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Five Classic PGA Championships
ST. LOUIS, Aug 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Ahead of next week’s 100th PGA
Championship, here are five of the greatest editions in tournament history:
– 2009: Yang makes history –
South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun became the first Asian-born man to win a major
golf title when he outdueled Tiger Woods in a head-to-head final round at
Hazeltine to deny Woods a 15th major victory. It marked the first time Woods
had not won a major when he led after 54 holes, having gone 14-for-14 prior.
Woods opened with a five-under par 67, one stroke ahead of defending champion
Padraig Harrington and six ahead of Yang. Woods was four clear of the field
after 36 holes and led Harrington and Yang by two strokes entering the final
round. Woods struggled with his putting and Yang chipped in for eagle at the
par-4 14th to seize the lead for good. Yang birdied 18 while Woods closed a
Sunday 75 with a bogey to lose by three shots. Three months later came
revelations of Woods cheating on his then-wife Elin with multiple mistresses
and the devastating scandal that followed.
– 2000: Tiger slams door –
Tiger Woods arrived at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the
82nd PGA Championship having won the US Open by 15 strokes and the Open
Championship by eight. Woods departed as the first player since 1937 to win
back-to-back PGA Championships and with the third leg of the “Tiger Slam” but
it wasn’t easy. Woods led or shared the lead after each of the first three
rounds but became locked in an epic last-pair duel with unheralded US
compatriot Bob May in his PGA Championship debut and only the fourth of eight
career majors he would ever play. May fired his third consecutive six-under
par 66 on Sunday to match Woods on 270, Woods making birdie at 17 and
matching May’s birdie at 18 to force a three-hole playoff. Woods opened with
a birdie at 16 for as one-shot lead and matched May with pars at 17 and 18 to
claim the title, setting up the “Tiger Slam” he would complete at the 2001
Masters.
– 1991: Daly’s dazzling win –
John Daly was the ninth alternate for the 73rd PGA at Crooked Stick in
Carmel, Indiana. The long-driving American got into the tournament when
Zimbabwe’s Nick Price withdrew for the birth of his first child. Daly hired
Price’s caddy, Jeff Medlin, for the week and made his mark in golfing
history. The personable and carefree style of Daly plus his ball-blasting
grip it and rip it game made him an instant fan favorite. Daly opened on
three-under par 69, seized the lead with a second-round 67, stretched his
lead to three shots after another 69 and fired a closing 71 to defeat Bruce
Lietzke by three shots to become one of the unexpected winners in major
history. Daly won his only other major at the 1995 Open Championship, beating
Italy’s Constantino Rocca in a playoff.
– 1940: Nelson edges Snead –
Byron Nelson and Sam Snead met in the 36-hole match-play final of the 23rd
PGA Championship at Hershey Country Club in the famed Pennsylvania city
dubbed “Chocolatetown.” The 64-man field came down to two iconic players.
Nelson birdied the par-5 sixth, went 2-up when Snead closed the front nine
with a bogey and went 3-up with a birdie at 11. Nelson kept the lead into the
final nine holes, but Snead birdied the par-5 12th to square the match, the
par-5 13th to stay level and the par-3 14th to grab his first lead. One down
with three to play, Nelson put his approaches inches from the cup to birdie
16 and 17 to regain the lead and matched Snead’s par at the par-3 18th to
secure a 1-up triumph. It was the third of five major wins for “Lord Byron”
and the first of two PGA titles while Snead, denied his first major win,
would claim seven majors in his career, including three PGAs, three Masters
and the 1946 Open Championship.
– 1923: Sarazen beats Hagen –
The PGA was a 64-man match-play tournament for its sixth edition in 1923
when legends Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen met in the 36-hole final at Pelham
Country Club north of New York City. Hagen had taken the 1921 crown while
Sarazen was the 1992 winner. They were deadlocked after the first 18 holes,
neither man leading by more than a hole. But in the second 18, Sarazen
birdied to win the third and fifth holes and Hagen lost the seventh with a
bogey. But Hagen birdied to win the 11th and Sarazen made bogeys at the par-3
16th and par-5 17th. Each parred the 18th to force extra holes. Both birdied
the par-5 first hole. At the dogleg par-4 second, Hagen found a bunker 20
feet from the cup while Sarazen was in the rough 50 feet away. But Sarazen
pitched to four feet and Hagen couldn’t escape the bunker. Sarazen birdied.
Hagen couldn’t match him and Sarazen captured the third of his seven career
major titles. Hagen won the next four PGA Championships and finished with 11
major titles.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0816 hrs