AGAI NST ALL ODDS

The great championships are not always won by great champions and nor should they be. Much of the excitement and tension of sport comes from its unpredictability and from the unexpected. That is what keeps it fresh and keeps us coming back for more, and so let us give thanks for and pay tribute to some of golf’s most unexpected champions. We start way back in 1955 with perhaps the greatest upset in pro golf of all time, and then follow up with a spate of shining one-hit wonders that emerged from a strange, topsy-turvy four-year spell, 2002 to 2005

By Robin Barwick

Jack the Giant Killer

(Headline: Sports Illustrated, June 27, 1955)

At 54 years old the great Ben Hogan arrived at The Olympic Club, San Francisco, determined to become the only golfer to win a fifth U.S. Open. Four-time winners were Hogan, Willie Anderson and Bobby Jones (Jack Nicklaus would later join them), and when Hogan fired a measured 70 in the final round to take the clubhouse lead, Gene Sarazen prematurely congratulated him live on NBC. It was around then that the putter of Jack Fleck—a complete unknown on tour—warmed up. In sinking an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole, Fleck forced an 18-hole playoff.

A municipal teaching pro from Iowa who had served in the U.S. Navy and who had seen D-Day action in World War II, Fleck had to qualify for the U.S. Open via sectionals in Chicago. Hogan was Fleck’s idol.

The next day in the playoff, with the crowd all pulling for Hogan, Fleck kept his cool while his putter stayed hot and ultimately he won by three clear shots.

Fleck would join the tour and won a couple regular tour events in 1960 and 1961 and enjoyed some success as a senior, but he is remembered for staging arguably the greatest upset in majors history.

The Tiger Tamer

(Headline: Chicago Tribune, Aug. 19, 2002)

Tiger Woods birdied the final four holes of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. In normal circumstances his final round of 67 would have earned the win, but Arizona-born Rich Beem was not a normal opponent. For a start, Beem had quit tour golf seven years earlier to take a job selling car stereos.

Beem eventually qualified for the PGA Tour in 1999, won the Kemper Open as a rookie and won again just two weeks prior to the PGA at Hazeltine. Beem’s form peaked at exactly the right time, and the 31-year-old holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole in the final round to edge Tiger by a shot.

The 2002 PGA was Beem’s only major top-10 and he would never win again.

Lunke’s Miracle Win

(Headline: The Age, Australia, July 9, 2003)

Hilary Lunke almost choked in the final round of the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open at Pumpkin Ridge, shooting 75, yet she out-battled the world’s best player, Annika Sorenstram, and reached a playoff against seasoned winners Kelly Robbins and Angela Stanford. Lunke, aged 24 at the time, rebounded in the 18-hole decider and won by a shot thanks to requiring just 24 putts all day, including a 15-foot birdie on 18 to clinch it.

Lunke was only on the LPGA Tour for six years, having qualified in 2002, and she was the first golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Open having come through local and sectional qualifying. The Minnesota golfer would not finish inside the top-30 of a major again, and the U.S. Women’s Open was her one and only pro victory.

Golfer Ranked 396th Wins Open

(Headline: The Guardian, July 21, 2003)

Ben Curtis nearly didn’t play in his first ever major—the 2003 [British]

Open at Royal St. George’s—because he had never previously left the United States and he had to get his passport application rushed through. He had never played links golf, hired a local caddie on the spot and with a World Ranking of 396 he began The Open as a 500-1 no-hoper.

Thomas Bjorn could have won this one had he not got stuck in a bunker by the 16th green, and with Vijay Singh failing to take advantage, 26-year-old Curtis slid beneath the radar and posted a final round of 69 ahead of the final groups. He then calmly watched from the clubhouse as his score was left unmatched. And all of this just a week after Lunke’s heroics in Oregon.

Curtis was the first male golfer to win a majors debut since Francis Ouimet claimed the U.S. Open 90 years before. He won three more times and played in a Ryder Cup but eventually returned home to Ohio to run a golf academy.

King of the Hill

(Headline: Washington Post, Aug. 18, 2003)

Shaun Micheel had endured an underwhelming career prior to the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. He had bounced around the Asian and Nationwide Tours with some success, but when the door swung open at Oak Hill Micheel stepped right through.

All credit to Micheel, who had entered the week ranked 169 in the world, just hoping to make the cut. He did more than that. On the final hole, in the rough and with a slender one-shot lead over another outsider—Chad Campbell—34year-old Micheel played the seven-iron of his dreams from 175 yards, which finished just a tap-in from the cup. He won by two shots.

Unfolding just four weeks after Curtis had won The Open, the 2003 PGA was Micheel’s only tour victory, although he did finish runner-up to Woods in the 2006 PGA at Medinah.

Hot Toddy

(Headline: Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2004)

What odds would Todd Hamilton have received to defeat Ernie Els in a playoff at the 2004 [British] Open at Royal Troon?

One on one over four holes, call it 100-1. Els was the Open champ of 2002. The South African had won the U.S. Open twice. Hamilton had played most of his career in Japan before winning the 2004 Honda Classic. Of course Els would win.

But he didn’t. It was the 38-year-old journeyman from Oquawka, Illinois, who showed greater poise when destiny beckoned and he bettered Els by a shot.

“Not to be conceited or anything, but I think it’s a pretty neat story,” said Hamilton at Troon. The affable, humble Hamilton, who only qualified for the 2004 PGA Tour at his eighth attempt via Qualifying School, never won again.

Birdie Is a Major Surprise

(Headline: Washington Post, June 27, 2005)

Talk about spoiling the party. The 2005 U.S. Women’s Open was about to belong to the American golden girl Morgan Pressel. Aged 17, amateur prodigy Pressel—who made her U.S. Open debut aged 13—marched up the final hole at Cherry Hills, seemingly just three strokes from becoming the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Women’s Open.

But then Ju-Yun “Birdie” Kim—a 23-year-old South Korean who had won three times on the Symetra Tour—holed a bunker shot on 18 from 30 yards. Kim was playing in her first U.S. Women’s Open and she was ranked 141st in sand saves on the LPGA Tour. But in sports you pick your moments. Kim was the only golfer to birdie the 18th all day, which at 459 yards was the longest par four in U.S. Open history. She won by two shots from Pressel and fellow amateur Brittany Lang, aged 19 at the time.

In 18 major appearances Kim only made the cut four times and headed back to the Symetra Tour.

Cameron Young enjoyed an explosive rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2021–2022, bombing drives, birdies everywhere, boom or bust. The Rookie of the Year has set the bar high and now he needs to win. Young spoke exclusively to Kingdom