In golf, there are primary factors that can help you win. You either need to score par, a birdie, or an eagle. But those only happen by luck or if you have a perfect swing. For the basics, scoring a par is important. You need to make that hole below the number of par allocated for every hole. 

However, that’s just a simple golf match, and it can happen on any day and in any match. But there are days when great and exciting matches happen, and those are the few that are worth remembering. In the essence of the upcoming PGA Tours, we collected a few of the most exciting golf finishes and tournament matches over the years. 

Some might be familiar to you, while others might come to be something you haven’t heard of before. 

Most Thrilling Golf Matches Over The Years 

The 1997 Masters Tournament 

No one will ever forget how dramatic, exciting, and thrilling the 1997 Masters Tournament was. It was undoubtedly the highest-grossing golf telecast ever recorded in golf history, amounting to an estimated 44 million viewers in the United States. 

But that was all credit to Tiger Woods’s impeccable performance. It was his first major championship and his very first major win. Nobody will ever forget how a 21-year old Tiger Woods managed through the Masters and won it by 12 strokes ahead of Tom Kite’s runner-up. 

It was an amazing day for Woods as he opened his second and third round with a better swing performance. At the last round, Woods wrapped up the match with a tournament record of 270 (−18), beating the previous record of 271 set by Jack Nicklaus in 1965. 

With his impressive performance that day, he became the first African-American to win the Masters, and it made him the youngest golfer by two years to win the Masters. And his 12 stroke lead is still the largest victory margin in the tournament’s history.  You can check FanDuel for more details on how the 1997 Masters Tournament went on. 

The 2000 PGA Championship 

If you want to witness a thrilling golf match, you should devote at least 4-minutes to watch how Tiger Woods and Bob May finished their match during the 2000 PGA Championship. It was so good that you can press that replay button as much as you want. 

It was Woods’ PGA comeback after his 1997 Masters amazing performance. One of the 2000 PGA championship highlights was Woods poured in a 25-foot birdie putt and then went on a graceful prancing pointing at the cup long before the ball reached it. 

It was so good that it went on multiple commercial breaks as featured highlights. The match went on like a cutthroat game as Woods needed to get a birdie in the 17th and 18th hole. And May needed to lead the stroke by 3. However, Woods completed his birdie by a wedge shot to four feet in his 17th hole and owned his 3rd PGA Championship. 

The 2002 British Open 

The 2002 British Open was a hit and miss for Woods’s glaring golf career. The 2002 British Open was a platform for the greatest players to come face to face in the course, and that was when Ernie Els stepped out and beat Woods plain and simple. 

However, the entire match didn’t go as a simple, sunny day; it was raining badly, the weather was not cooperating. It was a dreadful match for the British Open. And the worst record for Woods as he finished the course at 81 holes. The one and still the only time in 17 years, as a professional golfer, that he finished a course in the 80s. 

It was so dramatic because of the weather and the challenges that the golfers had to face. But for Ernie Els, it was one of his biggest golf moments. As he would like to say it, he gets better at things when the situation gets tougher, and we’d like to say the British Open and the Claret Jug were made for him. 

The 1977 British Open 

The 1977 British Open or popularly known as the “The Duel In the Sun,” is generally considered the best Major in golf’s history. The Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus came face to face with another great player Tom Watson at a cutthroat Open Championship. Two strong and great players playing at their career peak at the Turnberry. 

The match was so good as the anticipation was slowly burning as the match unfolds, complementing how the blazing and scorching sun warmed up the event. Nobody could predict who’s going to win the course, as with every swing, the momentum of winning changes. 

But it was Watson who prevailed and poured in his birdie to confirm his glory. He looked so confident, and it seemed to pay off as he clutched his second Claret Jug as he signed his scorecard at -12 for an Open record.

It was one of the greatest moments in golf and Open history.  The event was renamed and called “The Duel in the Sun” as a way to mark a memorable occasion. 

To Sum it Up

There are so many striking match highlights in golf history. There are so many championship events that created a remarkable memory for all its fans. It’s hard to gather them all collectively, but these four were some of the best and amazing moments that left a mark in history, not just in golf but in sports as a whole. With the upcoming PGA Tours, will there be more memorable moments added? That’s we’re going to wait and see.