The Magic Number

By Bill Fields
Photos by Getty Images June 15, 2009

Tiger Woods, whose awareness of golf's past is as keen as his ascent toward most every record that matters, knew exactly what was at stake when he got over a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa, Okla., on a boiling August afternoon two years ago. The putt was for a 62 in the second round of the PGA Championship, and if it dropped, Woods would break a major-championship record that had stood since Johnny Miller's transcendent 63 at Oakmont CC in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open.

Prior to Woods' brush with 62, thousands of golfers had played in Grand Slam events since Miller broke the previous single-round major mark of 64 established by Lloyd Mangrum in the 1940 Masters. The new standard had been equaled 21 times, but it remained the pinnacle of the game's highest level. Something always tripped up the golfers on the cusp of eclipsing it. Even Jack Nicklaus, as clutch as there ever was, missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 18th green at Baltusrol GC's Lower course in the first round of the '80 U.S. Open, settling for a 63 after a tentative stroke.

Woods' putt was pure, and the closer the ball got, the better it looked, until it only partly disappeared in the cup, then took a hard lipout and boomeranged out. "You mean my 62½?" Woods says, a nod to the lipout. "I had it going that day. Everything was rolling. I was hitting the ball well, putting well. Hit one good putt on 18, and it wasn't good enough." After coming so close to overcoming a barrier that had existed for more than three decades, Woods knew his putt's last-second detour away from history was eerily similar to what happened to Nick Price's 30-foot birdie try for a 62 on the 18th hole at Augusta National GC in the 1986 Masters. "Mine was carrying a little bit too much speed, but it caught a huge piece of the hole," says Price, his memory vivid of the day he shot the first 63 at the Masters. "It went in at about 4 o'clock and came back around and went out at 3 o'clock. It was more than a full horseshoe."

Some day, somewhere, a putt is bound to hit the edge of a cup and dive toward destiny, but Woods is the last golfer to come so close to a 62. Chad Campbell had it within reach at this year's Masters, standing nine under through 15 holes at Augusta National in the first round. But he finished par-bogey-bogey and shot 65, authoring another tale of almost.

The hurdle has been cleared in senior and women's majors. Doug Tewell (2001) and Tom Watson (2003) had 62s in the Jeld-Wen Tradition. Loren Roberts set a USGA major championship mark with an eight-under 62 at Prairie Dunes GC in the third round of the '06 U.S. Senior Open. In women's majors Finland's Minea Blomqvist was the first female to score better than 63. Her 62 in the third round of the 2004 Weetabix Women's British Open surpassed the record (63) Patty Sheehan established in the '84 LPGA Championship that was tied three times. Lorena Ochoa equaled Blomqvist's feat at the '06 Kraft Nabisco.

Neither Blomqvist nor Ochoa won when they shot 62, and when men have managed to shoot 63, it seldom has led to victory. "I'd like to do it again and win this time," says Vijay Singh, who with Greg Norman are the only players to record two 63s in majors. Miller is one of only five players who won the week they shot 63—Nicklaus (1980 U.S. Open), Raymond Floyd (1982 PGA), Norman (1986 British) and Woods (2007 PGA) are the others. Miller is the only member of that quintet to do it in a final round. Indeed, of the 23 rounds of 63 in men's majors, only four have occurred in final rounds. (Brad Faxon used his closing 63 at Riviera CC to finish fifth in the 1995 PGA Championship and catapult onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team; Jodie Mudd's 63 moved him to T-5 in the 1991 British; Payne Stewart was 12th in the 1993 British after a finishing 63.)

Journeymen and stars both have breathed the rare air of 63. Mark Hayes was a par away from 62 in the second round of the 1977 British Open at Turnberry, but he missed the green and failed to convert a six-footer. Paul Broadhurst cruised around St. Andrews in 63 in the third round of the 1990 British. Michael Bradley was only in his third year on the PGA Tour when he encountered a soft Riviera CC in the first round of the 1995 PGA Championship. "I was still kind of finding my way and all of a sudden I was leading a major," says Bradley. "I do remember being awfully nervous."

Only a yard away from an eight-under 62 at Baltusrol, Nicklaus has admitted "I probably choked" on the crucial putt. While as many as four years have gone by (twice) between 63s since Miller did it, that Thursday in northern New Jersey there were two recorded within 45 minutes. Tom Weiskopf did it first several groups in front of the Golden Bear. "I was disappointed I missed the short putt at the last hole," Nicklaus says. "That almost spoiled the round for me. I knew Weiskopf shot 63, and I wanted to shoot a 62. And I didn't."