The Golf Shot Hall of Almost Fame

History, it is often said, is written by the victors. But that doesn’t mean the heroic feats by those who came up short ought to be forgotten. When Bears quarterback Caleb Williams hit tight end Cole Kmet for an improbable touchdown in the NFC Divisional Playoffs last week, it felt like the kind of highlight we’ll be seeing on replay for decades to come. But when the Rams ultimately won the game, it got our golf brains thinking: What are the best shots hit in a losing effort?

We all know about Tiger Woods’ chip on No. 16 at the 2005 Masters and Shaun Micheel’s approach on the final hole of the 2003 PGA Championship, but what about the great shots by someone in contention who didn’t bring home a trophy? We spent an afternoon coming up with this unofficial list for The Hall of Almost Fame. Our one rule: the shot needed to come late in the round, with the pressure mounting. A first quarter touchdown throw isn’t the same as one that comes on fourth down with the game on the line, so Louis Oosthuizen’s albatross at the 2012 Masters, for example, falls outside the scope because it happened on the second hole.

Away we go…

10. Greg Norman, 1984 U.S. Open

While it’s true that Norman might be the unluckiest great player in the history of majors, what happened on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot might be a microcosm of his entire career. Tied with Fuzzy Zoeller coming down the stretch, Norman hit a perfect drive that split the fairway. He then hit such a poor approach that his ball ended up three rows deep in the grandstands. It looked for sure like he’d thrown away any shot at a major. After taking a drop in deep rough, all he could do was chip the ball across the green. Somehow, he made a 50-foot par putt from the fringe. Zoeller, watching from the fairway, waved a white towel in mock surrender. But when Zoeller made a par of his own, it meant an 18-hole playoff the following day. Norman’s ridiculous putt became a footnote when he shot 75 in the playoff and lost by eight shots.

9. Angel Cabrera, 2013 Masters

Everyone remembers Adam Scott screaming “C’mon Aussie!” after he made his birdie putt on 18, but what’s been lost to history is the fact that Cabrera hit an even better approach (inside three feet) minutes later with the rain tumbling down to force a playoff. Scott won with a birdie on 10 in the second hole of the playoff, but Cabrera's approach was as good as it gets under pressure.

8. Fred Couples, 1998 Masters

The 15th hole at Augusta National will always be an incredible amphitheater for final round drama, as Rory McIlroy proved in 2025 and Sergio Garcia did in 2017. But not every great shot on Firethorn is a springboard to victory. In 1998, Couples hit one of the best second shots into the 15th of the decade, a 6-iron to a couple feet that tied him with David Duval for the lead. Neither man claimed the jacket that year, however, as Mark O’Meara birdied Nos. 15, 17, and 18 to win by a stroke.

7. Jason Day, 2016 PGA Championship

In an otherwise boring major plagued by rain delays, Day gave us the one moment of electricity, reaching the green from 252 yards with a 2-iron and making an eagle on the final hole to pull within a stroke of Jimmy Walker. It wasn’t enough, as Walker birdied 17 to maintain the one-stroke advantage, but at least Day gave us some fireworks.

6. Colin Montgomerie, 2006 U.S. Open

Yes, you probably remember Monty throwing up on himself on the final hole, making double bogey from the fairway as he and Phil Mickelson kicked away a major that Geoff Ogilvy swooped in to win. But you might not remember Monty’s hero shot on the 17th hole, where he chased his approach through a window in the trees up onto the green, then cashed a 50-foot putt to tie for the lead. It was a rare instance of Monty brilliance under pressure, only to be erased minutes later.

5. Bob May, 2000 PGA Championship

May made one of the great reads under pressure in the history of the game when he birdied the 18th hole on Sunday on a 15-foot putt that broke a foot right and then straightened out and broke back left at the end. It forced Tiger to have to make his own clutch putt on 18 to force a playoff, which he ultimately won for his third consecutive major.

4. Jordan Spieth, 2015 Open Championship

What’s the closest we’ve come to the calendar Grand Slam? The answer to that question can be found in a 50-foot putt on the 16th green at St. Andrews when Spieth — who had already won the Masters and the U.S. Open — made a birdie to tie for the lead at the Open. A bogey on the Road Hole would ultimately quash the dream, but Spieth made the equivalent of a half-court shot to give himself a chance coming down the stretch at the most famous golf course in the world.

3. Tom Watson, 2009 Open Championship

It’s still preposterous to type these words, but a 59-year-old grandfather almost won the Claret Jug (what would have been his sixth) before he ended up in a playoff with Stewart Cink when he bogeyed the final hole. But the reason he came to the 72nd hole with a one-stroke lead is that he roped a hybrid 270 yards on the par-5 17th to the back of the green, then got up and down for birdie. In a big moment, knowing what was within his grasp, Watson delivered a shot right at the flag.  

2. Costantino Rocca, 1995 Open Championship

It’s not often you see a hero shot after an abject choke, but that’s what happened with Rocca on the final hole at St. Andrews. After driving his ball close to the green, Rocca pulled out a sand wedge knowing he needed to knock it close to make birdie and force a playoff. Instead, he chunked it, his ball tumbling forward just a few feet and settling in the Valley of Sin. Facing a do-or-die situation, Rocca rolled in an impossible putt from roughly 65 feet to force a playoff. Daly won comfortably, but Rocca’s shot remains one of the most famous in history.

1. Jack Nicklaus, 1977 Open Championship

There is a reason this is still regarded by many as the greatest duel in modern golf history. Apologies to Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson at Troon, but neither of their resumes matches Nicklaus or Tom Watson. It was two of the game’s greatest players, each in their primes, trading blows for an entire weekend, 10 shots ahead of third place. On the 72nd hole, Nicklaus trailed Watson by a stroke, but hit his drive near a gorse bush just right of the fairway. He then watched Watson hit his approach to two feet. Knowing he needed a miracle, Nicklaus muscled an 8-iron out of tall grass to 35 feet and rolled in the birdie putt. Watson made a nervy two-footer for the win, but The Duel in the Sun earned its place in history.

Honorable Mention

Dustin Johnson making birdie on the 17th hole at Whistling Straits in 2010, a 223-yard par 3, giving him a one-stroke lead going to 18. Forgotten by history because he drew a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in an unmarked bunker to miss a playoff between Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson.

Cameron Young driving the green on 18 at St. Andrews in the 2022 Open Championship, then making eagle to force Cam Smith to birdie 18 to win outright.

Tiger Woods hitting it to a foot on the 15th hole at Bellerive in the 2018 PGA Championship. At one point in the final round, he birdied five of seven holes trying to track down Brooks Koepka.

Davis Love III hitting a chip on the 16th hole of the 1999 Masters that Tiger Woods would eerily recreate six years later in victory. Love’s shot would pull him, briefly, within a stroke of Jose Maria Olazabal. But Olazabal birdied the 16th as well to win by two. ‍

Sergio Garcia’s shot with his eyes closed from the roots of a tree at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. Trailing Tiger by a shot and needing a miracle, Garcia lashed a shot onto the green. But he could only muster a par and lost by a stroke.