The five-time PGA champion survives a back-and-forth battle in which four players shared the Sunday lead
At various points during Sunday’s final round of the 2020 Virtual PGA Championship, four different players held or shared the lead. When the final putt was holed, though the winner was the same guy who had dominated the event since the first shot was struck four days ago.
Five-time PGA champion Walter Hagen, the first and second round leader, overcame a balky start Sunday to shoot a virtual 67 at TPC Harding Park. That gave him the title by three strokes. Hagen won by scorching a five-hole stretch between the 8th and 12th holes in six-under par, building an advantage he never relinquished.
Two-time champion Denny Shute and darkhorse Jerry Barber, the 1961 PGA winner, tied for second at 15-under, one shot ahead of two-time defending PGA champion Brooks Koepka and Jim Barnes, winner of the first two PGAs ever played.
Four of those players at least touched the lead at some point Sunday.
Shute and Koepka, who shared the 54-hole lead at -14, got an early boost by doing nothing at all. While both men recorded routine pars at the first two holes, Hagen – who started one stroke behind them – appeared to shoot himself right out of contention with consecutive bogeys.
Then when Koepka bogeyed the third and fourth, Shute – the 1936 and 1937 winner – found himself alone at the top by a momentarily gracious two strokes over a group that suddenly included Barber.
Having shot himself into contention with a third round 66, the lightly regarded 1960s era pro reeled off birdies at the second, third and fourth holes, positioning himself to pull off a monumental upset.
When Barber also birdied the sixth and seventh, he caught Shute at -14, one stroke ahead of Koepka and two up on Hagen. Playing one group ahead of the leaders, Barber then eagled the 525 yard par five 9th, climbing to seven-under for the side and 16-under for the tournament, one stroke clear of Hagen and Shute.
Hagen had declared before the tournament began that he looked at it strictly as a battle among the all-time greats: himself, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods. When those challenges failed to materialize Saturday, Hagen appeared to briefly lose interest. Between the 10th hole Saturday and the seventh on Sunday, he managed nothing better than even par golf.
But the reality of finding himself trailing as lightly regarded a competitor as Jerry Barber appeared to ignite Hagen, who responded to Barber’s eagle at nine by throwing a 3-iron within six feet at the 230-yard par three 8th, then knocking another three-iron within five feet at the 9th and dropping that putt for an eagle of his own.
He caught Barber with a birdie at the 526 yard par 5 10th, and passed him by dropping a 25-foot par at the 200-yard par 3 11th. When Hagen added another birdie at the par 5 12th, his lead grew to three strokes over Koepka, Shute and Barber.
There remained time for one of the contenders to make a run at Hagen, but none did. Shute birdied the par 4 14th, but gave that shot back with a bogey at 16. A double at the 428 yard par 4 13th took Koepka out of contention, and Barber simply appeared to run out of gas on the back nine. He followed his front side 29 with back nine 37, never facing a makeable birdie putt after the ninth hole.
For Hagen, then, there remained only the task of protecting his three-stroke advantage. That margin was called into question just once, that at the 405-yard 15th. His drive found a grove of trees bordering Lake Merced left of the fairway, requiring him to pitch safely back into play. But from 125 yards out, his wedge bit and stopped just two feet from the flag, turning a likely bogey or worse into a tap-in par.
Barber’s 66 was one stroke off the day’s best rounds, a pair of 65s produced by Chandler Harper and Dave Stockton. Both began play too far back in the pack to contend.
Among the nine pre-tournament favorites, most other than Hagen disappointed. The highest rated player before Thursday, Byron Nelson, closed with a 67, but that was good only for a 72-hole total of 291, 21 shots behind Hagen. The second favorite, Tiger Woods, piled a Sunday 73 atop his Saturday 74 and finished at even par 288.
Jack Nicklaus, the fourth favorite right behind Hagen, turned in a 74 for a 72-hole total of one-over 289.
Here are score of the other five players considered serious championship threats entering the tournament: Sam Snead 68-277 (t-7), Brooks Koepka 73-275 (t-4), Jim Barnes 70-275 (t-4), Gary Player 71-278 (t-9), Lee Trevino 71-291 (t-47).
Here are the cards of the leaders. Bold-face indicates tournament leaders:
Hole                      1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9   10 11 12  13 14 15  16 17 18 — Total
Par                        4 4 3   5 4 4  4 3 5     5  3  5     4  4   4    4  3  4     — 72
Hagen                  5 5 2  5 3 4  5 2 3     4  2  4     4  4  4     4  3  4   — 67
Barber                 4 3 2  4 4 3  3 3 3     5  3  6     4  4  4     4  3  4    –66
Shute                   4 4 3  5 3 4  5 2 5     6  3  4     4  3  4     5  3  4    –71
Barnes                 4 4 2  5 4 4  5 2 5     5  2  6     3  4  4     4  3  4    –70
Koepka                4 4 4  6 4 4  3 3 4     4  3  5     6  4  4     4  3  4    –73
Here is a full list of 72-hole scores.
Player                                  1  – 2 – 3 – 4 -Tot    Â
Walter Hagen                   63-67-73-67-270
Denny Shute                     67-67-68-71-273
Jerry Barber                      66-74-67-66-273
Jim Barnes                         70-72-63-70-275
Brooks Koepka                 67-66-69-73-275
Doug Ford                          69-69-67-71-276
Arnold Palmer                  69-67-71-70-277
Sam Snead                         68-68-73-68-277
Gary Player                        67-72-68-71-278
Leo Diegel                          68-67-74-69-278
Don January                      69-70-74-66-279
Davis Love IIIÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 73-69-63-74-279
Paul Runyan                      67-69-73-70-279
Ben Hogan                         70-71-68-71-280
Nick Price                           70-73-70-67-280
Steve Elkington                72-67-68-74-281
Gene Sarazen                   71-71-66-73-281
Jeff Sluman                       72-70-71-68-281
Dave Stockton                  74-69-74-65-282
Chick Harbert                    70-70-71-73-284
Al Geiberger                     74-70-73-67-284
Walter Burkemo              68-68-73-76-285
Jim Ferrier                          72-65-72-76-285
Jay Hebert                         71-70-75-69-285
Tommy Armour         68-73-72-73-286
John Mahaffey         78-69-74-66-287
Henry Picard                     73-73-70-71-287
Jim Turnesa                       70-73-72-72-287
Padraig Harrington         76-70-71-71-288
Lionel Hebert                    73-74-70-71-288
Martin Kaymer                 75-73-69-71-288
Phil Mickelson                  75-67-72-74-288
Bobby Nichols                  74-68-72-74-288
Tiger Woods                      76-65-74-73-288
Jason Day                           67-74-74-74-289
Ray Floyd                            70-71-76-72-289
Chandler Harper              72-74-78-65-289
Jack Burke Jr.                    66-76-74-73-289
Jack Nicklaus                     73-69-73-74-289
Julius Boros                       72-70-78-70-290
Jason Dufner                    69-76-73-72-290
Vic Ghezzi                          69-74-74-73-290
David Graham                  71-71-73-75-290
Keegan Bradley        72-76-70-72-290
David Toms                        70-78-68-74-290
Byron Nelson                    71-77-76-67-291
Lee Trevino                       72-73-75-71-291
Dow Finsterwald             75-68-76-73-292
Rory McIlroy                     75-71-69-78-293
Larry Nelson                      74-71-73-75-293
Bob Rosburg                     75-73-72-74-294
Vijay Singh                         73-69-74-79-295
Bob Hamilton                    73-74-73-77-297
Hal Sutton                          74-72-76-74-296
Payne Stewart                 75-71-76-67-289
Dave Marr                          74-77-72-70-293
Jimmy Walker                   71-75-77-73-296
Rich Beem                          72-74-77-74-297
Shaun Micheel                 79-77-69-72-297
Johnny Revolta                77-77-72-72-298
Bob Tway                           73-74-79-73-299
Hubert Green                   73-76-75-77-301
Paul Azinger                      77-76-74-77-304
John Daly                            79-72-73-81-305
Wayne Grady                   77-73-82-73-305
Y E Yang               78-74-79-75-306
Mark Brooks                     79-75-76-77-307
Lanny Wadkins                 81-74-75-77-307