Virtual PGA round 4: Hagen stands alone

Walter Hagen, winner of the simulated PGA Championship. (Photo by E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Walter Hagen, winner of the simulated PGA Championship. (Photo by E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) /
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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     

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 III                      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