posted August 10, 2009 at 16:59 EST in Golf Articles
Best Moments in USPGA Championship 1998 – 2008
Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson will tee it up at the Hazeltine Course in Minnesota this week for the 2009 USPGA Championship.
Like all majors, the USPGA is ripe with history. So much history in fact that to write all of it down in one article would be impossible to do. So, instead of doing that, I’ll just go ahead and give readers a run down of what has happened in the past ten years in the final major of the year.
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USPGA Championship 1998 – 2008
1998
Two players who could show up big time this week at Hazeltine had it all to themselves in the 1998 USPGA. Vijay Singh, the master golfer from Fiji, and Steve Stricker, ranked second in 2009 in the FedEx Cup Standings after Tiger Woods, battled it out for victory with Singh winning by two strokes -9 to -7.
1999
This was a fantastic tournament with Tiger Woods beating Sergio Garcia by a single stroke, -11 to -10 to win the championship. Sergio was a teenager at the time and his antic riled and entertained many a golf fan during this tournament. The thought that a rivalry would burgeon from this tournament was short lived as Tiger went on to dominate golf while Garcia wasn’t competitive in a major again until 2008.
2000
Tiger repeated in 2000 at the Valhalla Golf Course in Louisville, Kentucky by beating Bob May in a playoff. May was on the cusp of a fantastic upset but like many times before, Woods simply proved to be too tough. Tom Watson and Fred Funk, two guys who are dominating the Senior Tour in 2009, finished tied with Phil Mickelson for 10th in this tournament.
2001
At the Athletic Club in Atlanta, David Toms beat Phil Mickelson by a single stroke, -15 to -14, to win the USPGA. Mickelson shot three 66’s in a row before shooting a final round 68. Even though he outshot Toms by a stroke in that 4th round, it wasn’t enough for the victory. Strangely, 11 out of the top 12 finishers at this PGA Championship were Americans with only Shingo Katayama breaking into the top 12.
2002
2002 was the last time the PGA Championship was played at Hazeltine, the site of the 2009 USPGA. Tiger Woods looked to be a winner, but was beaten by a stroke by Rich Beem. It was Beem’s second lifetime victory on the PGA Tour after the 1999 Kemper Open. Beem’s claim to fame had been the subject of a book, Bud, Sweat and Tees: A Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour by Alan Shipnuck, and hasn’t done anything of note since the 2002 victory.
2003
Another underdog, Shaun Micheel, won the 2003 PGA Championship when he beat Chad Campbell by 3 strokes. In fact, Micheel, Campbell, Tim Clark and Alex Cejka might make up the unlikeliest four men to ever make up a top four in USPGA history. The 2003 PGA Championship remains Micheel’s only victory on the PGA Tour.
2004
Vijay Singh took down his second USPGA title when he beat Justin Leonard and Chris DeMarco in a three man playoff. Singh would go on to win the FedEx Cup in 2008, but he hasn’t won a major since 2004.
2005
Phil Mickelson broke through with a second major victory in 2005 when he won the PGA Championship. He finished a stroke ahead of both Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington. Tiger Woods tied for fourth in 2005.
2006
Woods held off Shaun Micheel, who was looking for another incredible upset in the USPGA, by 5 strokes tow in the 2006 PGA Championship. It was Tiger’s 3rd USPGA victory and the 12th major victory of his career.
2007
It didn’t take Tiger long to win his 4th PGA Championship when he beat Woody Austin by 2 strokes in the USPGA. Tiger won his 13th major title in the 2007 PGA and any talk of a rival was plain ridiculous at that point. Woods owned golf after this victory.
2008
With Tiger Woods on the bench because of a bum knee, Padraig Harrington took it to Sergio Garcia in the final round of the 2008 USPGA and beat the Spaniard by 2 strokes. It was Harrington’s second major in a row as he had won the British Open about a month before the PGA Championship.
