The 2008 PGA Championship was the 90th PGA Championship, played from August 7–10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit.
Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive major and third overall, two strokes ahead of runners-up Ben Curtis and Sergio García. He earned $1.35 million for the victory, and became the first European-born winner of the PGA Championship in 78 years, last accomplished in the match play era by Tommy Armour of Scotland in 1930 (by then a naturalized U.S. citizen). Harrington was the first winner from Ireland, and the first European to win The Open Championship and the PGA Championship in the same year.
It was the ninth major championship contested at the South Course and the first in twelve years, when Steve Jones won the 1996 U.S. Open. The PGA Championship returned to "The Monster" for the first time in 29 years; the 1979 event was won by David Graham.
Tiger Woods, the two-time defending champion, did not compete due to rehabilitation for a season-ending knee surgery following his playoff victory in the U.S. Open in June.
The South Course previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1972 and 1979, the U.S. Open in 1924, 1937, 1951, 1961, 1985, and 1996, and the Ryder Cup in 2004.
Field
The following is the qualification criteria that was used to select the field. Each player is listed according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses:
1. All former PGA Champions
Paul Azinger, Rich Beem, Mark Brooks, John Daly, Steve Elkington, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson (3,8,9,10), Vijay Singh (8,10), David Toms (9), Bob Tway (Eligible but not competing: Jack Burke Jr., Dow Finsterwald, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Al Geiberger, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Hubert Green, Don January, John Mahaffey, Shaun Micheel, Larry Nelson, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nick Price, Bob Rosburg, Jeff Sluman, Dave Stockton, Hal Sutton, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins, Tiger Woods)
2. Last five U.S. Open Champions
Ángel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy (6,8,10)
3. Last five Masters Champions
Trevor Immelman (6,8), Zach Johnson (8,9)
4. Last five British Open Champions
Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington (8)
5. Current Senior PGA Champion
Jay Haas
6. 15 low scorers and ties in the 2007 PGA Championship
Stephen Ames (8,10), Stuart Appleby (8), Woody Austin (8), K. J. Choi (8,10), Simon Dyson, Ernie Els (8,10), Anders Hansen, Justin Rose (8), Adam Scott (8,10), John Senden (8), Kevin Sutherland (8), Scott Verplank (8,9), Boo Weekley (8,10) (Eligible but not competing due to hand surgery – Arron Oberholser)
7. 20 low scorers in the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship
Sam Arnold, Ryan Benzel, Bradley Dean, Eric Dugas, Frank Esposito, Jr., Jim Estes, Kyle Flinton, Scott Hebert, Vince Jewell, Rick Leibovich, David Long, Eric Manning, Brad Martin, Jeff Martin, Alan Morin, Curt Sanders, Sonny Skinner, Tim Thelen, Tim Weinhart, Don Yrene
8. 70 leaders in official money standings from the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open to the 2008 RBC Canadian Open Robert Allenby, Tommy Armour III, Aaron Baddeley, Briny Baird, Bart Bryant, Mark Calcavecchia, Chad Campbell (9,10), Daniel Chopra (10), Stewart Cink (9,10), Tim Clark, Ken Duke, Steve Flesch (10), Jim Furyk (9), Sergio García (10), Brian Gay (10), Mathew Goggin, Paul Goydos, J. B. Holmes (10), Ryuji Imada (10), Freddie Jacobson, Jerry Kelly, Anthony Kim (10), Justin Leonard (10), Peter Lonard, Steve Lowery (10), Hunter Mahan, John Mallinger, Steve Marino, Billy Mayfair, George McNeill (10), Rocco Mediate, John Merrick, Ryan Moore, Sean O'Hair (10), Rod Pampling, Pat Perez, Kenny Perry (10), Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Jeff Quinney, Andrés Romero (10), Rory Sabbatini, Heath Slocum, Brandt Snedeker (10), Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker (10), D. J. Trahan (10), Camilo Villegas, Johnson Wagner (10), Mike Weir (10), Dean Wilson (Eligible but not competing due to wrist injury – Luke Donald)
9. Members of the 2006 United States Ryder Cup team
Chris DiMarco, J. J. Henry, Vaughn Taylor
(Eligible but not competing due to back injury – Brett Wetterich)
10. Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the 2007 PGA Championship Richard S. Johnson, Greg Kraft, Parker McLachlin, Chez Reavie