 Five-time champion Hagen had won 22 consecutive matches and four straight titles at the PGA Championship.Prior to his loss to Diegel in the quarterfinals, his match record in the 1920s was 32–1 (), falling only to Sarazen in 38 holes in the 1923 finals.The Five Farms Course, now the East Course, was designed by A. W. Tillinghast and opened two years earlier in September 1926.