest score in major championship history, at least relative to par? Let's take a look at the best winning scores we've ever seen at in a major and at the PGA Championship specifically as well.

Lowest 72-hole score to par in a major championship

The lowest score ever for a major championship over 72 holes is -21 after Xander Schauffele won his first major at the 2024 PGA Championship.

Prior to his victory, the previous best score at a major was -20, which had been done four times at three different major champions. Let's take a look at those tournaments and scores.

We have seen the 20-under mark reached at the PGA Championship when Jason Day did so at Whistling Straits nearly a decade ago. However, to fully appreciate how good going -20 over 72 holes really is even at the highest levels of professional golf, it's important to note that the best score at a U.S. Open is -16, which has been done twice, first at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional by Rory McIlroy and then by Brooks Koepka in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

But let's look at the history of low scores at the PGA Championship as well.

Lowest 72-hole score to par in the PGA Championship

Here are the lowest scores over 72 holes ever recorded at the PGA Championship.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the lowest PGA Championship scores we've seen is that many of these tournaments have simply featured low scores, which is evidenced here. Bob May, Jordan Spieth and Colin Mongtomerie all appear on this list of the lowest scores but none of the three were victorious in doing so. May and Montgomerie lost in a playoff to Tiger Woods and Steve Elkington, respectively, while Spieth lost by three shots to Day's best-ever score.