The 1986 PGA Championship was the 68th PGA Championship….which was held August 7 – 11 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio…..when Bob Tway won his only major championship with a two strokes victory over runner-up Greg Norman….who was the 54-hole leader by four strokes going into the final round. Heavy rains on Sunday stopped play for the day in mid-afternoon….whereby In the final group, Norman and Tway completed just one hole of their final round and resumed play on Monday afternoon.
Norman started the round with a four-shot lead…..and held that margin through the front nine…..however, after a double bogey at 11 and a bogey at 14….the two were tied….when they halved the next three holes at par and were tied at the 72nd tee. Tway put his approach shot in a green side bunker….while Norman was just off the green on the fringe facing a 25 feet (8 m) put…..and that is when Bob Tway improbably holed out for birdie….with one of the truly great shot in the US PGA Championship history….and Norman’s attempt to tie missed….as did his par-saving putt. Greg The Shark Norman led all four majors in 1986 after the third round….but won only the US Open.
Entering the championship, Norman was the leading money winner on the PGA Tour in 1986….with Tway in second place. This was the fifth major championship at Inverness….which hosted the U.S. Open in 1920, 1931, 1957 and 1979….and was the first in which the winning score was under-par….as the previous best was even-par in 1979 by Hale Irwin. The PGA Championship returned to Inverness in 1993.
Bob Tway was named PGA Player of the Year in 1986….after finishing the season with four victories including one this one major….while he was second on the final money list that year by being just a few dollars behind Greg Norman.
The 1986 PGA Championship was held at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio….when Tway finished with a score of 276….giving him a two-stroke margin of victory over Greg Norman. Tway is also known for recording the worst score ever on the 17th Hole at TPC Sawgrass….which occurred during the third round of the 2005 Players Championship…..when his first four attempts ended up in the water…..then after finally hitting the green on his fifth attempt….he three putted for 12 to go from 7-under-par and 4 strokes out of the lead to 2-over-par and 13 behind the leader.
