The final round of the 105th PGA Championship will mark an opportunity to replicate one of the most famous shots in major championship history. It’s been 20 years since Shaun Micheel’s PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill. Golf course architect Andrew Green, who guided the course’s restoration to its original Donald Ross design, tweeted that the pin on the par-4 18th hole will be located in nearly the same spot where Micheel’s famed approach earned him the Wanamaker Trophy.
Micheel famously hit a 7-iron shot from 175 yards away that landed two inches from the cup. The ensuing tap-in birdie clinched his first and only victory on the PGA TOUR by a two-stroke margin.
It might just take a shot like Micheel’s to win the Wanamaker Trophy again this year. Oak Hill will see a crowded Sunday leaderboard to begin the final round, with seven players inside five strokes of Koepka’s 6-under-par lead. The margin for error at Oak Hill is a thin one as the past two majors in Rochester have ended with leads of two. That includes Micheel’s 2003 title and Jason Dufner who won in 2013 by shooting 10 under par.
Green, who spearheaded the renovations in 2019, wrote on Twitter that the pin is “quite close” to the 2003 location and tried to keep it intact in spite of an extended green that moved right. Green has been lauded by players all week for the project which consisted of restoring green shapes, trimming trees and creating hazardous bunkers.
Micheel, who was in this year’s field, will not have a chance to recreate the magic of 2003. He missed the cut.
This is quite close to the @shaunmicheelpga hole location. We tried to keep it intact…even though the green moved right and extended back.
— Andrew Green (@GreenGCA) May 21, 2023
Tomorrow should be a great day @PGAChampionship pic.twitter.com/to6Ydg07YI
