Continuing with my buildup to next week’s PGA Championship, I have decided to focus on some of the biggest surprise winners in the recent history of the event. The PGA Championship is generally set up to be a more low-scoring affair, opening itself up to a wider variety of winners.
Moreover, the PGA Championship used to be the last major in the calendar (known colloquially as ‘Glory’s Last Shot’). Some of the elite players were possibly a bit jaded in the past renewals, leading to a spate of shock winners. To put it into context: nine players have won a major while ranked outside the top 100 in the world. Five of those wins have come at the PGA Championship (which doesn’t even include Rich Beem’s shock triumph). The decision to move the event to May has resulted in a slew of elite champions. Still, I thought it would be fun to traipse through the recent history of this event, pinpointing the Cinderella stories that have captivated the hearts of golfing fans the world over.
Sidenote: I have opted not to include Mickelson’s barely believable 2021 triumph at Kiawah Island. Sure, it was a real-life fairytale win for the 50-year-old legend. But Mickelson was a five-time major champ who knew how to get things down on championship Sundays. He doesn’t really fit into the profile of this list, which focuses more on pure surprise packages with little to no major pedigree to speak of.
5. Keegan Bradley (2011) – Atlanta Athletic Club
First time’s a charm
Dating all the way back to the 1860 Open Championship, only eight players have won in their first major appearance. That includes the likes of Willie Park Sr. and Francis Quimet, who won the first instalments of the Open and US Open respectively. Since the end of World War 2, only one player has won a major on debut: Keegan Bradley. Nephew of six-time women’s major winner Pat Bradley, future Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was already a tour winner when he teed it up at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2011. But nobody could have foreseen this type of breakthrough, with Bradley mounting a comeback for the ages after trailing by five strokes with three holes remaining. He eventually got the job done in a three-hole playoff with future champ Jason Dufner. In the process, the American rookie ended a streak of six consecutive majors without an American champion.
4. Yang Yong-eun (2009) – Hazeltine National Golf Club
Yang the Tiger-slayer
This was obviously an important moment in the history of golf, with the South Korean becoming the first Asian-born player to taste major championship glory. One can only imagine how much this victory did for the explosion of golf in the broader Asian region. But it’s perhaps best remembered for exposing the first chinks in Tiger’s seemingly ironclad armour, as the living icon threw away a 54-hole major lead for the first time in his glorious career. But let’s just focus on what then-World No.110 Yang did on that Sunday. Yang was exceptional with his long irons and hybrids on that fateful day, shaping a wonderful 3-hybrid around a tree and over a bunker to within about 10 feet of the cup on the 72nd hole. Yang struggled to replicate this level of success in the future, losing his full PGA Tour status in 2015. Still, he will always be the man who broke Tiger’s major championship spell.
3. Rich Beem (2002) – Hazeltine National Golf Club
The real-life Tin Cup
While he may not be quite as dashing as Kevin Costner, Rich Beem’s real-life Tin Cup narrative is as compelling as anything Hollywood could produce. Beem failed to break through during his first stint on the mini tours, leading him to quit the sport and move into selling car stereos and cell phones. Beem was apparently motivated to return to action after seeing fellow Texan J.P. Hayes win the 1998 Buick Classic. He established himself on the tour with victories at the 1999 Kemper Open and 2022 International. But few could have envisaged his heroics at Hazeltine. Beem played beautifully all week, withstanding a late birdie surge from peak-Tiger to win his lone major championship. He also created what the kids these days would cause a ‘viral moment’, doing an involuntary jig of delight after three-putting for victory.
2. Shaun Micheel (2003) – Oak Kills Country Club (East Course)
Journeyman reaches the ultimate destination
Ben Curtis was ranked 396th in the world when he won the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges. Were it not for his win, Shaun Micheel- at 169th in the world- would be the lowest-ranked player to ever win a major championship. His 2023 triumph at Oak Hills ended a three-year streak of shock winners (Toms and Beem being the others). The career journeyman navigated the tricky Oak Hills course expertly, shooting consistent rounds of 67-69-67-70. It was really the battle of the everyman on Sunday, with Micheel duelling Chad Campbell for the title. It was an engrossing back-and-forth battle, culminating in one of the most iconic finishes in PGA Championship history. Holding a slim one-shot lead, Micheel stuffed his 7-iron approach on the 72nd hole, putting it within two inches of the hole to secure the unlikeliest of victories.
1. John Daly (1991) – Crooked Stick Golf Club
A Wild Thing is born
People talk about a pre-Tiger and post-Tiger era (and rightly so). I think it’s fair to talk in the same terms about Wild Thing John Daly. The hard-drinking, hard-gambling renegade flew in the face of golfing convention, laying the foundation- for better or worse- for the modern era of professional golf. Daly wasn’t even supposed to compete at Crooked Stick, starting the week as 9th alternate before hurriedly driving to Indiana after Nick Price’s withdrawal. Can you think of two players more diametrically opposed than Daly and Price? Just imagine going to your sister’s place, only to find out at the last minute that she wasn’t dating Price anymore but had met this Daly fella in a bar somewhere. But I digress. Daly produced one of the all-time great major championship shocks, using his ‘grip it and rip it’ approach to win by three strokes. Sure, Daly would go on to win the Open at St Andrews a few years later. But he still only managed five PGA Tour victories in his career (which he would probably joke was one better than his divorce count).
