Best of the Players Championship: The 25 Most Dominant Performances

Mahaffey trailed Larry Mize by four strokes entering the final round, and he remained three back with four holes to play. But fate was about to turn big in Mahaffey’s favor.

At the par four 15th, Mize drove into a bunker, where his ball settled into a partially buried lie. He flew the green, chipped on but failed to convert the putt and took a bogey.

At the par five 16th, Mahaffey pulled even with a birdie while Mize muffed a chip shot third and took another bogey.

That brought the players to 17, where Mize appeared to have the edge, dropping an 8 iron four feet from the cup. Mahaffey, 20 feet away, rolled his approach close and tapped in his par, then watched as Mize missed his chance to regain the lead.

At 18, both players faced three-foot par putts. Mize missed his, Mahaffey made his and walked away with the victory. Mize just walked away.

“Choke is a word a lot of us don’t like, but yeah, I guess I did,” he said. A bit more than a year later, though, Mize’s reputation would be restored with a certain playoff-winning chip-in at the 11th hole on Sunday at The Masters.