The 25 most dramatic finishes in golf majors

Back when the PGA Championship winner was determined by a match play format. The 1945 installment was packed with pressure, mostly placed on the shoulders of the legendary Byron Nelson, who was trying to extend his remarkable tournament winning streak to 11. Nelson, who won his first PGA Championship five years earlier, had his hands full and needed to rally to beat former pro baseball player Sam Byrd 1 up on the final 18 to keep his streak alive. 

Dubbed the "Miracle at Merion." The great Ben Hogan, months removed from surviving a serious car accident, won the second of his four U.S. Open titles, but needed an 18-hole playoff to get the job done. Hogan trailed by two shots entering the final round, but had a chance to win the tournament, only to find himself in a three-way playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio after some poor putting on No. 15 and a bogey on the par-3 17th. However, his famous 1-iron approach to within 40 feet of the cup on 18 set up Hogan to force said playoff. That extra round was tight for roughly 13 holes, then Mangrum and Fazio faded and Hogan, who endured just one bogey, won by four strokes.

It's going to be special because two legends of the game -- Ben Hogan and Sam Snead -- are on the hunt for a Masters title. Four rounds weren't enough to determine a winner at Augusta in 1954, and golf fans of the time benefited from that, Hogan and Snead, who combined to win the previous three Masters, went head to head in Monday's 18-hole playoff. According to pgatour.com, neither competitor talked much during the playoff. In the end, Snead won the playoff by one shot for his third and final Masters crown.

On the 10th anniversary of his first PGA Championship title, Gary Player's 1972 victory at Oakland Hills was memorable for one of the   most miraculous shots in the history of the tournament. The South African legend sliced his tee shot on the 16th hole behind a willow tree. Despite being unable to see the flag, Player clubbed a 9-iron that barely cleared the tree and the water near the green before stopping just feet from the cup. He sank the birdie putt en route to his second title, two shots ahead of both Tommy Aaron  and Jim Jamieson.

No American golfer has won the Open Championship more than Tom Watson. His first victory of the kind came in 1975 at Carnoustie, the daunting Scottish links that is rich in tradition beyond the Open. Watson, who never played on a links course prior to the '75 Open, and Australian Jack Newton managed to brave the blustery final-round conditions to finish tied after 72 holes. Watson bested Newton by one stroke the next day in the Open's final 18-hole playoff.

Talk about high drama. At Oakmont in 1978,  John Mahaffey   trailed leader Tom Watson by seven strokes with 14 holes to play. That didn't prove to be a problem for Mahaffey, who only had two top-10 major finishes before this event. Mahaffey's charge to his only major title included a 35-foot birdie putt on the sixth hole and a 12-footer on the eighth. He carded a Sunday 66, then outlasted Watson, who shot 73, and Jerry Pate in the first three-player playoff in the tournament's history.

Among the storied history of the Masters, Jack Nicklaus' somewhat improbable victory in 1986 is considered by many to be the greatest moment the tournament has ever delivered. The 46-year-old Nicklaus played a back nine to remember en route to his sixth Masters championship — and record 18th major title. "The Golden Bear" rallied with an impressive 30 for the final nine holes to become the oldest golfer to win the Masters, doing so in emotional fashion and one shot ahead of Tom Kite and perennial bridesmaid Greg Norman.

Bob Tway enjoyed a solid career on the PGA Tour, but his only major victory came in 1986 -- via the greatest finishing shot in the history of the PGA Championship. Tied with Greg Norman  heading into the 72nd hole at the always challenging Inverness, Tway knocked his approach into a green-side bunker. With Norman watching, Tway's shot flew out of the bunker, hit the green and kept rolling right into the cup for birdie. Norman made bogey, and Tway earned the 2-shot victory to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy. 

In terms of all-time great shots in major tournament history, the 1987 Masters still might rank at the top of such list. Augusta native Larry Mize's amazing Masters winning shot on the second playoff hole — against, surprise, Greg Norman  — was a chip, and it came from 140 feet away on the par-4 11th. There are not many more perfect shots like Mize's that get close to the pin, let alone go in. And especially at the Masters. Talk about earning a victory, Mize certainly did for the only major victory on an otherwise steady PGA Tour career.

Hale Irwin became the oldest golfer to win the U.S. Open (45 years, 15 days) in 1990, outside Chicago. However, before he did so by winning the first sudden-death playoff in the history of the event over Mike Donald, Irwin needed to force an 18-hole playoff. He did so  in dramatic fashion by draining a lengthy putt (anywhere from 45 to 65 feet, depending on who is telling the story), with a mound in the way, on the 72nd hole. His pre-victory lap following the putt is also one of golf's great moments.

Unbeknownst to the golf world at the time, but the defining moment of Payne Stewart's stellar golf career, and life, for that matter, would be Stewart's memorable 15-foot winning putt in the rain on Sunday 18 at Pinehurst in 1999. The putt gave Stewart a one-shot victory over Phil Mickelson for his second U.S. Open title. Stewart died months later in a plane accident, but the image of his one-foot, fist pump should be etched in the minds of golf fans. At Pinehurst, a statue of Stewart's celebration will forever be a reminder of that moment.

Sergio Garcia didn't win the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, but he certainly won over the galleries at the Chicago area course. The 19-year-old, known then as "El Nino," led after a first-round 66 and battled Tiger Woods hole for hole on the final 18. His brilliant shot around a tree Sunday on the 16th and his skip down the fairway that followed are two of the most memorable moments in the event's history. However, Woods, who held a 2-shot co-lead entering Sunday, was steady. He took every blow from Garcia, and came out a 1-shot winner. Despite the second-place finish, though, Garcia's star was born that weekend. 

The aforementioned Tiger Woods was already a star looking to become the first back-to-back PGA Championship winner since Denny Shute in 1936-37. Bob May  was a relatively unknown journeyman without a PGA Tour victory. Yet, their final-round duel in 2000 at this famed Louisville track was one of the best in the history of any major. Both golfers shot 31s on the back nine Sunday, but Woods, thanks to his famed point toward his successful birdie putt on the first playoff hole, claimed the repeat. But May certainly gave him all -- and more -- he could handle along the way.

A third major title for South African star Ernie Els was his first at the Open Championship. However, Els had to seriously work the Claret Jug, competing in a four-player, four-hole playoff with Thomas Levet, Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby. It eventually went to sudden death between Levet and Els, where the former bogeyed the opening hole. Els, meanwhile, knocked his shot from a greenside bunker to within 5 feet of the cup, where he converted the putt for par and a historic victory at iconic Muirfield.

At age 33, Phil Mickelson was finally able to call himself a major champion. And it came at a place that would become like a second home to the left-handed star, whose image has certainly tarnished in recent years. In 2004, Mickelson needed a birdie on the 72nd hole at Augusta to edge Ernie Els for an emotional Masters victory. Perhaps no golfer in the history of the tournament had a bigger smile than Mickelson when he slid his arms into the green jacket with the major monkey entirely off his back.

Perhaps it's not right to say that Geoff Ogilvy backed into the 2006 U.S. Open title. Ogilvy's solid play late in the final round put him in position to win at Winged Foot. However, the event is probably most memorable for big-name contenders   Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie all failing to par the final hole, thus tying for second while Ogilvy stole the championship for his lone major. In particular, Mickelson, seeking a third consecutive major victory and first at the U.S. Open, had an adventurous 72nd hole. His tee shot on 18 landed near a hospitality tent, his second hit a tree, his third found a bunker, and his fourth rolled off the green and into the rough. He missed the chip for bogey and a tie, thus making double-bogey for the fourth of his six runner-up U.S. Open finishes. 

By 2007, Sergio Garcia was a bona fide star, but still searching for his first major championship. At Carnoustie in 2007, Garcia, who carded a 65 on Thursday, led by two strokes after each of the first two rounds, and by three after 54 holes. However, a wild final round ended with a 73 for Garcia, courtesy of a lipped-out putt on the 72nd hole, and a playoff date with  Padraig Harrington, who began Sunday six shots off the lead. In the end, Harrington prevailed by a stroke in the playoff to claim his first major title.  

Playing with a broken leg and ACL tear, Tiger Woods sank perhaps the most memorable 12-foot putt in the history of the U.S. Open -- on the 72nd hole to force a Monday playoff with  Rocco Mediate. That putt sent the gallery into a frenzy and  Tiger into the most famous celebratory reaction of his storied career. Woods actually needed 19 holes the next day to top Mediate for what would be his last major victory until the 2019 Masters. The overall drama, and length of the tournament, made it one for the ages. Not to mention the journeyman Mediate having his moment of glory amid a valiant effort.

There was plenty of drama on the last day of the Masters in 2012. First, on the second hole, South African  Louis Oosthuizen clubbed a 4-iron from 253 yards out for a rare albatross two on the par 5   to take the lead. Oosthuizen eventually found himself in a playoff with Bubba Watson . And, on the second hole of that playoff, stuck in the trees and playing off the pine needles, Watson stuck a blind shot within a short putt of the hole. He converted the par putt for an emotional victory, and the first of two Masters titles for the young man who attended the University of Georgia.

Perhaps the real story of Chambers Bay's U.S. Open debut was the toughness of the course (especially on Sunday), complaints from golfers and fans alike, and the sometimes challenging elements of the Pacific Northwest. However, there was actually some entertaining golf played at the tournament. Jordan Spieth won his second major of 2015, but began the final round in a four-way tie for the lead. By the 16th, Spieth and Branden Grace shared the lead. But, after a three-shot swing gave Spieth a two-stroke lead, he was a victim of the same swing and the two were tied again after 17. However, Spieth birdied 18 to go ahead. Still, Dustin Johnson had an eagle putt on the 18th to win, but three-putted from 12 feet to finish second.

We touched on Sergio Garcia's near miss at the 1999 PGA Championship, but it would be nearly a decade later that he could finally call himself a major champion. At the 2017 Masters, "El Nino" no more, the 37-year-old Garcia finally had his moment in the major sun. In his 74th major competition, Garcia outlasted Justin Rose in a playoff -- after an intense back-and-forth final round -- to earn the green jacket and get that major monkey off his back.

Not too different from Jack Nicklaus's 1986 Masters win, Tiger Woods' return to glory came at Augusta in 2019. Outlasting the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele, Woods dramatically won the Masters by one stroke that year. It was Woods' first major championship victory in 11 years and the fifth time he slipped on the green jacket. At 43 years old, Tiger also became the second-oldest winner of the event. It was one of the more emotional moments for Woods and even some golf fans.

It wasn't the prettiest of final Sundays for a champion, but when the dust settled at Bethpage's daunting Black Course, Brooks Koepka, who entered the final round with a 7-shot lead, had defended his 20218 PGA Championship. Of course, he avoided a complete collapse despite bogeying five of the final eight holes, to beat Dustin Johnson, who bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes, by two strokes to win his fourth major tournament. 

The COVID-delayed 2021 Open Championship at St. Andrews concluded with a 1-2 punch by the Camerons -- Smith vs. Young. Now, the Old Course proved no match for the field, as Smith rallied from four shots back, courtesy of a final-round 64 (featuring eight birdies), to win the event at 20-under par. Young's eagle on 18 made things interesting, as did third-round co-leader Rory McIlroy's posting just two birdies on Sunday to add to the overall drama. 

The emotional roller coaster that was the final few holes -- and playoff -- before Rory McIlroy won the Masters and became the sixth golfer to win the career grand slam, was draining for anybody who watched. The tournament was McIlroy's to win in regulation. That stellar fairway shot led to a birdie on the 17th to take the lead. But, he pushed his approach on 18 and found a greenside bunker. His out was solid, but McIlroy stunningly missed the par putt and fell into a 72-hole tie with Justin Rose, who carded a Sunday 66. In the playoff, McIlroy redeemed himself with a wedge shot to within roughly four feet of the cup on the opening hole. After Rose missed his birdie putt, McIlroy made his, and the weight of his grand slam world was off his shoulder.