My six favourite PGA Championships

The PGA Championship has produced many moments of drama, heartbreak and sublime golf over the years. Here are my six favourites.

Xander Schauffele, 2024

It was meant to be one of the most fearsome major courses on the planet but Valhalla in 2024 turned out to be a pussy cat, with players making birdies for fun. But for the thick end of four days we watched some truly remarkable golf from Bryson DeChambeau. Of course he drove the ball vast distances and of course he made a bucketload of birdies but there were also some truly mind-boggling recovery shots. And the thing that stood out above all else was the way he engaged with the galleries. Like all of us watching at home, they were spellbound. In the end, Xander Schauffele would win with a scarcely-credible total of 263, a mind-boggling 21 under par. And in a terrific act of sportsmanship, the first man to greet him as he came off the final green and congratulate him was DeChambeau.

John Daly, 1991

Nobody who witnessed the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick will ever forget the performance of a certain John Daly. An unknown, he was a ninth alternate and only got into the field when Nick Price withdrew after the birth of his child. Daly was like a breath of fresh air, hitting vast drives with his huge swing and holing putts from all over the place for four days. And when he did miss fairways he was able to muscle incredible recovery shots. It looked like a superstar had been born. Sadly, he would win just one more major, the 1995 Open at St Andrews and would spend most of his life battling addictions. But for that week in August he was a superstar. There was also a footnote to his victory. A spectator, Thomas Weaver, died after being struck by lightning during a weather delay in the first round. Daly donated $30,000 to Weaver's family for a college fund. Both daughters went on to graduate from college and one is now a doctor.

Y.E. Yang, 2009

Back in 2009, when Tiger Woods took the 54-hole lead in a major then nobody was going to beat him. Nobody. So imagine the disbelief when South Korea’s Y.E. Yang did precisely that at Hazeltine. He began the day two shots behind Woods and would go on to outplay the American, winning by three shots with a total of 280, eight under par. The victory was the first major championship for a male player born in Asia, surpassing the runner-up finishes achieved by Lu Liang-Huan (Mr Lu) in the 1971 Open, Isao Aoki at the 1980 US Open and Chen Tae-chung at the 1985 US Open. The previous best finish by a Korean was KJ Choi's third place at the 2004 Masters. It was also the first (and only) time that Woods had failed to win a major after holding at least a share of the lead at the end of 54 holes. Yang was ranked 110th in the world at the time.

Bob Tway, 1986

It is fair to say that Greg Norman suffered more than his fair share of heartbreak in the majors. There was Larry Mize holing THAT chip to deny him The Masters, there was his meltdown in 1996 when he somehow managed to throw away a six-shot lead as his nemesis, Nick Faldo, produced a flawless final round of 67 and there were several others where poor play in the final round proved costly. But one of the hardest for Norman to take must surely have been the 1986 PGA Championship at Inverness. Heavy rain on Sunday stopped play for the day in mid-afternoon. In the final group, Norman and Bob Tway completed just one hole of their final round and resumed play on Monday afternoon. Norman started with a four-shot lead. After a double bogey at the 11th and a bogey at the 14th, the two were tied. They parred the next three holes and were tied on the 72nd tee. Tway put his approach shot in a greenside bunker, while Norman was just off the green on the fringe, 25 feet from the hole. And then Tway improbably holed out for birdie. Needing to hole to tie, Norman hit a clumsy shot and also missed his par putt. He led all four majors in 1986 after the third round, but won only The Open.

Padraig Harrington, 2008

When the conversation turns to the best European golfers of all time, Padraig Harrington often gets overlooked but he won The Open in 2007 and successfully defended the Claret Jug the following year and when he arrived at Oakland Hills for the PGA Championship he was arguably the best golfer on the planet. He was certainly the hardest worker. He opened with rounds of 74 and 71 and wasn’t really in contention but a third round of 66 changed all that and he trailed 54-hole-leader Ben Curtis by just three shots in what was a weather-hit tournament. And he would claim his second consecutive major, finishing two ahead of Curtis and Sergio Garcia after another 66. He was three behind at one point but a flurry of birdies changed all of that and he holed crucial putts at each of the final three holes, including an 18-footer on the last to clinch the title. Sadly, Garcia lacked grace in defeat but nothing could detract from Harrington’s wonderful play.

Tiger Woods, 1999

This was memorable not so much for the play of Woods but for the swashbuckling challenge of a 19-year-old Sergio Garcia. It was held at Medinah, which later become famous as the scene of an unlikely European fightback in the Ryder Cup. This was a time when Woods was truly emerging as the dominant force in the game and making everybody sit up and take notice. He looked untouchable. But it was García's outgoing antics during the tournament that captured the imagination of many golf fans and he shared the lead after opening with a 66. He followed it with a 74 and trailed Jay Haas by four - and Woods by two. After three rounds Woods and Mike Weir were tied for the lead on 205, with Garcia two shots adrift. Woods would go on to hold off the young Spaniard by a solitary shot. But the shot that everybody remembers was played by Garcia from the base of a tree at the 16th. He admitted that he closed his eyes and hoped for the best and he then bounded down the fairway trying to follow the progress of the ball. A new young star was born.