Five of the Greatest Upsets in PGA Championship History
The PGA Championship has a habit of making unlikely heroes. Unlike the Masters, which often crowns legends, or the U.S. Open, which frequently exposes the unprepared, the PGA has a soft spot for the unexpected. Every once in a while, the script gets thrown out. Some of the most memorable moments in the tournament’s history didn’t come from the game’s biggest stars — they came from the ninth alternate, the winless journeyman, the player who had no business being there.
Here are five of the greatest upsets the PGA has ever seen.
For Tiger Woods, winning a major with the 54-hole lead had become a formality. Fourteen times he had entered the final round in the lead. Fourteen times he had walked off with the trophy. Most of his rivals had accepted that chasing Tiger on a Sunday was an exercise in futility.
Y.E. Yang didn’t get the memo.
At Hazeltine National in 2009, Woods carried a two-shot lead into the final round. The gallery expected a coronation. Yang, a 37-year-old from South Korea with only one PGA Tour win to his name, was supposed to be a footnote. But on the back nine, Yang played with a calm that belied the moment. The turning point came at the par-4 14th, where Yang holed a spectacular chip from short of the green for an eagle, flipping a one-shot deficit into a one-shot lead.
Yang never flinched after that. A clutch birdie on 18 and a closing 70 secured a three-shot victory. Woods, rattled for the first time in his career, shot 75. The enormity of the moment was staggering: Yang had become the first Asian-born player to win a men’s major championship and, in the process, shattered what was once considered the most unbreakable record in golf. Woods was 14‑0 when leading a major after 54 holes. Now he was 14‑1.
The story of John Daly at the 1991 PGA Championship is so improbable it sounds like a movie script.
Before the tournament began at Crooked Stick, Daly had one goal: make the cut. As the ninth alternate, he didn’t even have a tee time until Wednesday night, when a series of last‑minute player withdrawals finally gave him a spot in the field.
Daly had never seen the course. He had no caddie (he found one, a local named Jeff “Squeaky” Medlin, in the parking lot). He had barely any money. But he had power — raw, almost obscene power. He bombed drives over doglegs that other players didn’t dare cut. While the established stars played for position, Daly played for glory. Over four days, a 25‑year‑old rookie who started the week as an afterthought shot 276 (12‑under) and won by three strokes.
He didn’t just win the tournament. He announced a new kind of golfer to the world — one who didn’t practice three hours a day, didn’t follow the script, and simply crushed the ball.
Tom Watson was at the peak of his powers in 1978. He already had six majors to his name, and after 54 holes of the PGA Championship at Oakmont, he held a commanding five‑shot lead over the field. A win seemed inevitable. Watson, after all, was the best front‑runner in the game.
Then came John Mahaffey.
Mahaffey started the final round seven shots behind Watson — a deficit that, in most major championships, was insurmountable. He played the round of his life, firing a 5‑under 66, while Watson stumbled. When the final putt dropped, Mahaffey had erased the entire deficit. The two were tied.
The playoff lasted only two holes. On the second extra hole, Mahaffey rolled in a 12‑foot birdie to claim his only major title.
Mahaffey still holds two PGA Championship records: highest opening round by a winner (75) and the greatest final‑round comeback (seven shots).
4. 1986: The Sunday That Wasn’t
Bob Tway’s victory at the 1986 PGA Championship is remembered today more for who lost than who won.
Greg Norman entered the final round carrying a four‑shot lead. It was the final major of the year, and “The Great White Shark” seemed poised to add another trophy to his incredible season. But as he had done earlier in the year at the Masters and would do again at the U.S. Open, Norman collapsed down the stretch.
Tway, meanwhile, played steady, unspectacular golf. He birdied the par‑5 13th and saved par with a tough chip on 17 to keep himself within striking distance. On the final hole, with Norman struggling, Tway stepped into a fairway bunker, took a swing, and watched his ball fly straight into the cup for a closing birdie.
He shot 70. Norman shot 76. Another Norman collapse. Another PGA Championship for an unlikely winner.
Keegan Bradley’s first major championship was pure chaos.
With three holes to play at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Bradley faced a seemingly insurmountable five‑shot deficit. On the par‑3 15th, his tee shot found the water. He made a triple‑bogey. The gallery winced. His chances were as good as dead.
What followed is one of the wildest finishing stretches in major history.
Bradley refused to quit. He birdied 16, then rolled in a 35‑foot birdie putt on 17 to pull himself back into contention. Behind him, the leader, Jason Dufner, began to unravel — making bogey on 15 and 16, followed by a three‑putt bogey on 17. The two finished tied, forced into a three‑hole playoff.
Bradley, riding the momentum of his improbable rally, seized control early in the playoff and never looked back. After taking a quick lead, he sealed his first major championship.
Some of the game’s most famous names — Nicklaus, Woods, Watson — have won this tournament. But the PGA Championship has always reserved a special place for the unexpected. The ninth alternate. The winless journeyman. The player trailing by five shots with three holes to play. These aren’t footnotes. They are the reason we believe anything can happen.
At Tiger Cliff, performance isn’t measured by a player’s résumé. It’s measured by what happens when they step onto the course.
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Matt
Tiger Cliff Golf
P.S. Every great upset starts the same way: someone refused to believe the odds. That mindset works on any course.
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