The 6 Biggest Comebacks In The History Of The PGA Championship

 

The list of golfers who’ve won the PGA Championship is filled with legends who helped cement that status by securing the Wanamaker Trophy. Some of those winners cruised to a victory, but there are more than a few who had to stage a sizeable comeback to emerge on top.

No golfers have pulled off a bigger comeback at the PGA Championship than these winners

The PGA Championship was held for the first time in 1916, and Jim Barnes earned the win in the inaugural edition of a tournament that harnessed a match play format for more than 40 years.

The major switched over to stroke play in 1958, and a number of golfers have managed to steamroll the competition en route to a fairly drama-free victory. However, the same cannot be said for the ones who found themselves facing a sizable deficit before surging to the top of the leaderboard on the final day of play.

Steve Elkington: 6 Shots

There are currently four golfers who headed into the final 18 holes of the PGA Championship down by exactly six strokes, and I’m going to kick things off with the most recent occurrence and work my way back.

That was the situation Steve Elkington found himself facing when the major was held at Riviera in 1995. He was sitting in a tie for fifth at -10, and Ernie Els was the man to beat at -16 and with a three-stroke margin on the rest of the field when play got underway on Sunday.

The Big Easy hadn’t shot above 66 that week, but things took a turn when he carded a one-over 72. He subsequently found himself one stroke out of the playoff we were treated to after Elkington surged with a 64 and ended up tied with Colin Montgomerie (who erased a five-shot hole of his own with a 65).

Both men reached the green in two on the first hole of their sudden-death showdown, but Montgomerie was unable to answer after his opponent sank a 20-foot putt for the birdie that clinched what ended up being his only major victory.

Payne Stewart: 6 Strokes

The late, great Payne Stewart had won four PGA Tour tournaments prior to his arrival at Kemper Lakes Golf Club for the 1989 PGA Championship, but he was still in search of his first major.

He got off to a rough start with a two-over 74 on Thursday, and it did not look like he was going to check that box when you consider he was sitting in a tie for 11th at -7 after three rounds (Mike Reid was the leader, and he also had a three-stroke lead on the field at -13).

However, Reid carded a 74 of his own as Stewart surged on the back nine with four birdies on his last five holes before heading into the clubhouse with a 67. The former was one of three golfers who finished in a tie for second at -11, and the latter eked out his first of three major wins by a single stroke.

Lanny Wadkins: 6 Strokes

Lanny Wadkins was nearly three years removed from his third (and most recent) victory on the PGA Tour when the PGA Championship unfolded at Pebble Beach in 1977. He was one of five guys in a tie for fourth at -4 after three rounds, but they had plenty of work to do when you consider Gene Littler sat in first place at -10 and Jack Nicklaus was the man in second at -6.

However, neither of them managed to shoot below par, and Wadkins was able to shave a couple of strokes off his score with a 70. That put him at -6, which is where Littler ended up after a fairly brutal round of 76, and the two of them headed to the first sudden-death playoff in the major’s Stroke Play Era (Nicklaus missed it by a single stroke).

They needed three holes to settle things after matching pars on the first two, and Wadkins successfully executed an up-and-down after Littler failed to convert one of his own for his lone major.

Bob Rosburg: 6 Strokes

Dow Finsterwald needed to stage a two-stroke comeback to win when stroke play debuted at the PGA Championship in 1958, but Bob Rosburg set a record that would stand for close to two decades with a slightly more impressive one at Minneapolis Golf Club the following year.

As was the case with Wadkins, Rosburg had three PGA Tour victories under his belt but was riding a three-year drought when the PGA Championship got underway in 1959. Jerry Barber had the lead at -5 when the third round wrapped up, while Rosburg was one of three golfers in a tie for sixth at +1.

He’d gotten there with the 68 he shot after opening things up with rounds of 71 and 72, and he continued trending in the right direction with a 66 on Sunday to finish at -3. That was good enough for the win that Barber choked away by shooting at 73, but the man who finished one stroke back got his redemption with a win two years later.

Justin Thomas: 7 Strokes

Prior to 2022, only one golfer had rallied from a seven-stroke deficit on the final day of the PGA Championship. However, that number rose to two by the time play wrapped up at Southern Hills thanks to Justin Thomas.

Thomas was in contention after opening the tournament with back-to-back 67s, but it looked like he’d taken himself out of the running with the four-over 74 he shot on Saturday. That put him in a tie for seventh at -2 and seven shots behind Mito Pereira, who had a three-stroke lead over Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick and the chance to get a victory in his first-ever PGA Championship.

That did not end up being the case, as he cratered with a 75. Zalatoris was able to take advantage and finished at -5 along with JT, who bounced back with yet another 67 to end up in a playoff (a three-hole aggregate, the format that the PGA Championship adopted in favor of sudden death in 2000).

Thomas ended up shooting -2 on those holes, which was good enough to cap off the comeback and tie the record that had previously been set by…

John Mahaffey: 7 Strokes

Tom Watson held a five-stroke lead over Jerry Pate after ending up at -10 following the third round of the PGA Championship at Oakmont in 1978, and John Mahaffey found himself in a fairly distant fifth place and seven strokes back at -3.

However, all three of those men found themselves engaged in a sudden-death playoff after ending up at -8 following the conclusion of 72 holes. Each member of the trio survived the first hole with a par, but Watson and Pate were unable to make their birdie putts before Mahaffey drained his 12-footer for his one and only major victory.