Ranking The Best PGA Championship Competitors Of All-Time
By Bill Felber
PGA Championship Era: 1990 to 1999
While the golf world waited for Tiger Woods to grow into the game’s dominant presence, the PGA Championship meandered through the 1990s without a true leader.
Since he was the only player to win twice – 1992 and 1994 – Nick Price is the logical candidate to be the decade’s No. 1. But several ordinary showings – tied for 63rd in 1990, for 31st in 1993, and for 30th in 1995 – undermined Price’s decade score just enough to consign him to runner-up status. Here’s the top 10:
1. Steve Elkington, -1.11
2. Nick Price, -1.03
3. John Cook, -1.00
4. Vijay Singh, -0.92
5. Corey Pavin, -0.88
6. Colin Montgomerie, -0.72
7. Davis Love III, -0.65
8. Phil Mickelson, -0.59
9. Mark O’Meara, -0.58
10. Mark O’Meara, -0.58
The 1995 champion in a playoff with Montgomerie, Elkington was clearly the tournament’s dominant presence between 1994 and the emergence of Woods. He tied for seventh in 1994, for third in 1996, and was solo third behind Vijay Singh and Steve Stricker in 1998.
Still, his -1.11 dominance score remains far and away the weakest for any decade in the history of the PGA Championship.
Woods, the 1999 champion, is not eligible for inclusion on the decade list since he did not take part in five championships.
John Cook is a shaky third based on six made cuts, four of them top 10s. The 1998 champion, Vijay Singh, had an up-and-down relationship with the PGA. Singh was fourth in 1993 and fifth in 1996…but he also missed two cuts and only one other time during the decade finished inside the top 40.