EVENTS

5 Great moments in PGA Championship history

Published on
5 Great moments in PGA Championship history

Major championships provide the best drama we see all year in golf.

Whether it's one particular shot, a series of holes, a collapse -- whatever -- golf fans are promised to see the kind of things that will be a part of golf lore until the end of time.

And with that, here are five great moments in PGA Championship history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibdGrJU5PGM

5. Sergio Garcia's shot from behind the tree on No. 16 at Medinah in 1999. Garcia, then just 19 years old, pulled off one of the most memorable shots in PGA Championship history with this masterful shot from behind a tree.

On the 452-yard par 4, Garcia faced an approach shot of 189 yards from the green in the exposed roots behind a large tree. Garcia elected to hit the ball instead of chipping safely back into the fairway. He opened the face of a 6-iron and as he swung, closed his eyes at impact. The ball soared into a high left-to-right trajectory, landing on the green some 60 feet from the hole. Garcia sprinted up the fairway and did a scissors kick leap to see the green.

He two-putted for par, but no one will forget that remarkable shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP6TavYeSao

4. Shaun Micheel's 72nd hole 7-iron at Oak Hill in 2003. Not many were familiar with Micheel before the start of the 2003 PGA Championship. But, by the time it was over, he left a mark on his lone major victory with a shot for the ages.

Micheel, showing incredible composure in a situation he'd never been in before, closed out his magical week with this magical 7-iron on the final hole. The ball soared in the air and settled within inches of the hole after Micheel ordered it to, "Be right!"

A tap-in birdie and the PGA Championship was Micheel's. And let's be honest, the fact that the ball stayed out of the hole is almost better than it going in. It would have been a fantastic shot either way, but since it stopped just inches from the cup, you can't call it luck. It was an exclamation point on the best golf week of Micheel's life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWdcacvhaxA

3. Rory McIlroy on the par-5 10th hole in the final round at Valhalla in 2014. Do you remember this shot? Arguably the luckiest mishit in major championship history. McIlroy didn't hit the 3-wood the way he intended from the middle of the fairway, but proved the notion, "sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."

McIlroy is both. The mishit found its way to the green, settling just 7 feet from the hole to set up a much-needed eagle that McIlroy would hole moments later.

A couple of hours later, in the dark, McIlroy hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy for the second time in his career, his fourth major championship win overall and second in a row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXx2kbDiiQ

2. Jason Day's emotional embrace with caddie Col Swatton at Whistling Straits in 2015. Outside of a spousal relationship, you're unlikely to find one closer than that of a player and his or her longtime caddie. That's the case for Day when it comes to Swatton. Swatton, along with being Day's longtime caddie, is also his longtime coach and surrogate father.

What the two experienced in 2015 together was a rollercoaster of emotions. The convincing win at Whistling Straits -- Day's first major -- was a culmination of all the work the two have done together through the years.

Day was less than one month removed from a T4 at the Open Championship. He missed a playoff there by a single shot. It was a tournament he thought he had won. He looked crushed, but bounced back the very next week to win the RBC Canadian Open.

Riding high on confidence and the belief that it was his time to win a major, that's exactly what Day did at Whistling Straits. He overpowered the Pete Dye design with the   lowest score in relation to par ever recorded in a major -- 20 under, tied by Henrik Stenson at the 2016 Open Championship -- on his way to a three-shot victory over Jordan Spieth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVD4NTMmPWU

1. The rainbow at Winged Foot in 1997 as Davis Love III finished off his first major victory. You want to talk about chills? I was 17 years old at the time and planted just behind the 18th green at Winged Foot as Love was about to claim his much-deserved first major win. And what better major to win for Love than the PGA Championship? His dad, Davis Jr., was a longtime PGA Professional who lost his life in a plane crash in 1988.

The final round of the 1997 PGA Championship wasn't a great one weather-wise. But, as Love approached the green on 18 with playing partner Justin Leonard, the clouds opened up and a beautiful rainbow hovered over Winged Foot. Was that rainbow symbolic of Love's father? It sure felt that way being there. It was absolutely surreal. I get goosebumps just thinking of it still.