FROM THE VAULT

David Graham wins the 1979 US PGA Championship … Just. PLUS, the top-10 most dramatic major championship play-offs

David Graham had one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy as he stood on the final tee of the 1979 US PGA Championship.

He would soon have the huge trophy in both. The then 33-year-old was seven under par for the day and had not missed a shot in making seven birdies and 10 pars. Starting the final day at three-underpar and four strokes from the lead, Graham dominated Oakland Hills with smooth and effortless swinging.

He was poetry in motion and flawless in pursuit of his first major win.

One American writer noted: “There have been many fine golfers out of Australia, including Peter Thomson and Bruce Crampton, but I don’t suppose any ever played a more brilliant 17 holes than Graham did Sunday in a major championship. He was Hogan and Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.”

But Graham still needed just one more par. Even a bogey would be good enough for the spoils of victory as he led Ben Crenshaw, in the clubhouse at eight under, by two shots.

Spectators heckled Graham, while photographers jostled for a better vantage point, all adding to the distraction and pressure of the moment. Graham hit.

A wayward drive, a second shot into thick rough beside the green, a mis-hit chip and a missed five-footer for bogey and Graham had turned a triumphant closing 63 into a 65 (still the best round of the championship) and now faced a playoff with Crenshaw.

“I had a little right-to-left break, not too hard, but I didn’t want to hit it too soft and let it drift out,” Graham said later. “Then I hit it 12 inches past and I thought ‘what’s going on here.’ I could miss that and blow the whole thing. So, I had to get myself together and get it down.”

But there was more short-game torment to come for Graham and it looked likely that Crenshaw would cash in.

On the first play-off hole, Crenshaw two-putted for his par four from long range. Graham, who was short of the green on his approach, pitched to 25 feet and needed to hole his putt to stay in the play-off. He did.

“I thought I had it won on the first and second holes of the playoff,” Crenshaw said later.

Of the moment, Graham added: “I thought I’d lost the golf tournament when I made my second shot at No.1. I was so lucky to make that 25-foot putt and I thought, ‘maybe it’s meant to be.’

Perhaps it was.

When Crenshaw tapped in for a birdie four on the second play-off hole, Graham followed him in from 10 feet away for a birdie of his own. Graham’s second super putt in as many holes sucked the wind out of Crenshaw’s sails.

Crenshaw hit first on the third playoff hole and his 4-iron to the par-3 leaked right and into a bunker. Graham countered with one of his best shots on a day full of them, as his 4-iron stopped eight feet from the cup. The ball was back in Graham’s court.

Crenshaw’s sandy escape ran 25 feet by the hole and he almost pulled off a miracle save as his par putt lipped the cup on the high side. Graham made no mistake with his birdie putt and both hands were soon ‘back’ on the trophy.

“My hat’s off to David,” Crenshaw said. “I truly never expected to get into a playoff at all.

“I figured David would knock it on the green and two putt for a five after he got in the rough around the green (on 18). Then, at No.1, I was sure I had it won.”

Graham – who became just the second Australian to win the US PGA championship, 32 years after Jim Ferrier – was elated and relieved.

“After the 18th I was very down,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to win every time I’ve been in that position at the 18th, and I was kind of shocked when it happened to me.

“But after the first extra hole I felt like I could win.”

Graham won his second major title, the US Open, less than two years later when, again, he came from behind in the final round by shooting a closing 67 to win by three strokes.