Five great moments from the US PGA Championship: Record-breaking Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods holds on

Record-breaking McIlroy

In 2012 at Kiawah Island, one of the relative new stars on the scene was a fresh faced, curly haired, Rory McIlroy who was competing in only his fourth PGA Championship. In his three previous starts at the event, the Northern Irishman already had a pair of tied thirds to his name.

Mother Nature bare her teeth during the weekend forcing most to cram a round and a half of golf into the final day. The results were disastrous for some. But not for a certain McIlroy.

Arriving at the tee to get his final round underway, many were worrying that McIlroy would crumble under the pressure. Something that felled him in cataclysmic fashion at The Masters the previous year where he shot the worst round in history by any professional golfer leading after the third round – 80.

Instead, he surged, burying the competition with a six-under 66 to win by eight shots, surpassing Jack Nicklaus in 1980 for the widest margin of victory in tournament history.

McIlroy now had two major victories under his belt, both of which came in record-breaking fashion, having won the 2011 US Open by posting an incredible 16-under total.

After a summer in which he missed three out of four cuts, this was exactly the result McIlroy needed as he took a hold of the top spot in the World Ranking’s once again.

John Daly – A star is born

John Daly is well known these days, sometimes for his hard-living more than his golf skills, but in 1991 he was still a relative nobody. So much so, that he was the ninth alternate for the US PGA Championship and he only made it because Nick Price withdrew with the birth of his first child imminent. Not only did Daly take Price’s spot, he also took on the services of his caddie, Jeff “Squeaky” Medlin, and the legend began.

With his wild “grip it and rip it” style swing, Daly’s long-hitting shredded the Crooked Stick layout into pieces much to the amazement of his fellow professionals.

His entertaining country-boy persona coupled with an iconic free flowing mullet energised the crowd and supercharged the event. The 25-year-old reached the 72nd hole with a three-shot lead knowing that barring anything catastrophic, the Championship would be his.

The American cannoned another 300-plus yard drive down the middle and bounded up the fairway, fist-pumping and drawing in the crowd’s energy realising that the job was now effectively done.

As Daly knocked home his final putt to secure his first major title and first win on the main circuit, the golfing world had a new star to follow.

“No one has ever stirred the golf world in one week like John Daly,” said the man who would know – the late, great, Arnold Palmer.

That’s the Tway to do it

Rain wiped out Sunday’s final round in 1986 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, but no one anticipated that a lightning bolt would strike during the conclusion of the tournament on Monday.

Current World No. 1 Greg Norman only had eight holes between him and further major championship glory, having won The Open at Turnberry only a few weeks prior, but he hadn’t anticipated playing partner Bob Tway spoiling his party. Self-inflicted errors from the Australian on the 11th and 14th holes brought the pair together at the top of the leaderboard, setting up a battle coming down the closing stretch.

After both found the fairway on the final hole, Oklahoma native Tway looked to have given Norman an opening as his approach shot sailed into the greenside bunker leaving himself a tricky up and down attempt just to secure his par.

With Norman having found the edge of the dancefloor, the faltering 31-year-old seemed to have finally wrestled back some sort of momentum. It was only momentary.

As Tway settled into his shot, he slid the club through the sand like a knife through butter, delicately popping the ball up and over the steep lip where it trundled on towards the cup and in. Cue a jubilant Tway jumping up and down celebrating the shot of a lifetime.

Norman’s birdie effort to tie never had a chance and again left him falling short after holding the lead at a major.

Sergio kicks onto the scene but Tiger holds on

Ahead of the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, there was much anticipation and hype following Tiger Woods. The sport’s new golden child already had a slate of victories, including the 1997 Masters, and millions in the bank, but the pressure was already mounting to notch up major number two as he arrived on the property.

Come the final round, Tiger had stretched out a five-shot lead but problems set in from the 12th hole onwards as he recorded his first bogey of the day. The 23-year-old got to the 13th tee just in time to see the newest kid on the block, Sergio Garcia, lay down the gauntlet with a birdie up on the green to get within striking distance.

It may well have rattled Tiger, who ended up walking off with a clumsy double-bogey to see his lead slashed with the two youngest players in the field now set to go head-to-head, laying the foundations for what would be a lengthy rivalry.

Nineteen-year-old Garcia had a stumble of his own on the 15th but the following hole would see his “I’ve arrived moment” take place. Trailing by one, Garcia pushed his drive and the ball settled between the roots of two oak trees.

In a youthful display of bravado, Garcia slapped a hit-and-pray 6-iron, closing his eyes at impact so as to avoid the potentially agonising sight of ball—or club—smashing into the tree. Instead, the ball curved hard to the right, winding up at the back of the green. Garcia ran after the shot, ending with what would become an iconic jumping scissor kick, to see where it went.

Despite Garcia’s antics it wasn’t quite enough to catch Tiger who managed to hole a gutsy par putt on the 17th to set up his coronation coming down the 18th. Major number two and back to World No. 1.

Nearly May day for Tiger

A year on from his first US PGA Championship where he held off a sprightly Sergio Garcia, Tiger was faced with yet another challenger. One that he just couldn’t shake.

Tiger was hitting the prime of his career in 2000, when he emerged as a global icon with three major victories. His fiery attitude and ferocious competitive streak was there for everyone to see at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky. Everyone but Bob May.

The 31-year-old journeyman was a thorn in the side of Tiger for the duration of the tournament. An achievement in itself such was the dominance and seeming invincibility of the current version of Tiger Woods. The former junior rivals from California were only one shot apart as they teed off on Sunday but as the pair reached the 18th green, it was Tiger needing to sink a nervy six-footer to force a three-hole playoff.

Tiger did exactly that.

On the first playoff hole, May was unable to make the green in two but an easy chip nailed on his tap in par. As Tiger eyed up his birdie try, he took a couple of looks and sent the 20-footer on its way, and as his ball curled toward the hole, he walked quickly towards it, pointing his finger at the hole—and down it went. One of the all time Tiger moments that we get treated to on any of his highlight reels nowadays.

He held on to win by one, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to capture three majors in a calendar year. May was equally heroic however. He and Tiger smashed the all-time PGA Championship scoring record, at 18-under-par 270 and both finished five strokes ahead of third-place Thomas Bjorn.