A capsule look at the six previous majors and one Ryder Cup held at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, where the 105th PGA Championship starts on Thursday:
Year: 1956
Event: U.S. Open
Winner: Cary Middlecoff
Score: 281
Runners-up: Julius Boros, Ben Hogan
Margin: 1 shot
Earnings: $6,000
Recap: Cary Middlecoff won his third and final major championship without ever breaking par in any of the rounds. He went into the final day two shots behind Peter Thomson and shot 70 in the third round to take a one-shot lead over Ben Hogan and Ted Kroll. Middlecoff closed with a 70 and then had to wait to see if it was enough. Hogan was going after a record fifth U.S. Open title. He was tied for the lead when he missed a 30-inch par putt on the 17th hole to slip one shot behind, and he failed to birdie the 18th. Julius Boros had a birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff, but it rattled the cup and stayed out.
Quote: “Nobody wins the Open. It wins you.” — Cary Middlecoff.
Year: 1968
Event: U.S. Open
Winner: Lee Trevino
Score: 275
Runner-up: Jack Nicklaus
Margin: 4 shots
Earnings: $30,000
Recap: Lee Trevino captured his first PGA Tour event in memorable fashion. He tied the U.S. Open record of 275 that Jack Nicklaus had set the previous year at Baltusrol, and he became the first player in any major championship to post all four rounds in the 60s. Trevino opened with rounds of 69-68-69, but that still left him one shot behind Bert Yancey, who set the U.S. Open record with a 54-hole total of 205. Yancey faded badly to a 76. Nicklaus, seven shots behind going into Sunday, charged with a 67. But it wasn’t enough to catch Trevino, who closed with a 69.
Quote: “I’m happy to win the Open. It will make me rich. I would get rich anyhow — some way or the other — but this will make me rich quicker.” — Lee Trevino.
Year: 1980
Event: PGA Championship
Winner: Jack Nicklaus
Score: 274
Runner-up: Andy Bean
Margin: 7 shots
Earnings: $60,000
Recap: The only other major Jack Nicklaus had an easier time winning was his nine-shot victory in the 1965 Masters. He didn’t take the lead until a 66 in the third round gave him a three-shot margin over Lon Hinkle, and Nicklaus sailed home to a seven-shot win by closing with a 69, one of only three sub-70s scores in the final round. Nicklaus joined Ben Hogan (1948) and Gene Sarazen (1922) as the only players to win the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in the same year. It was even more satisfying because Nicklaus was 40, supposedly past his prime for winning majors. He tied Walter Hagen with his fifth PGA Championship title, and it was his 17th career major. One more was to follow in the 1986 Masters.
Quote: “I played as fine a finishing round in a major as I’ve ever played.” — Jack Nicklaus.
Year: 1989
Event: U.S. Open
Winner: Curtis Strange
Score: 278
Runners-up: Chip Beck, Mark McCumber, Ian Woosnam
Margin: 1 shot
Earnings: $200,000
Recap: Curtis Strange became the first player since Ben Hogan in 1951 to win back-to-back in the U.S. Open, following his playoff win over Nick Faldo in 1988 at The Country Club. This time, he had to stage a Sunday rally. Strange shot 64 in the second round, only to fade to a 73 on Saturday as Tom Kite posted his third straight round in the 60s to build a three-shot lead. Kite collapsed on Sunday with a 78, and Strange took it from there. He made 15 straight pars before a birdie on the 16th hole. With a two-shot lead, he safely three-putted for bogey on the 18th for a 70.
Quote: “It’s not so much what Hogan did. It’s what others have not done. The great Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson have not won back-to-back Opens.” — Curtis Strange.
Year: 1995
Event: Ryder Cup
Winner: Europe
Score: 14 1/2-13 1/2
Runner-up: United States
Earnings: None
Recap: The tide was turning back toward the Americans, who were poised to win the Ryder Cup for the third straight year when Corey Pavin chipped in on the 18th and the United States built a 9-7 lead going into Sunday singles. Europe staged a mighty rally at Oak Hill, which some referred to as “Choke Hill” when it came to the Americans. Five matches went the distance. Europe won four of them and halved another. Philip Walton won the decisive point, but the key to Europe’s comeback was Nick Faldo. He was 1 down to Curtis Strange with two holes to play and won them both with pars. Faldo got up-and-down from 93 yards below the 18th green, making a 6-foot par putt. The win began a new era of European dominance. It went on to win the Ryder Cup eight of the next 10 times.
Quote: “That’s probably the best scrambling par I’ve ever made in my life.” — Nick Faldo.
Year: 2003
Event: PGA Championship
Winner: Shaun Micheel
Score: 276
Runner-up: Chad Campbell
Margin: 2 shots
Earnings: $1.08 million
Recap: Shaun Micheel had never finished higher than third in his six years on the PGA Tour. He was No. 169 in the world and winless in his 163 starts on the PGA Tour. Micheel and Chad Campbell shared the 54-hole lead. It came down to those two players. Campbell, three shots behind with four holes to play, cut the deficit to one shot going to the 18th and split the middle of the fairway. Micheel was 175 yards in the first cut of rough when he hit 7-iron that settled 2 inches from the cup to lock up the win. It turned out to be his only PGA Tour victory.
Quote: “I really can’t believe this is happening to me. I showed up here on Tuesday to play a practice round and saw how difficult the golf course was. I was just trying to make the cut. I probably would have been happy with that.” — Shaun Micheel.
Year: 2013
Event: PGA Championship
Winner: Jason Dufner
Score: 270
Runner-up: Jim Furyk
Margin: 3 shots
Earnings: $1.445 million
Recap: Jason Dufner earned redemption from his meltdown in the PGA Championship two years earlier, when he lost a four-shot lead late and then Keegan Bradley beat him in a playoff. Dufner shot 63 in the second round to take a two-shot lead. He went into the final round one shot behind Jim Furyk. Dufner closed with a 2-under 68 and won by three shots when Furyk bogeyed his last two holes.
Quote: “To come back from a couple of years ago in this championship when I lost to Keegan in a playoff, to win feels really, really good.” — Jason Dufner.
