It could be a shot, a tournament, an incident, something in major championship (or regular tour events) that has stuck with you.
So hard to narrow it to three, but:
1. Tiger Woods and Bob May at the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla. Both players shoot 31 on the back nine on Sunday, including dramatic birdies on the 72nd hole, before going to a 3-hole playoff, with Woods victorious.
2. Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters Tournament, 1986. At age 46, the Golden Bear shows his brilliance.
3. US Ryder Cup victory at The Country Club, Brookline Mass, 1999. Down 10-6 after Saturday's dismal play, captain Ben Crenshaw proclaims, "I have a good feeling about this... that's all I am going to say." We all thought he was crazy, until the US demolished Europe in the singles, including Justin Leonard's dramatic comeback against JM Olazabal.
Infamous moment...
Jean van de velde at Carnoustie
My top 3 would be very similar to yours except I would have to replace the Tiger/May playoff with this year's Masters. The battle between Ernie and Phil down to the wire was as good as anything. Being a Mickelson fan, I must say seeing him dig down deep and grind out that birdie on #18 knowing in the back of his mind what the media would write if he missed it and lost a playoff...it was definitely something special.
Also, Shaun Micheel's final shot in last year's PGA has to rank right up there as well.
Good call, JC... this year's Masters was amazing... the quality of play, and players involved on the "second" nine on Sunday, was about as good as it gets!
1. 1986 Masters - Who could forget the run made by the Golden Bear
2. 1995 Masters - Ben Crenshaw's emotional last putt and emotional win
3. 1995 Open Championship - Constantino Rocco's mile long birdie putt to go into a playoff with John Daly
4. 1999 Open Championship - Jean Van de Velde chokes on 18.
5. 1982 US Open - Tom Watson chips in on 17 for a birdie and 1 shot lead over Nicklaus
1. '86 Masters. I was a senior in high school. one of my first real 'golf on tv memories.'
2. john daly winning the pga getting in as an alternate. the excitement he caused from that week has carried through his entire career.
3. i have a hard time saying this year's Masters as it's only been a year, so it's hard to call it 'all-time' as it hasn't even been 6 months, but, i'm a huge Phil fan and it was really exciting. i actually got a lump in my throat when he was holding his little girl.....phil rocks.
I'm a relative noob to watching golf on TV, so my moments will be more recent than most, but I'll give it a shot:
1. 1999 Ryder Cup. Somehow, I got to watch the entire last day (normally my dad had me so piled up with things to do I was lucky to have 10 minutes spare), and it was simply the most amazing sporting event I've seen. After Ben's "big believer in fate" speech the night before I just had a feeling something was going to happen. Once the US jumped out quick and demolished the first few Euros in their matches I knew it was game on. Just seeing subdued guys like Duval pumping up the crowd was amazing. I was jumping outta my chair screaming at good shots. Heart-stopping stuff there.
2. 1997 Masters. I know it wasn't thrilling or anything, but just the magnitude of the feat that Tiger accomplished at such an early age just blew me away. I'm the same age now as Tiger was then and I just can't imagine being that much better than anyone in the world at one thing at this age. It added so much excitement to see what he was going to do in the future. Watching highlights of that tourney as well as the 2000 US Open give me the same kind of chills I get when I watch the old highlights of the 1973 Belmont with Secretariat going down the stretch and the camera having to pan out just to get anyone else in the picture. Amazing.
3. 1999 US Open. At the time it seemed like a simple showdown between a cagey vet (Payne Stewart) and two of the brightest young stars of the PGA Tour (Tiger and Phil) with a couple other big names in contention as well (Singh and Duval). Little did anyone know it would be the defining moment in a career and life cut way too short. They all had their shots but Payne draining the putt on the last hole was magical. Too bad he isn't around anymore to enjoy the highlight of it.
Well, I've only become an avid golfer/golf fan in the past 6 years so I don't have as much to choose from but there are some moments that stick out in my mind.
1. 2004 Masters - Phil winning his first Major after Els came home on fire.
2. Van De Velde British Open collapse - Tuned in just in time to catch the dramatics.
3. Payne Stewart's U.S. Open win - How could you forget that putt on 18?
Another moment I thourougly enjoyed came last year. I forgot what major tournament it was. Either the U.S. Open or PGA Championship but Tom Watson was in, I believe, a tie for the first round lead. Watching Tom Watson and Bruce Edwards that day was a great moment.
Absolutely impossible for me to narrow it down to just three. I was a big Jack Nicklaus fan, growing up, and his final-round duel with Tom Watson, in 1977, at Turnberry, was incredible. I'll never forget it.
#1 It starts with me sitting beside the 18th green at Oakland Hills in 1991 (maybe it was '92, my memory is of the golf, not the year) at the US Senior Open, when Chi Chi Rodriquez barely cleared the front bunker with his long iron approach shot and made birdie to tie Jack. The best was the next day (Monday) 18 hole play-off when I and about 500 others walked with both players and watched Jack set the course record with a 65 in the rain!
#2 Jack at the '86 Masters. Phil's win was exciting but, for me, the drama doesn't compare. Everyone had written Jack off as washed up and his 30 on the back 9 rocked Augusta like never before...or since! IMO Most golfers under 40 will say Phil, 99% over 40 go with Jack.
#3 The "Bomb at Brookline." The unexpected suddenness, the spontaneous eruption, and the ensuing controversy, made that single putt a historic golf event.
The hardest golf infamy to watch.....The Shark unraveling in front of the world's eyes at the '96 Masters. Scott Hoch pulling a Doug Ford in '90 and missing a 2 footer to win a Major Championship. Jean Van de Velde's incredible 7 on #18 at Carnoustie.
Absolutely impossible for me to narrow it down to just three. I was a big Jack Nicklaus fan, growing up, and his final-round duel with Tom Watson, in 1977, at Turnberry, was incredible. I'll never forget it.
I've only seen that on tape, but Jack's approach shot out of the gorse bushes and ensuing 50 footer for birdie was incredible. Watson's 3 footer for the win must have looked a lot longer to him when Jack's bomb fell in! Great stuff!
I never really got into watching golf until a little while ago.
1. Phil Mickelson- That was unreal to watch, i just flat out loved it.
2. Mike Weir- Canadian winning the masters...sums it up
3. Presidents cup last year (2003)- Good ending, would have been better had they finished, but it was good golf to watch all the way.
Last edited by Junior : September 1st, 2004 at 11:49 PM.
All of the big moments I thought to name have already been named, so I'll take a different route and name 3 "little" moments that have remained with me. Moments given in reverse order of the impression they made on me.
(3) Tony Jacklin in the mid-1990s at a senior tour event here in Minnesota. On a par 4 he hooked his tee shot onto hardpan that was on the wrong side of a row of tall trees that ran up the fairway, nearly to the green. I was watching because I happened to be walking there when the ball rolled up. So I stopped, looked at the lie and the situation, and thought, "Well, this poor slob is dead." Tony had other ideas. He hit an iron down the wrong side of the trees and when the ball reached the high point of its trajectory, when it was high enough to clear the trees, it started fading, cleared them, and finished short of the green. From there he got up and down. On the card, it looked like a routine 4. Taught me that these guys aren't like me!
(2) Kris Tschetter in the late-1990s at an LPGA event here in Minnesota. On a par 5, she hooked her tee shot into trees left. The gallery walked down the right side of the fairway; I (and about 4 others, 2 of whom were her husband toting their child) went left into the trees with Kris. I was close enough to her and her caddy to hear them planning the next shot. Good plan, but poor result: advanced the ball OK, but into the right rough. They walk off; I head for the green. Air-mailed the green on her next shot; now she's lying 3 behind the green, backswing restricted by a huge tree trunk, a back pin (so little green to work with), and the green sloping away from her. And some child in the gallery crying as she tries to figure out how to get her sand wedge onto the ball with that tree behind her. What's she do? Chips in for birdie. Taught me that these women aren't like me!
(1) Ben Hogan in the mid-1960s at the Whitemarsh Open (outside Philadelphia). Me and the old man always got there early and went to the practice tee to see the big names up close and eavesdrop on their banter. Who shows up but Ben Hogan. Well past his prime but a living legend even then. The range chatter stopped (I've never seen so many guys shut up without being told). Mr. Hogan took up a position and sent his caddy downrange to shag (pro's hit to their caddies in those days). The other pro's resumed practicing, sneaking glances at the man the Scots lovingly dubbed "The Wee Icemon." One pro had the guts to go stand behind Hogan (out of Hogan's sight but directly on a line extending from the target back to Hogan). I'll never forget the image of that guy standing there, arms folded across his chest, one hand up to his mouth, watching Hogan, trying to learn something, looking for The Secret, perhaps. Hogan seemed oblivious to everything but the task at hand. Started with the short irons. When he was hitting long irons, we would count how many steps the caddy had to take to pick up the ball. "Two steps." "Only 1 step that time." "Four steps; bad shot for Hogan." "Look at that! The caddy didn't even have to move!" Taught me that nobody was quite like Mr. Hogan.
* 1997 Masters - Tiger's domination. As others have posted, this was incredible to watch.
* Tiger vs. Els at the Mercedes Championship, somewhere around 2001-2002 or so. It went to a playoff with some of the most incredible shotmaking I've ever seen. Tiger wins with a LONG putt. Incredible!
* Greg Norman and NIck Faldo at the Masters (don't recall the year) when Norman choked on the last day. I recall being AMAZED at Norman's shotmaking the entire week, except for Sunday, when Faldo came back for a heartbreaking loss for Norman.
Here's some others that come to mind:
* Tiger vs. Scott at the US Amateur, 1997 (I think). Tiger (of course) comes back from behind to win the match and the title. Poor Scott - I think he's struggling on the Canadian tour right now. I can remember Scott's cutie girlfriend/fiancee/caddie (he's married to her now) - Rowwwrrr!!!
Those are all I can think of right now, I'm sure there are plenty more!
Just about all of the great ones that I can remember have been mentioned. Maybe Zinger sinking that sand shot for the PGA. Nicklaus on 18 at Turnberry in 77 is probably my all-time favorite if I had to choose. There is one that I have a vague recollection of from when I was a kid of Palmer. I think it was at a PGA, par-5 18th needing eagle to get into a playoff. He hit a long hook drive into some trees and ripped a a low running 3-wood about 280 to 6 feet and missed the putt. Does that sound familiar to anyone or did I dream it ?