New World Order: In end, PGA again rises in major way
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| Keegan Bradley's PGA recovery has only been topped once -- by Tiger in 2000. (US Presswire) |
Oh, ye with short memories.
It's a knee-jerk world out there at the moment, with opinions flying around in e-mail assaults and 140-character bytes, which often means that instant opinions are among the most disposable ones.
Take, for instance, the Twitter chatter flying around among golf aficionados last week during the 93rd PGA Championship, when there was a brief flurry regarding whether the event still deserved to be considered a major championship.
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Scott MichauxA stoic Jason Dufner held his head high, but it will be tough to get over this major letdown. More >> |
Steve EllingUnlikely showdown at PGA ends well for Bradley. More >> |
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Twit wits were even kicking around possible replacements, as though there is some governing body empowered to kick the fourth major to the curb for staging tournaments on venues that have sometimes proven to be unpopular, like Atlanta Athletic Club last week.
Funny, but by the time it ended, the digital diatribe had dwindled, if not drowned, like a poor shot on AAC's infamous 18th hole.
Deep breaths, people. This week's New World Order is here to remind those with memories that are shorter than J.B. Holmes' backswing what we would have missed if the PGA had not been considered major over the past dozen years.
Facts are facts -- it has, flat out, been the most consistently entertaining of the four majors over that span, rolling out ridiculously complicated plotlines and a series of Sundays embroidered with stress and strife.
Sometimes, and we're guilty at times, too, it's a pity that folks are rarely at a loss for words on Twitter or in sports chat rooms. Punt the PGA?
Starting in 1999, it has hands-down been the grandest of the Slams. Here's our super-subjective top-10 look at the most heart-rending, mind-bending and entertaining PGAs contested in that stretch, though in all honesty, it was nearly impossible to put them in order.
The Masters was terrific theater this spring, with eight different players holding a share of the lead at various stages in the final round, but over and over, when it comes to the annual major-championship honor roll over the past dozen seasons, we've consistently saved the best for last.
Go ahead and gripe about soft sand, hard holes or weak venues, but these people are clearly doing something right, because a series of dizzying finishes like these cannot be an accident.
10. Rich Beem
2002
Hazeltine National
Chaska, Minn.
He was the everyman, a former car-stereo salesman who had cracked the winner's circle on the PGA Tour two weeks earlier outside Denver. Somehow, Beemer held off a furious rally by Tiger Woods down the stretch -- the world No. 1 birdied the last four holes to throw a scare into the mostly unheralded Beem -- who did a little jig on the 18th green that has been an endless source of teasing ever since. "Oh, I was just making it up, I have no idea," Beem said of the dance. "I probably looked like a total idiot out there, but you know what, I won, it doesn't matter."
9. Shaun Micheel
2003
Oak Hill C.C.
Rochester, N.Y.
Micheel, a journeyman pro who had yet to win on the PGA Tour, hit one of the most thrilling clutch shots in Grand Slam history, saving the day in what had been a pretty underwhelming battle with Chad Campbell, Alex Cejka and Tim Clark. Leading by a stroke, Micheel drove into the semi-rough on the 18th, and then launched a 7-iron shot to within 2 inches of the cup to cinch the deal. Micheel couldn't see the shot come down, but knew by the feedback that he had won a major -- still his only title to date. An electrifying moment, pure and simple.
8. David Toms
2001
Atlanta Athletic Club
Duluth, Ga.
Toms wins at buzzer on layup shot? The headline writers had fun with this one. Toms, a medium-hitting player, had to lay up in front of the pond situated by the 18th green on the 72nd hole. Battling alongside Phil Mickelson, who was still seeking his first major title, Toms tossed a wedge shot to 10 feet and coolly rolled in the putt for the victory. As much as anything, it generated more negative blowback for hard-luck Lefty, who was three years away from his first Grand Slam title.
7. Phil Mickelson
2005
Baltusrol, Golf Club
Springfield, N.J.
Because of rain and some questionable logistics decisions, the final holes were played on Monday morning, and by the time Mickelson reached the par-5 18th, he knew the title would be his with a birdie. After his drive, Lefty tapped his fairway wood atop a metal marker placed in the grass to commemorate a title-winning shot Jack Nicklaus hit from a similar location years earlier. Mickelson bombed his approach into the greenside rough, then hit his trademark flop shot to a few inches of the hole to secure his second Grand Slam title. Eight months later, he won the Masters for the second time, and in June, blew the U.S. Open on the final hole at Winged Foot. He was moments away from having a shot at the Lefty Slam.
6. Tiger Woods
1999
Medinah Country Club
Medinah, Ill.
Woods was poised on the brink of greatness, but as much as anything, this major is remembered for his duel with a Spanish teenager named Sergio Garcia, who absolutely stole the show with his charisma, daring shots from behind trees, and inspiring energy levels that won him millions of fans. Garcia didn't know it at the time, but when he lost to Woods by a stroke, it was merely the first of many major-championship disappointments.
5. Padraig Harrington
2008
Oakland Hills C.C.
Bloomfield Township, Mich.
The Irish superstar was at the peak of his powers. Of course, we didn't know that at the time, per se. He had won the British Open a month earlier when he locked up in a terrific back-nine duel with Garcia and Ben Curtis, which wasn't settled until Harrington grinded a putt into the hole on 18th with Garcia watching helplessly from a few feet away. The wide-eyed Harrington "stare" was in full force. Incredibly, the hard-fought win gave Harrington three of the last six major titles, yet instead of becoming a launch point for greater glory, he's sputtered ever since. In fact, since claiming the 2008 PGA, Harrington has not won again on the PGA or European tours, a co-sanctioned event against a weak field in Asia notwithstanding.
4. Martin Kaymer
2010
Whistling Straits
Kohler, Wisc.
Two weeks ago, after running into Kaymer at the baggage carousel in Ohio, we ended up talking about how he'd won the title a year earlier at Whistling Straits, and the jumbled ending in which Dustin Johnson was assessed a two-shot penalty after making a bogey on the 72nd hole. After a wayward drive, Johnson had a mid-sized putt for par on the 18th, and had he made it, he would have gone into hysterics, thinking he had won. "I am glad in a way that he didn't make that putt," Kaymer said. "That would have made it even worse." As it was, Johnson missed, yet believed he had bogeyed to finish in a tie for first with Kaymer and Bubba Watson, but the infamous penalty assessed for grounding his club in a bunker brought it all to an end. As Johnson was called in to review a videotape of the violation, bedlam ensued and fans were outraged. "Chaos," his agent, David Winkle said last week. "A perfect storm." Well, imperfect, actually. Johnson generated more fire and fury over his penalty than did Kaymer with his playoff win. A few months later, Kaymer ascended to world No. 1. It represented the most controversial ending at a Grand Slam event since Roberto de Vicenzo was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard at the 1968 Masters.
3. Y.E. Yang
2009
Hazeltine National
Chaska, Minn.
Turns of the calendar pages have only made the legend of Yang's win loom even larger, because nobody knew at the time that Woods was about to fall off a physical, professional and personal cliff. Woods had never before lost a 54-hole lead at a major, going 14-for-14 and usually running over everybody in the process. But the gritty former Korean Marine gave Woods -- his pairings partner -- more than he could handle and wasn't the least bit intimidated by Woods' unassailable Sunday reputation or trademark red shirt. Two months later, the Woods sex scandal began unfolding and it's never been the same since, on or off the golf course. On the other hand, Yang has become one of the grittiest competitors on the PGA Tour.
2. Keegan Bradley
2011
Atlanta Athletic Club
Johns Creek, Ga.
Some of us are still flipping coins. What was more insane, the notion that Bradley became the third player ever to win a major championship in his first try, or that he somehow rallied from five strokes off the lead over his last three holes to force a playoff? It's storybook fare, seemingly the stuff of fiction, the golf equivalent of hitting s series of 3-pointers to steal a basketball game, or returning a kickoff to win a Super Bowl on the final play. It marked the second straight PGA in which the indescribable final hour rendered nearly every other development of the week utterly irrelevant. Epic, overdosing fare for golf junkies.
1. Tiger Woods
2000
Valhalla Golf Club
Louisville, Ky.
This one tops the list for a couple of reasons. First, it represented Tiger Woods at the absolute pinnacle of his powers. A few months later, he would complete the wraparound Grand Slam by winning the Masters, but an unheralded journeyman pro named Bob May almost stopped the four-major run at its midpoint. Woods and May battled like golf gods down the stretch, each shooting 31 on the back nine and trading punches like UFC brawlers. As if that wasn't intoxicating enough, the David-and-Goliath pairing were forced into the event's first-ever three-hole aggregate playoff to settle the issue. Woods didn't seal the title until May missed a 30-footer on the third extra hole. For the underdog May, beset by physical injuries, it was the highlight of his undistinguished pro career. Woods was merely getting started. In many minds, their battle represents the best major-championship showdown/playoff in decades, if not all of PGA Championship history.
