ROCHESTER, NEW YORK | Twenty years on, Shaun Micheel’s victory in the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill remains as unlikely now as it seemed at the moment.
It wasn’t just that Micheel, the 164th-ranked player in the world that charmed week, made that PGA Championship the only victory in his PGA Tour career.
That in itself was a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.
It was how Micheel did it, rainbowing a 175-yard, 7-iron shot to within inches of the cup on the 72nd hole, setting up a tap-in birdie that put the silversmith to work etching his name into the Wanamaker Trophy, where the name of almost every great player is listed.
Clinging to a one-stroke lead over Chad Campbell at the end of a long, tense afternoon, Micheel crafted one of the most memorable closing shots in major championship history.
It was a blessing and a burden, an accomplishment that defined Micheel’s career for better and for worse.
“A lot has happened in 20 years,” Micheel, now 54 year...