US PGA Championship History HighlightsJack Nicklaus of the USA lines up a putt during the USPGA Championships at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Over the past nine decades, the PGA Championship has developed into one of the premier sporting events in the world. Golf's elite players descend on the course to compete for the top prize and make off with the treasured Wanamaker trophy.

In 1916 the idea for a national championship was born out of one of the first meetings of the newly formed PGA. Department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker, who hosted the meeting, provided a trophy for the competition, as well as an initial purse of $2,580 for the match-play event.

The first PGA Championship was played in 1916 at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y. and it would be five years before an American-born PGA Professional claimed the Championship. England's Jim Barnes won the inaugural Championship, but the event was interrupted for two years by World War I. Barnes came back in 1919 to capture his second consecutive Championship and began his own era of domination. Hagen would go on to post his record-tying five PGA Championships in the 1920s. Gene Sarazen would claim victories in 1922, '23 and '33.

Denny Shute captured the PGA Championship title in 1936 and 1937, becoming the first back-to-back winner before Tiger Woods in 2000. The emergence of Byron Nelson as one of the finest competitors in PGA Championship history began in 1939 when he was defeated, 1-up by Henry Picard, in the finals. “Lord Byron" reached the finals in four of the next five PGA Championships, and etched his name on the Wanamaker Trophy twice, in 1940 and 1945. The Championship was then not played in 1943 because of World War II. During the post-war years, the Wanamaker Trophy added the names of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Chick Harbert, Doug Ford and Jack Burke.

In 1958, the format of the PGA Championship was changed from match play to stroke play. The new era in PGA Championship history added the names of Dow Finsterwald, Bob Rosburg, Jay Hebert and Gary Player to its Champions roster. In 1963, Jack Nicklaus won his first of a record-tying five PGA Championships. Fittingly, Nicklaus tied Hagen's record with his last PGA Championship triumph in 1980 at Oak Hill Country Club in Hagen's hometown of Rochester, N.Y.

Over the past nine decades, the PGA Championship has developed into one of the premier sporting events in the world. More than 100,000 people line the fairways of the nation's finest golf facilities during PGA Championship week to view the strongest, all-professional international field in major championship golf. As it was more than 80 years ago, the Wanamaker Trophy is still prized as one of the golf world's greatest treasures.

Read more about the incredible highlights of the second half of the US PGA Golf Championship's history and more on some truly memorable moments in the PGA Championships over the past 90 years.

Who do you think the new 2008 US PGA Champion will be? Can Tiger Woods scoop the top prize again?