KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - This has been the year of the comeback on the PGA Tour, with 11 players coming from at least four shots behind to win in the final round.
Or maybe it’s the year of the meltdown.
There was Kyle Stanley making triple bogey on the final hole at Torrey Pines and losing in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker. Most recently, Jim Furyk took a double bogey _ the last four shots from the collar of a bunker next to the 18th green _ to lose at Firestone. In between, there was Adam Scott making four straight bogeys at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to lose a four-shot lead in the British Open to Ernie Els.
The PGA Championship is not immune to a lead being lost on the back nine, as recently as last year with Jason Dufner.
Going into the final major of the year, here’s one list of the five greatest collapses:
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5. BYRON‘S BIG MISS
Byron Nelson reached the championship match for the third straight year in the 1941 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills, and he was favored to become a back-to-back winner when he faced Vic Ghezzi in the final at Cherry Hills.
Nelson had done the heavy lifting in the quarterfinals with a 2-up win over rival Ben Hogan, and in the semifinals when he beat Gene Sarazen, 2 and 1.
In the final, Lord Byron had a 3-up lead as he headed to back nine. And that’s when it all started to go wrong. Ghezzi, who had not won a tournament in three years, won the next three holes to square the match, and both missed birdie chances on the last hole to set up overtime.
Nelson dodged a bullet on the first extra hole when Ghezzi missed a 10-foot putt, and it looked as though the match would continue on the next hole when both players chipped up to about 3 feet, so close that the referee had to flip a coin to see who was away.
Nelson missed his 3-footer, and Ghezzi made his putt for his only major championship.
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4. SUDDEN DEATH AT PEBBLE BEACH
The 1977 PGA Championship at Pebble Beach was the first time a major championship was decided by a sudden-death playoff.
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By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
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