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The arrival of the PGA Championship on the tournament schedule each year always evokes bittersweet memories for me. As most followers of the game know, it is the one major championship that eluded me during my many years on the regular tour, one that I took my last shot at three years ago at Southern Hills in Tulsa.
I had several good chances to add it to my other eight major titles (four Masters, two British Opens, the 1960 U.S. Open and the 1954 U.S. Amateur). In 1964, Jack Nicklaus and I tied for second behind Bobby Nichols at Columbus. Then, in 1968, I lost by a shot on the
last hole at Pecan Valley in San Antonio and two years later by two strokes to Dave Stockton at Southern Hills. Although I had other good PGAs after that, I never came that close to victory again. It will be very interesting to see what happens this week at Winged Foot, whether one of the older hands will break the string of major victories hung up earlier this season by the young stars Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Leonard.
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