1. 2000 PGA Championship
Valhalla Golf Club
Louisville, Kentucky
Having already won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes and the British Open by eight that year, Tiger Woods needed to go extra holes with Bob May to win his third straight major in what would become the third leg of his “Tiger Slam.” Woods led by one stroke entering the final round at Valhalla, but despite a 31 on the back nine and shooting 67 for the day, he couldn’t shake May.
Indeed, Woods had to can a birdie putt at 18 to force a three-hole aggregate playoff. Woods walked in his birdie putt at 16 – the first playoff hole – with a memorable finger point at the hole and got up and down from a bunker at 18 to become the first man since Denny Shute in 1937 to successfully defend his title at the PGA.
Given the high drama of Woods being taken to the limit and beyond and its historical significance – Woods also became the first man since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a single season – the 2000 PGA goes down as the greatest PGA of the last 30 years and quite possibly of all-time.
“We never backed off from one another, birdie for birdie, shot for shot, we were going right after each other,” Woods said. “It has to go down as one of the best duels in the game in major championships.”
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