Selecting the top 10 most important moment in golf history may be one of the most difficult and contentious things to do. We have witnessed or heard about several grounds breaking tournament victories, breathtaking gameplays, and unbelievable shots and comebacks. After scouring through our archives, we present to you, the 10 most important moments in golf history:

Arnold Palmer wins the British Open, reestablishing the competition’s eminence

The British Open was drawing closer immateriality in 1960. Best American players decided to skip the major recognized for unimportant prize cash and shabby golf course conditions. It took a king to reestablish gloss to the imperial occasion.

Arnold Palmer fell one stroke shy of triumph at St. Andrews in 1960 yet promised, “I’ll continue returning until I win this title.”

He made great in ’61 at Royal Birkdale, wherein the last round he swept a 6-press “as hard as possible” from knee-deep grass off the fifteenth fairway.

The display wheezed as the ball took off onto the green, arriving 12 feet from the glass. English fans went gaga for the blustering Yank, who caught his first Claret Jug by a single stroke.

Palmer was able to defend his crown the following year, now participated in the competition by world-class U.S. players including Gene Littler and Sam Snead. A long time later, Palmer’s long-term specialist Mark McCormack said, “Without anyone else’s input he reestablished the British Open to its legitimate place as one of the major three competitions on the planet.”

Johnny Miller wins the U.S. Open at Oakmont with a last round 63

During the 1973 U.S. Open, Arnold Palmer glanced at the scoreboard as he gauged a short birdie putt on Oakmont’s eleventh green. “Who the hell is 5-under?” a dazed Arnie inquired. The reply: Johnny Miller, the intense, light Californian putting on the plaid pants and with the amazing iron diversion.

The 26-year-old began the day tied for thirteenth, six shots adrift. While exhibitions took after glamor bunches – Player, Palmer, Weiskopf and Nicklaus were all close to the lead – Miller modestly impacted the world forever.

He birdied the initial four holes and never relented, burning spongy Oakmont. He missed one fairway, hit each green and thumped 10 approach shots to inside 15 feet of the flag en route a single-stroke win over John Schlee.

Some said the delicate course was a weakling, yet just four of the 65 players broke 70, and Miller’s 8-under 63 stays tied both for the least round in the history of U.S. Open and the most minimal last round that has ever happened in a major. Is it true that it was the best round ever? “It’s the best I’ve seen,” Miller said.

The U.S. recovers the Ryder Cup in a blazing experience called The War by the Shore

The savage 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, guaranteed numerous setbacks: Mark Calcavecchia gagged away the four last gaps to Colin Montgomerie and started hyperventilating; Nick Faldo admitted to being “frightened” on the uneven Bermuda greens of the Ocean Course; Paul Azinger and Chip Beck both ended up splashing their tee shots on the par- 3 seventeenth. The cost them a four-ball match against Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros.

Surprisingly, even the steely three-time U.S. Open victor Hale Irwin was resistant to nerves. “I couldn’t inhale, I couldn’t swallow,” he said of his critical confrontation with Bernhard Langer. The German ended up conceding Irwin’s two-foot bogey putt on the eighteenth (for a back-nine 41), later stalked a six-foot standard putt to win their match and retain the Cup.

Langer placed the ball, prayed, put – and pushed it right into the hole. American players, spouses and caddies raged the green, as a way of celebrating the victory of Team USA’s 14.5-13.5.

Tiger Woods’ chip-in, 2005

This is one of the groundbreaking shots of Tiger Woods’ record-breaking career. Subsequent to seeing his three-shot lead over Chris DiMarco shrink to one in the last round of the 2005 Masters, Woods pulled his tee shot on the par-3 sixteenth gap long and left, missing the green all the while. Given the position of his failed shot in connection to the pin, it looked just as Woods was going to experience serious difficulties saving par on No. 16.

In a standout amongst the most sensational shots in golf history, Woods was able to chip in from the rough for birdie. Things being what they are, Woods required that shot, as he would go ahead to bogey the seventeenth and eighteenth hole, which would place him in a tie with DiMarco and constrained a playoff. Woods won the playoff in a single hole, winning the fourth green coat of his distinguished career.

Larry Mize’s chip on the last playoff opening, 1987

The last round of the 1987 Masters finished in a three-way tie among Seve Ballesteros, Mize, and Greg Norman. Ballesteros was thumped out after the initial playoff hole. When Mize’s approach shot unfortunately missed the green by a wide edge, it looked like Norman was made a beeline for triumph.

What might happen next would everlastingly deify Mize in golf’s history books. His chip was holed for birdie. This forced Norman to make a long birdie putt. As events turned out, Norman missed the putt. This made the Shark emerge again as the runner-up at Augusta for the second year in a row.

In the British Open at Turnberry, Jack Nicklaus was bested by a shot by Tom Watson’s weekend 65-65 in their ‘Duel in the Sun’

Indeed, even after his achievement triumph at the 1975 British Open, Tom Watson was viewed as delicate – “a collapse,” in the words of Hubert Green. At that point came 1977, when the child from Kansas City twice defeated Jack Nicklaus in his prime first at Augusta National, then at Turnberry, where a private battle was staged by both of them in unseasonably pleasant Scotland.

Nicklaus drove by a stroke as they came to the fifteenth on Sunday, however, Watson drew even with a 60-foot bomb for birdie, then included another on the seventeenth, giving him a one-shot lead. On the 72nd opening, Watson was able to strike a 7-iron to two feet. In any case, the Bear some way or another sliced an 8-iron from thick harsh onto the green, which the boisterous gallery went on to encircled.

There was eruption from the crowd when Nicklaus willed in his 35-foot birdie putt. He was tied, yet just for a period. Watson coolly put his two-footer for the Claret Jug. The dueling sportsmen strolled affectionately intertwined off the green. Green, third-put finisher, who happened to be 11 shots behind said, “I won the Open Championship. These folks were playing another competition.”

New kid on the block sensation Nancy Lopez wins her fifth straight LPGA event

In the third round of the 1978 Bankers Trust Classic in Rochester, New York, Nancy Lopez smacked a slanted drive that bloodied a fan’s brow. As the mournful star drew nearer, the harmed man said, “I’ll get the chance to meet her now!”

In 1978, everybody needed to meet the 21-year-old youngster with the crazy swing and Pepsodent grin. Before Rochester, Lopez had emerged winner of four straight starts. Finally, the LPGA had an identity to sling it onto the front pages. She graced magazine covers and visited with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.

Presently millions worshiped Lopez, who thumped in a 35-foot putt on the last opening at Rochester, establishing her LPGA-record fifth back to back win. The eventual fate of ladies’ golf never appeared more optimistic.

Tiger Woods wins The Masters by 12 shots to wind up as the youngest champion of the competition

At the 1996 Masters, Jack Nicklaus anticipated that rookie Tiger Woods would likely win more green jackets than both Arnold Palmer and Nicklaus combined. Golf recorders feigned exacerbation. After a year, Jack looked prophetic. Playing in his first major as a master, Woods made Augusta National ask for leniency.

“He’s dismantling the course,” Nicklaus said. Tom Watson called him “the kind of player who comes around once in a thousand years.” Woods had more than beast quality – he had an executioner sense and an executioner short game, and never three-putted on the course’s deceptive greens.

He started Sunday with a nine-shot lead and finished the day with a four-footer for standard, a clench hand pump and a huge number of competition records: least four-day score (270), most youthful champion (21 yrs), and the biggest edge of triumph (12). Woods became the first minority golfer to emerge victor at the Masters. Woods became the new face of golf.

Arnold Palmer charges to win the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills

The King happened to be seven shots behind as he drew nearer the first tee for the last round of the 1960 U.S. Open. Also, he was ticked off. He took a strong lash and drove the green on the 346-yard first hole.

The charge came back on after a two-putt birdie. “I felt an intense surge of adrenaline,” said Palmer, who included five birdies in the following six gaps. “Something Big was occurring.”

A youthful Jack Nicklaus and an Ailing Ben Hogan, combined together, made valiant runs yet wavered late.

When Palmer tapped in for par at the last, he had his 65 coupled with a two-shot win over the 20-year-old Bear.

The Cherry Hills gallery, essayist Robert Sommers later noted, had seen “the crowning ritual of Arnold Palmer, the rise of Jack Nicklaus and the last heave of Ben Hogan.”

At 46, Jack Nicklaus revitalizes on Sunday to win his 6th Masters

As he remained on the seventeenth tee in the last round of the 1986 Masters, Jack Nicklaus had an issue: He couldn’t see. “I continued getting tears in my eyes,” he said. He birdied 10, 11 and 13. At the standard 5 fifteenth, he propelled a grand 4-iron to 12 feet and depleted the eagle putt.

“The commotion was stunning,” said Nicklaus. “I couldn’t hear anything.” Soon Ballesteros, listening to the gallery’s roars, would flush his way to deal with the fifteenth green and make bogey. At the seventeenth, Nicklaus thumped in a precarious 11-footer to lead the pack. The earth shook, thus did his followers. At the point when Greg Norman and Tom Kite missed putts to constrain a playoff, the Bear had already secured his eighteenth major and his 6th green coat.

Pin for later