Raymond Floyd won his second PGA Championship, three strokes ahead of runner-up Lanny Wadkins, the 1977 champion.

[2] A few weeks shy of age 40, Floyd shot an opening round 63 (−7) and led wire-to-wire to secure the third of his four major titles.

[4][7] The record lasted a dozen more years, until broken by Nick Price in 1994, also at Southern Hills.

This was the fourth major for Southern Hills, which previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1970 and the U.S. Open in 1958 and 1977.

Floyd's win marked the tenth time that all four major championships were won by Americans in a calendar year.