10 best moments in PGA Championship history
By Luke Norris
7. Gene Sarazen calls his shot against Walter Hagen in 1923
The oldest memory on this list of greatest PGA Championship moments comes from Pelham Golf Club in 1923 and involves two of the most legendary figures the game of golf has ever seen in Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen. Hagen had won the tournament in 1921 but skipped it in 1922, which Sarazen won.
Both men had essentially waltzed through their respective brackets in the early stages of this match play event, picking up big win after big win. Even in 36-hole matches, victories like Sarazen’s 11&10 over D.K. White and Hagen’s 10&9 don’t come easy, both of those coming in the second round. Even when the two got to the final four, it was a cakewalk to the finals. Sarazen was matched up against Bobby Cruickshank and walked away with a 7&5 win but Hagen, always looking to take things a little further, defeated George McLean 12&11.
The match was all square after 18 holes but Sarazen jumped out to a three-hole lead in the afternoon. Hagen cut it to two with a birdie at the 29th hole of the day and then birdied the 34th and 35th to get the match back to even heading into the last. Both would par and this would mark the first extra-hole affair in tournament history. Granted, this was just the sixth edition of the PGA Championship but still historic nonetheless.
On the second extra hole, Sarazen’s drive nearly went out of bounds but stopped a few feet short. Needing a miraculous recovery shot just to get himself in position to make a par, it’s been said that Sarazen told the spectators around him that he was going to hit a shot that would break Walter’s heart and he did just that, sticking it to two feet. Hagen, on the other hand, hit his approach into a greenside bunker and nearly holed it from there to extend the match. But he didn’t and Sarazen tapped in for back-to-back titles in what many have called the greatest match ever played.
Walter Hagen would bounce back nicely, winning the next four PGA Championships. Sarazen would win his third and final PGA Championship a decade after beating Hagen on that day at Pelham.