Top Five Final Rounds in Majors, excluding Tiger Woods in 2019 at Augusta
All golf fans love the four major championships. Everyone loves Tiger Woods as well. For the purposes of this article, we are going to take a look at the best major finishes, excluding the monumental 2019 Masters.
If we were to include Tiger Woods, he would easily top this list. For now, let’s exclude him to make it more interesting.
The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and British Open cemented golfers legacies and captivate audiences everywhere. Often a player dominates and laps the field and the final round is a snoozer. However, viewers are sometimes treated to thrilling final rounds that pack incredible drama, collapses and triumphs into a five hour time period.
With that in mind, it is fun to look back at the 2010’s and rank the five best final rounds in the majors. To begin, let’s look at some final rounds that were great, but not great enough to make our list.
Cutting Room Floor
2013 Masters:
A slow final round heated up on the final holes at Augusta. Adam Scott made a twenty-five foot putt on 18 to take the lead and celebrated accordingly. Not to be outdone, Angel Cabrera watched Scott from the 18th fairway and followed with a pure iron shot to three feet. The Argentinian’s ensuing birdie led to a playoff, with the smooth-swinging Australian winning on the 10th hole to secure his first major.
2017 British:
Jordan Spieth won by 3 shots but there was incredible drama on the final day. Spieth’s sporadic driving nearly torpedoed his chances, and he found himself on the driving range on the 13th hole.
After a lengthy ruling, the Texan took an unplayable and made an incredible bogey, only losing one shot to playing partner Matt Kuchar. The 2015 Masters Champion then drained a forty-eight foot eagle putt on the Par-Five 15th and told caddie Michael Greller ‘Go get that!’ in one of the iconic moments of the decade.
2014 PGA Championship:
Rory McIlroy’s 4th major title and most recent triumph featured a thrilling final round duel with Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Rickie Fowler. The Northern Irishman fought back from a rough front nine to eagle the 10th with a fantastic approach with his fairway wood. With his competitors making bogeys down the stretch, McIlroy cemented his lead with birdies on 13 and 17 and won his 2nd consecutive major in near darkness with a par on 18.
2013 British Open:
Lee Westwood entered the final round with a two shot lead over Hunter Mahan and Tiger Woods, seeking his first major since the 2008 US Open. All three faltered and fell out of contention, opening the door for Phil Mickelson to make a charge up the leaderboard. Phil shot a final round 66, securing the charismatic American his first British Open with a three shot victory over Henrik Stenson.