Top 5 Major Golf Chokes

As all golfers know, there are only four tournaments that really matter when measuring the greatness of any successful professional player; the Majors. The US Masters, Open, US Open and the US PGA Championship are the holy grails of golf to winning just one will etch your name into golf’s history books. Perhaps then, it comes as no surprise that to be leading in a Major in the final round applies a certain amount of pressure. Some players deal with that pressure better than others while some of the lucky ones like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods seem to enjoy it. Of course, there have also been those who seem to completely buckle when the pressure mounts going into the final nine holes, and whether it results in a bad drive or a missed putt, the results can often be devastating.

Unfortunately Rory McIlroy had such an experience on Sunday in the final round of the Masters. Leading by four going into the final round McIlroy was struggling with his putter but still clinging to a one shot lead as he made the turn. Then it happened. One bad tee shot at the 10^th hole and everything came crashing down around him. Suddenly his putting wasn’t the only concern; as his long game, which had been imperious over the first three rounds, also faltered. Following his nightmare on the 10^th, Rory sunk even further over the next few holes and eventually finished with 80 blows; 15 shots more than his opening round! Players who have suffered from his type of collapse in a Major have often failed to recapture their best form; such is the damage that can be done by coming unstuck in such gutting circumstances. McIlroy though, has all the talent in the world and certainly has time on his side, which leads us to believe hill will pop his Major cherry in the not too distant future.

Following McIlroy’s collapse we take you through the Top 5 Major Chokes starting at number 5.

5 ) Phil Mickelson, US Open, 2006.

Phil Mickelson has long carried the tag of the ‘best player never to win a major’. As exciting as his cavalier approach to the game is, it certainly seemed that if he just reined it in a tad, it would make the difference. After years spent defending the way he played, he finally listened to his critics and opted for sensible shots when they were called for…some of the time! This decision paid off and saw him win a flurry of Majors starting with his maiden win at Augusta in 2004.

Coming into the 2006 US Open, Mickelson was searching for his fourth major, and his third in a row. Phil played his way into contention on the final day; a day that would see him hit driver far too often considering his position at the head of the field. On countless occasions we have seen players like Tiger Woods, leading in the final round of a major, playing safe and sensible; only taking risks when it is absolutely necessary. Mickelson spent the day hitting his driver all over the Winged Foot and rather than changing tactics and hitting three wood, he persisted. Thanks largely to his spectacular short game, he found himself with a one shot advantage on the 18^th. Foolishly he pulled the driver from his bag again on the 18^th and again hit a wild shot that hit the roof of a hospitality tent, leaving his line to the green blocked by trees. The old Mickelson chose the next shot as well. Rather than taking the safe option of laying up and trying to make par for the win, the big lefty attempted a low, slicing shot under and around the trees. It didn’t work and after attempting the same shot again he found himself with an impossible up and down from a bunker. He would go on to make a double bogey and not even make it into a playoff. “I’m such an idiot,” he said when being interviewed after the round. There are plenty who would agree.

4 ) Thomas Bjorn, The Open, 2003.

Thomas Bjorn had decided to reconstruct his swing only a month before the Open in 2003 and it looked as if it was going to reap immediate rewards. Bjorn played some of the best golf of his life and certainly equally as well as anyone else in the field that week. In the 44 holes that preceded the 15^th in his final round he had only made two bogeys. This stat is impressive enough until you add in the fact that it was in the Open, on a sun baked Royal St Georges. However, unless you have blitzed the field, like Tiger Woods did in the 97 Masters and 2000 US Open, playing your best stuff doesn’t make you a shoe in for a major golf championship. Bjorn found a pot bunker on the 15^th and had to play out sideways before his approach shot to the green. He made a bogey but still had a two shot lead going into the last three holes. What happened next was another example of a golfing collapse that is, in all honesty, difficult to even watch!

Bjorn found the greenside bunker on the par 3 16^th and faced a bunker shot that on any other day would have been straight forward for a man on top of his game. Bjorn didn’t make a complete hash of the shot but got a little too greedy in trying to knock it stiff. The ball reached the top of one of the subtle slopes and agonisingly stopped and put itself in reverse, ending up back at the Danes feet. Attempt no. 2 saw a carbon copy of the previous shot and Bjorn had managed to find the same bunker, on the same hole, a staggering three times. When it was over, Bjorn walked to 17 with a double-bogey 5, his lead swallowed up by the sand. When he made bogey at the next hole, his first major championship was gone, too.

3 ) Jean Van de Velde, The Open, 1999.

As a journeyman golfer who few had even heard of, Jean Van de Velde found himself standing on the 18^th tee of the Championship Course at Carnoustie with a three shot lead meaning a double bogey would see him win the Claret Jug. Even an ordinary single figure handicap golfer would feel fairly confident of completing said task. With commentators calling for a sensible three iron off the tee, the golfing world gasped when the driver came out of the bag for one last hoorah. It wasn’t to be though and the Frenchman found the rough off the tee. No problems though; just hit a wedge short of the Barry Burn and go from there. That wasn’t good enough for Van de Velde though as he went straight for the green. Instead he managed to hit a big block and the ball cannoned into the grandstand and luckily came to rest in the thick rough short of the Barry Burn. He then agonisingly chunked his next approach shot into the water…we all know what happened next. As he climbed into the water to consider playing the ball, Peter Alliss was begging for the Frenchman to take a drop. Mercifully he did, ending up making a brave up and down for a triple bogey 7, which saw him in a playoff…which he lost. This was the ultimate lesson in course management. Unfortunately Van de Velde never recovered from his tribulations at Carnoustie and his best form was stuck firmly in the past.

2 ) Greg Norman, US Masters, 1996.

Greg Norman is one of the most successful golfers to ever play the game and is a two time major winner. However, despite his amazing success, he is more likely go down in history as golf’s biggest choker. The Masters was the one he wanted the most and it managed to continually elude him. In 1986 Norman fell victim to an outrageous back nine charge from the one and only Jack Nicklaus. In 1988 the shark again found himself in the position of bridesmaid when he was defeated in a playoff courtesy of a 140 foot wonder chip from Larry Mize. It’s clear that neither of these losses came from bad play from Norman but the same cannot be said of his final day at the Masters in 1996.

Ten years on from Nicklaus’ famous charge Norman started the final round six shots clear of second placed Nick Faldo. An opening bogey set the stage for what was to follow. Arriving at the 9^th hole Norman had already dropped a couple of shots and Faldo was creeping up behind, playing steady golf. At the 9^th Norman hit what looked like a good approach shot but unfortunately, his ball pitched six feet short of the hole and had far too much spin on it. It was painful to watch as Normans ball slowly descended back down the hill. He would fail to make par and his lead suddenly looked far too precarious. Faldo gained further still at the next hole and the players both hit nice approach shots into the difficult 11^th. Norman three putted from no more than ten feet and all of a sudden the players were tied. Hitting balls into the water at the 12^th and 16^th saw Faldo surge into a comfortable lead. Somehow Norman, who had shot the course record on Thursday, had turned his six shot lead into a five shot deficit. Considering his previous history of bad luck at the event, it was a popular opinion that Norman deserved a win at the Masters but as it turned out this was the mother of all Masters downfalls.

1 ) Arnold Palmer, US Open, 1966.

Arnold ‘Arnie’ Palmer held a four shot lead over Billy Casper going into the final round of the 1966 US Open. By the end of the front nine, he had stretched that lead to seven shots and looked a dead cert to go on to win the US Open. Casper made a move on the back nine but Arnie still held a commanding five shot lead with only four holes to go. He gave up four shots through the 15^th and 16^th holes and another at the 17^th. In the blink of an eye the two were tied going up the last. Both players made the same score at 18 and an 18 hole playoff was in the offing.

Palmer held a two shot lead going into the last eight holes. It was unthinkable that a player of Palmer’s stature would surrender another lead in a major. But the unthinkable happened and he gave up another 6 shots to Casper who eventually won by four. It might seem harsh to describe Arnie’s final round of 71 as a collapse; but this was one of the true greats of the game…and he blew a seven shot lead over the last nine holes.