Tiger vs. Bob May, Phil's Triumph at 50 and, Yes, That's a Bunker: Ranking the Best PGAs of the Last 40 Years

As the golf world gathers at Oak Hill, Gary Van Sickle reviews the great, controversial and surprising PGA Championships. Y.E. Yang, anyone?

Welcome to PGA Championship week.

It is scheduled to finish on Sunday, May 21, the same day Charles Lindbergh completed his nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1927; Clara Barton founded in 1881 what would become the Red Cross; Day Star won the fourth Kentucky Derby in 1878 and was ridden by Jimmy Carter (but possibly not that Jimmy Carter); and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto died in 1542 and was buried in the Mississippi River in Louisiana after becoming the first European to discover that body of water.

So, no pressure, gents, to put on a historic week or anything. Besides, those guys who’ve been searching Oak Island with a metal detector and toothbrushes are no doubt about to find a cache of hidden Templar gold or the Ark of the Covenant this week on The History Channel’s “The Curse of Oak Island” and totally overshadow the golf.

Yeah, sure.

In honor of the golf history about to be made, anyway, The Ranking looks back at the most memorable PGA Championships since 1980, most of which are more interesting than de Soto’s final water hazard.

10. The Duel of the Unknown Soldiers: 2003

The Ranking goes out on a limb by including this forgotten skirmish between little-known Shaun Micheel, a 34-year-old journeyman pro from Memphis, and little-known Chad Campbell, a rangy young Texan with an innocent smile. Campbell fired a third-round 65 at Oak Hill, where the rough had gotten out of control, to catch Micheel for the lead. Their Sunday battle would be one for the ages if only they were big names. Micheel put a punctuation mark on an exciting day—go on, go back and watch the whole round, it was tense—by dropping a 7-iron shot from the first cut of rough to within inches for a tap-in birdie and the win. It was Micheel’s only PGA Tour victory (although he finished second in the ’06 PGA). Campbell won the Tour Championship later in ’03, years before it became a big-money FedEx Cup bonanza, and this PGA was his closest brush to a major title except for the 2009 Masters, where he three-putted his way out of a playoff on the first extra hole.

9. The Second Coming: 1999

At Medinah No. 2, Sergio Garcia hadn’t yet spit into a cup, flung a driver into a barranca, chopped a tee-box microphone in two, thrown a shoe at the sponsor’s sign or angrily taken intentional divots after a bad shot. He was a seemingly adorable, fresh-faced, very talented 19-year-old and what happened that week was a microcosm of his careers (and others’)—Tiger Woods overshadowed and outplayed him. Almost forgotten is how the Chicago galleries swooned for the young Garcia and chanted “Sergio! Sergio!” on Sunday’s back nine, one of the few times in history when Woods didn’t have the loudest support. There was Garcia’s eyes-closed recovery from behind a tree and his subsequent sprint and jump to catch a glimpse of the result (CBS immortalized the moment with instant replay) and the time he made a key putt and precociously stared back at Woods on the par-3 tee, not realizing any gamesmanship attempt would end in failure.

Garcia was ultimately a footnote, by one stroke, to the bigger story, which was Woods finally winning his second major more than two years after his stunning ’97 Masters romp. “To get No. 2 is definitely a relief,” said Woods, who would rack up a dozen more in the following nine years. A relief, yes, but not a surprise.

8. The Original Daly Show: 1990

It wasn’t important that John Daly won by three over Bruce Lietzke or crushed Kenny Knox in a final-round duel that evaporated. All that mattered was that an obscure blond-mullet-wearing pro from Arkansas who got into the PGA as the ninth alternate and drove all night to get to Crooked Stick for his tee time was the biggest hitter golf had ever seen (until then) and became an overnight beer-drinking, folk hero on the order of Davy Crockett. Daly used a Cobra driver with an off-white head, smoked cigarettes while he played and kept taking sips out of a concession-stand cup that he later admitted sometimes had beer in it. Long John was an early warning sign of the distance gains to come in golf.

7. The Next Bear Apparent: 1983

Dan Jenkins nailed this lead for Sports Illustrated: “In the end, Hal Sutton stood up to Jack Nicklaus, thus confirming the suspicion in professional golf that what we have here may well be the offense of the '80s. Blond, strong, determined, unafraid: And young Hal won the title the way you would want him to win it, by making pars over the last four holes of the Riviera Country Club to beat back both Nicklaus and Jack's reputation, to beat the heat and the killer smog and, finally, to beat the choking dog that was struggling to climb out of him.” Young Hal won by one but did not become the Next Nicklaus even though Nicklaus, 43, told the 25-year-old Sutton, “Congratulations, I have the feeling this is the first of many.” Not quite, Jack. It was the one and only. But Sutton did enjoy a memorable career, including a key role in the 1999 Ryder Cup comeback and the “be-the-right-club-today” Players win over that other legend, Tiger Woods. If two pelts in your collection are Nicklaus and Woods, you did all right, fella.

6. The Midnight Special: 2014

The real winner at Valhalla was confusion although Rory McIlroy’s name ended up on the Wanamaker Trophy. No one at the PGA of America had a believable explanation of why the final-round tee times weren’t moved up when a weather front was expected to move through and drop heavy rain, which it did, delaying play for more than two hours. The delay meant it was extremely dark, arguably too dark, for the last two twosomes to play the 18th hole and determine the PGA champion. Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler were in the 18th fairway, waiting to hit, when suddenly McIlroy and Bernd Wiesberger were waved up. By Mickelson and Fowler or by over-eager PGA officials?

It happened again at the green when Mickelson and Fowler had to wait to play their potentially crucial third shots while McIlroy and Wiesberger hit. The greenside duo wasn’t expecting that. Later, there weren’t clear answers and Mickelson and Fowler took the high road and didn’t complain although Mickelson clearly appeared irritated at the time. He later got an apology from PGA czar Ted Bishop for the curious incident that marred an otherwise memorable finish in which a posse of contenders, save McIlroy, beat themselves with mistakes. It was a dark day for golf, as this was no way to run a major championship, and Jim Nantz’s big-moment closing line, “A shining star at sunset,” felt like parody because sunset, like Elvis, had already left the building.

5. Bunkergate: 2010

The Ranking feels confident you remember Dustin Johnson’s inexplicable penalty for grounding his club in a fairway bunker on the final hole, a two-shot blunder that kept him out a playoff. The controversial and heartbreaking event was such a shocking turn of events, the biggest rules gaffe since Roberto de Vicenzo at the 1968 Masters, The Ranking isn’t sure you remember who actually won. Save your guesses: Martin Kaymer edged Bubba Watson in a three-hole total-score playoff and speaking of mistakes, Watson double bogeyed the 3rd hole to lose by one stroke.

The infamous Dustin Johnson lie at the 2010 PGA, ruled to be a bunker and not a waste area, therefore no grounding of the club allowed :: Allan Henry/USA TODAY Sports

It was unclear whether Johnson thought the bunkers were waste areas, where grounding a club was legal, or didn’t know he was in a bunker because the area was trampled down and strewn with litter. “Maybe I should have looked at the rule sheet a little harder,” Johnson admitted. Nahhh, reading stuff is for losers, man.

4. The Norman Conquests: 1986, 1993 (field entry)

The Year of the Saturday Slam ended badly for Greg Norman in ’86. He led or shared the lead in all four majors through 54 holes but won only one, the British Open. He famously blocked his approach shot right of everything at the final hole at the Masters, setting up the historic Nicklaus win; stumbled home with a 5-over 75 at Shinnecock Hills in the U.S. Open and then was the victim when young Bob Tway holed out from a bunker on the final green to win the PGA. Surely these had nothing to do with LIV Golf’s insistence on 54-hole tournaments.

At Inverness in Toledo in ’93, Norman saw his 20-foot putt for the win impossibly lip out, then three-putted the second playoff hole to lose to Paul Azinger. Norman played the sportsman, though, saying, “I lost to a great player. I'm happy for him, but I wish it was me." Except for a pair of British Opens, it never was.

3. The Minnesota Twins: 2002, 2009

The Tiger-Tamer Club doesn’t have many members and those who are members are often not the usual suspects. Exhibits A and B are Rich Beem in 2002 and Y.E. Yang in 2009, both coming at Hazeltine National. Beem was so little-known in ’02 that even in its final-round story, the Los Angeles Times headline called him a “former car stereo salesman.” The fact that Beem survived a charge by Tiger Woods, who birdied the final four holes, was scintillating stuff. Beem led by one before he nuked a 270-yard 7-wood to six feet and made the eagle putt, a roar heard by Woods in the group ahead. At 13, Woods three-putted for bogey, then bogeyed 14, too, and Beem brought it home. CBS analyst Lanny Wadkins said it was the first time he’d seen Tiger “blink” in a major championship.

It happened again in ’09 when Yang, the son of a Korean farmer, outplayed Woods in the final round. Yang was ranked 460th in the world before winning the Honda Classic earlier in ’09. In this PGA’s final round, the 37-year-old Yang was paired with Woods, who led by two after 54 holes. “My heart nearly exploded,” Yang said when he saw the draw. Yang chipped in for eagle at the 14th, played a 210-yard hybrid shot that nearly hit the flagstick at 18 and ended up beating Woods by three strokes. Rocky Balboa—correction, Yang—shot 70; Woods shot 75. Believe it or not.

2. The Old Man and the Sea: 2021

Tiger Woods had his Pied Piper moment at the 2019 Tour Championship when swarming fans followed his group up the final fairway at East Lake Golf Club. At Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, which Rickie Fowler labeled “East Lake 2.0,” Phil Mickelson got the same treatment en route to a startling upset victory. The lapse in gallery control set up one of the most amazing final-green scenes in PGA history as Mickelson, 50 (a month away from turning 51), became golf’s oldest major champion. Beyond the numbers, there was a thrilling front-nine duel with Brooks Koepka during the final round that included Mickelson holing out from a waste bunker at the fifth hole. Mickelson finished two shots ahead of Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen and for a guy who began the week at something like a 300-to-1 longshot, this was maybe his finest hour. Idle question: Think Phil wagered on himself at 300-to-1?

1. The Louisville Sluggers: 2000

There’s a reason Golf Channel runs this replay ad infinitum. Well, two reasons. One is Tiger Woods. He’s young, he’s brilliant, he’s theatrical (don’t forget him running after a putt while pointing a finger at the cup, a cocky gesture he learned not to repeat); he’s box office and, oh yeah, this is his third straight major championship victory en route to completing the so-called Tiger Slam with his 2001 Masters win. Tiger draws eyeballs.

The second reason is that this PGA at Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club ranks among the all-time great duels even though Bob May, a superstar in junior golf, never made it big on the PGA Tour. It was similar to a boxing match—each player landed big punches and scored knockdowns but each guy kept getting up and fighting on. Great golf by May and Tiger. You already know the ending to this Kentucky Derby but you watch the replay every time it airs, anyway. Or maybe the ending is actually why you watch it. All Tiger, all the time.