5 Most Heartbreaking Moments in PGA Tour History

Many people don’t like golf because it’s not high scoring, hard hitting and there are no home runs. But while golf may lack the fast pace of play that other sports have, one thing that the gentleman’s game doesn’t lack is drama.

The final round of a major tournament will keep everyone biting their nails until a winner is decided. Sometimes the golfer you support wins, other times he loses. But, it’s almost always a great finish that will result in joy for one athlete and agony for the other.

Here are the five most heartbreaking moments in golf history.

2004 Masters

The 2004 Masters is remembered as the first time that Phil Mickelson won a major championship. What’s forgotten, however, are the things that happened in order for "Lefty" to take home his first green jacket.

South African Ernie Els took a lead onto the back nine. Els would go on to shoot an astounding 67 on that day, but unfortunately for him, it wouldn’t be enough. A determined and destined Phil Mickelson shot a mind blowing 31 on the back nine—including an amazing 18 foot putt on the 18th to win it—that sent both Mickelson and the crowd into a frenzy.

Lefty’s win cast a huge shadow over the agony of Els’ loss. The man golfed a great round, it just wasn’t enough to stop Phil from playing one of the most important games of his life.

1987 Masters

Greg Norman won’t be remembered for his two British Open championships, but rather for all the majors in which he came close, but still lost—and the ‘87 Masters was one of them.

The Shark had lost a heartbreaker in the ‘86 Masters and looked poised to collect the green jacket in ‘87. Journeyman golfer Larry Mize had other thoughts, however. After forcing a playoff, the Augusta native sunk an amazing shot on the second playoff hole, to add to Norman’s Masters misery.

After coming so close in consecutive years, Norman would have to wait until 1996 to come that close to winning again. His fortunes didn’t change in ‘96, either.

Poor guy.

2013 U.S. Open

The pain of this one could fade with time, but I doubt it.

Coming into that Sunday, Phil Mickelson had a one-shot lead, and was the only player that was under par for the tournament. Phil started his descent to the field early in that final round.

Bogeys on holes three and five got Mickelson’s start to the day off on the wrong foot. His eagle on the 10th left some hope, but after two more bogeys on the 13th and 15th holes, it would prove to be impossible for Lefty to make a comeback. He golfed a 74 on that ill fated Sunday.

Still, he went on to claim victory at the 2013 British Open, so at least 2013 wasn’t a total loss.

1989 British Open

Although we’d like to think that his only heartbreaking losses came at the Masters, we just can’t. Greg Norman struck again, this time in the British open.

After two of his agonies at Augusta ('86, '87), Norman actually looked like he was going to be the beneficiary of a crazy, late round comeback. The Shark was seven strokes behind entering the final round, and opened with birdies on his first six holes.

He ended up golfing an amazing 64, qualifying him for a three-way playoffs with Mark Calcavecchia and Wayne Grady. This had to be Norman’s tournament to win, right? He couldn’t choke again, right? Wrong.

In the four hole playoffs, Norman birdied the first two, had a pin shot and bogeyed on the third, and was set up to golf against Calcavecchia on the final hole. Long story short, Norman hit a few bunkers and shot a ball out-of-bounds, and couldn’t even finish the final hole, due to penalties.

Greg Norman just couldn’t win majors.

1999 British Open

Jean Van de Velde had played a fantastic, unmatched tournament, up until the 18th hole of the final round of the open championship. With a three stroke lead, there didn’t seem like there was any way that Van de Velde could actually lose this tournament on the final hole.

Then Van de Velde’s tee shot went into some heavy rough. Busting out the 2-iron, he blasted his 2nd shot to the right of the green, hitting the grandstand and bouncing back into the thick rough. He underhit his third shot and and bounced into the moat. He triple bogeyed the hole, causing a three-man playoff. Van de Velde lost the playoff, lost the tournament and lost what would have been his first (and only) major championship.

You can follow Phil Oscarson at @philoscarson or read more of his posts at American Golf.