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PGA Championship-Winning Equipment

By E. Michael Johnson

The clubs behind the greatest shots in PGA Championship history

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Byron Nelson's Spalding Dot ball, 1945
Nelson's magical 1945 season in which he won 18 tournaments (and 11 in a row) included a victory in the PGA Championship -- the only major held that year due to World War II. The win was Nelson's ninth straight but the war played a role in Nelson's equipment. During the war the production of golf equipment was effectively halted. As such, golf balls were in short supply and Nelson played the entire 33 holes of the final match (a 4-and-3 win over Sam Byrd at Moraine CC in Dayton, Ohio) with a single Spalding Dot ball in an effort to conserve his limited stash.
AP Images
Julius Boros' Wilson Staff iron, 1968
Played in a searing July heat at Pecan Valley Country Club in San Antonio, Boros held off Arnold Palmer and Bob Charles by one shot to win the 50th PGA Championship. The clinching shot for Boros came on the final hole when, after just missing the green, he used one of his Wilson staff irons to run a chip to within two feet of the hole. When the ensuing putt dropped Boros became, at age 48, the oldest major winner in history.
AP Images
Gary Player's Black Maxfli ball, 1972
Gary Player was faced with a win-or-lose decision on the 70th hole of the 1972 PGA Championship. The South African arrived at the 408-yard 16th at Michigan's Oakland Hills with a one-shot lead, but pushed his tee shot on the par 4 into the right rough behind a large willow tree. Standing 150 yards from the green with little else except the tree and water between his ball and the green, Player decided to take a chance and proceeded to strike one of the great blows in championship history. Pulling a 9-iron from his bag, he tore his Black Maxfli ball out of the heavy grass where it hit and stopped quickly just three feet from the hole to sew up his second PGA Championship title.
AP Images
Bob Tway's Ping Eye 2 wedge, 1986
Although Greg Norman appeared a lock to back up his British Open victory with a win in the PGA, Tway hung tough, catching the Aussie as they went to the 72nd hole. On Inverness Club's 18th hole, Norman was just off the green but in good position to make par while Tway was in the front bunker, looking at a shot that would be difficult to get close. Using his Ping Eye 2 sand wedge, Tway blasted the ball onto the green where it hit the flagstick and dropped in the cup for a walk-off win and yet another major heartbreak for Norman.
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Tiger Woods' Scotty Cameron putter, 2000
Woods has made plenty of big putts during his amazing career but a pair at the 2000 PGA at Valhalla stands out. The first being a slippery must-make on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Bob May and then, on the first extra hole of overtime, Woods produced a highlight-reel moment. That's when, using his Scotty Cameron by Titleist Tiger putter, Woods struck a 20-foot birdie putt and quickly followed it to the hole, pointing to the ball as it dove into the cup. The birdie gave Woods a lead in the playoff that he would never relinquish.
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David Toms' Cleveland 5-wood, 2001
Although it didn't happen in the final round there is no denying that Toms' hole in one at Atlanta Athletic Club's 240-yard, par-3 15th during the third round of the 2001 PGA was one of the best shots in tournament history. The club Toms used for the shot was a 19-degree Cleveland QuadPro 5-wood with a True Temper BiMatrx shaft (mostly graphite with a steel tip). The club is now in a glass case in Toms' home.
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Rich Beem's TaylorMade 7-wood, 2002
A key to Beem winning his lone major (at Hazeltine National) was his second shot on the par-5 11th during the final round. Faced with 248 yards to the pin and 271 yards to the hole, Beem pulled out his TaylorMade 200 7-wood that he had bent to 17 degrees loft (about a 4-wood loft) and laced the ball to within seven feet of the hole. The eagle gave Beem a three-shot lead and allowed him to withstand a late charge from Tiger Woods. "I took a 7-wood head and bent it to get the loft down to where I needed it," said Beem at the time. "I just liked the size of it. It set up real square."
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Shaun Micheel's Cleveland 7-iron, 2003
Standing in the fairway of Oak Hill's 18th hole, Shaun Micheel held a one-shot lead over Chad Campbell. When Campbell hit his approach to 10 feet, Micheel was suddenly faced with the prospect of a playoff or, should he bogey, losing the tournament. Pulling his Cleveland TA-7 7-iron from the bag, Micheel zipped the shot toward the green where it stopped a mere two inches from the hole, wrapping up the victory.
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Keegan Bradley's Odyssey putter, 2011
Bradley appeared finished after a triple bogey on the par-3 15th hole Sunday at Atlanta Athletic Club's Highlands course, Bradley relied on his Odyssey White Hot Sabertooth belly putter to get him back in contention. Bradley birdied the next two holes, including a 35-footer that rattled into the cup on the 17th and forced a playoff with Jason Dufner. Bradley then birdied the first extra hole and went on to win the title.
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