Are These The Most Unlikely Winners of Golf's Majors

IT IS fair to say that not many people predicted that Brian Harman was going to win the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

The American is a quiet, unassuming individual who compiles top-10 finishes for fun but had only won twice on the PGA TOUR. But for four days at Hoylake everything clicked into place for the 36-year-old. He found fairways, hit superb iron shots and putted like a dream to destroy a world-class field.

When galleries turn up to watch majors they expect to see the game’s elite competing for the sport’s biggest prizes. Normally, they are not disappointed, but over the years there have been plenty of major champions who came from nowhere to win.

Here, we look at just a few of them. One thing you will notice is that a fair share of them achieved their moments of glory at the US PGA Championship. This may have something to do with the fact that, by common consent, it is the major that boasts the weakest field.

Jack Fleck, US Open, 1955

Fleck's victory at the US Open may well be golf’s biggest ever shock. He was a 32-year-old municipal course pro from Iowa and he defeated none other than the legendary Ben Hogan in an 18-hole payoff. He rubbed salt into the wounds by using club made by Hogan’s company. Hogan had won the US Open four times and was going for a record fifth success, but Fleck denied him and Hogan never came close again. Fleck would go on to win two PGA Tour titles but never looked like winning another major.

Jay Hebert, US PGA, 1960

Jay Hebert had never won a major, but when the opportunity presented itself in 1960 at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, he did not let it slip away. Hebert got himself into trouble when he double-bogeyed the 10th hole, but he birdied two of the final four holes to land his only major by a single stroke. With the victory, Hebert joined his brother Lionel Hebert (1957) as the only siblings to win the PGA Championship.

Al Geiberger, US PGA, 1966

Geiberger was famous for being the first man to shoot the magical 59 on the PGA TOUR nut at the 1966 PGA Championship at the Firestone Country Club, the man from California found himself tied with the legendary Sam Snead at the end of the first round. Geiberger remained in contention after two rounds, and when he fired a 68 in the third round, he led by four going into the final round. Geiberger bogeyed three of the first four holes in the final round but he .  birdied the fifth hole, and went on to win the only major of his career. He later put it down to a peanut butter sandwich he ate on the fifth tee

Orville Moody, US Open, 1969

This was a proper shock. To say that Moody was no household name is an understatement. He was an ex US Army sergeant who came to golf late in life and discovered that he had an aptitude for the game. But at a time when the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Tony Jacklin were dominating the game, nobody gave him a second thought at the US Open - other than defending champion Lee Trevino, who had tipped him to win. Moody, aged 35, had other ideas, however, and went out and beat a world-class field at Cypress Creek after coming through local and regional qualifying. It was his only PGA Tour success.

John Mahaffey, US PGA, 1978

With 14 holes to playing the 1978 PGA Championship  at Oakmont Country Club, John Mahaffey trailed Tom Watson by seven strokes. However, Mahaffey played scintillating golf, while Watson endured one of the most inconsistent final rounds of his career. By the end of 72 holes, Mahaffey, Watson and Jerry Pate were tied for the lead and went to a playoff. After all three players settled for par on the first sudden-death hole, Mahaffey ended the drama by holing a 12-foot birdie putt to win. It was a victory that denied Watson all four Grand Slam titles.

Jeff Sluman, US PGA, 1988

Like Harman, Jeff Sultan was a slight figure, standing just 5ft 7in tall and weighing 140lbs. But at the 1988 PGA Championship at Oak Tree Golf Club he played sensational golf through the first three rounds, and he was just three strokes behind Paul Azinger at the start of the final round and sitting in third place. Sluman caught fire in the final round with a 65 that was good enough to win the tournament. It was his first tour victory and the only major triumph of his career.

John Daly, US PGA, 1991

Daly famously had to drive through the night to get to Crooked Stick after a number of withdrawals gave him a place in the field. Nobody had ever heard of him, but they knew all about him after four days of the most sensational golf. He hit the ball mile, with a huge backswing. What’s more, he found plenty of fairways. And he putted like a god. Daly would go on to win The Open four years later, but Crooked Stick was his finest hour and his victory stunned the world of golf.

Paul Lawrie, The Open, 1999

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

The Scot had won several tournaments on the European Tour and was making a decent living. But a major contender? Never. And then came an extraordinary day in July at Carnoustie. Lawrie began the final round trailing by TEN shots. In trying conditions, eh shot a wondrous final round of 67. He finished long before Jean Van de Velde, who appeared to be cruising towards the Claret Jug. Lawrie’s coach, Adam Hunter, told the player he should hang around. Van de Velde came to the final hole needing a six to win. He ended up having to hole a brave putt for a seven. It meant he, Lawrie and Justin Leonard were tied and had to head off for a four-hole playoff. Van de Velde was shot to pieces and Lawrie sealed the deal with a glorious shot to the final green. It was his one and only major.

Rich Beem, US PGA, 2002

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Beem became so disillusioned with golf that he ended up selling car sound systems. But he decided to give it another crack and in 2002 he upset the applecart by winning the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine. He shot a par 72 in the first round, but followed that with a six-under 66 in the second round to pull into a five-way tie for first place. In the third round, he again shot 72 and found himself three behind Justin Leonard. In the fourth round, Beem held off Tiger Woods, who birdied his last four holes but finished one shot behind Beem, who shot a final round 68 to Woods' 67. Beem never won another tournament and now plies his trade as a Sky Sports TV commentator and analyst.

Shaun Micheel, US PGA, 2003

Micheel only ever won a solitary mainstream tournament - and it came at the 2003 US PGA Championship at Oak Hill. It was his 164th PGA Tour start, and his odds were 250-1. In the first two rounds, he shot 69-68 (−3) to take a two-shot lead over Billy Andrade and Mike Weir.  A third round 69 put him at −4, tied for the lead with Chad Campbell, and three ahead of Weir.  He shot a par 70 in the final round to defeat Campbell by two strokes. Three years later he was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the same event.

Ben Curtis, The Open, 2003

Ben who? Curtis no longer plays competitively and there are those who will tell you that he spent most of his career failing to play competitively. But for four days in July 2003 at Royal St George’s he defied his odds of 300-1, shooting rounds of 72, 72, 70 and 69 to win as Thomas Bjorn came to grief in a green side bunker. At the beginning of that week he was ranked 396th in the world and he ended the year being named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He was the first man since Francis Ouimet in the 1913 US Open to win on his major debut, and was the lowest-ranked player to win a major since official world rankings were first calculated.

Todd Hamilton, The Open, 2004

You wait years for a surprise Open champion and then they come along like buses. Hamilton was 38 when he finally earned his PGA Tour card in 2003. He had made a good living in Japan, winning several times. His first victory came at the 2004 Honda Classic but he was a massive outsider at that year’s Open at Royal Troon, where he caused one of the sport’s biggest upsets, defeating Ernie Els in a four-hole playoff. After shooting an opening round 71, Hamilton fired a second round 67 to move to -4 and a fifth-place tie with Els, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie and Michael Campbell. He added another 67 in the third round to lead Els by a shot. Entering the tournament's 72nd hole, Hamilton held a one-shot lead over Els, but Hamilton bogeyed the 18th hole, leaving Els with a 12-foot birdie putt for the win, which he missed. Els and Hamilton headed for the four-hole aggregate playoff, in which Hamilton carded four pars while Els managed three pars and a bogey, and Hamilton took the win, the last of his career.

Michael Campbell, US Open, 2005

The New Zealander had come close to winning The Open at St Andrews some years earlier but was more famous for a rollercoaster career that was punctuated by some incredible highs and some awful lows. His victory at the 2005 US Open was most definitely the highlight. And the biggest surprise. Nobody saw it coming - and that probably included Campbell. He qualified through sectional qualifying at Walton Heath, holing a six-foot birdie putt to secure his place. Campbell ended the third round four strokes behind defending champion Retief Goosen. The South African had an 81 in the final round. Campbell shot a 69, seeing off the challenge of Tiger Woods on a day of monumental scoring. He won by two shots, carding an even par of 280. In 2015 he retired, citing injury and personal issues, but has now returned to play senior golf.

YE Yang, US PGA, 2009

There were two surprises at the 2009 US PGA Championship. One was the name of the winner and the other was that the winner wasn’t Tiger Woods, who led after 54 holes. Tiger Woods led going into the final round of the year’s final major. He had come through leg surgery after winning the previous year’s US Open at Torrey Pines. Now here’s the thing - when Woods led going into the final round of a major he ALWAYS won. But on this occasion he proved that he was human after all. He hit a number of loose shots, while South Korean YE Yang kept his cool and went on to become the first man from that part of the world to win a major. He never came close again.

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