Columbine was scheduled to host the championship in 1966, but flooding of the course by the South Platte River caused a postponement of a year. Firestone Country Club in Ohio, scheduled to host in 1967, swapped years with Columbine and was the site of the tournament in 1966.[4]
There was a possibility of a boycott of the championship by the top tournament players, due to grievances with the PGA of America. An understanding was achieved several weeks before and the top players entered.[5]
At the time, Columbine was the longest course in major championship history at 7,436 yards (6,799 m). The elevation of the course is over 5,300 feet (1,620 m) above sea level, additionally dry and fast conditions shortened its effective length. Tommy Aaron carded a course record 65 in the second round to take a four-stroke lead,[6] but a 76 on Saturday dropped him two back and he fell out of contention on Sunday with a 78. The 54-hole leader was Dan Sikes, the chairman of the tournament players committee,[7] who shot a final round 73 and finished a stroke out of the playoff, in a tie for third with Jack Nicklaus.[1]
This was the second and final 18-hole Monday playoff at the PGA Championship, formerly a match play event through 1957. The next playoff was ten years later in 1977 and the format was changed to sudden-death, immediately following the fourth round. It was later changed to a three-hole aggregate format, first used in 2000.
The Open Championship was played the previous week near Liverpool, England, one of five times in the 1960s that these two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July. The PGA Championship moved permanently to August in 1969, where it remained through 2018 (except 1971, when it was played in late February). In 2019, the tournament moved to the weekend before Memorial Day.
