Shaun Micheel interview: ‘Winning 2003 PGA Championship haunted me – I had my walk-off moment’
It’s Sunday at the 2003 PGA Championship and Shaun Micheel has arrived at Oak Hill with a share of the lead and a mindset that would give most sports psychologists sleepless nights.
“I was a wreck,” he admits. “I was afraid of losing, my mind was cluttered with a lot of negativity and I was sick to my stomach. I hated what I was going through.”
This was only the third time Micheel had teed it up at a major, his appearances at the US Open amounting to a missed cut in 1999 and a tie for 40th two years later, and he was yet to win on the PGA Tour.
There had been little opportunity to reflect on missed putts or wayward tee shots up to this point in the week, with several late-night drives required to find a pharmacy for his pregnant wife.
Micheel though sat top of the leaderboard alongside Chad Campbell at the end of the third round, a lofty perch that he had not even considered a few days earlier.
“I always looked at the game as two different tournaments,” Micheel says. “It was the Thursday and Friday to make the cut, and then the Saturday and Sunday. I regret that, it held me back.
“Heading to Oak Hill, no expectations of winning. I just wanted to make the cut. But each day I played, I got a little bit more confident. There were moments when some tournaments I had blown were creeping into my mind – I just didn’t want this to be another one.”
Nerves eased as the final round got underway, a birdie at the first coupled with a bogey from Campbell moving Micheel two shots clear. Tim Clark had pulled level by the turn, but the South African carded three straight bogies to drop out of contention. Micheel led Campbell by two heading to the 17th tee.
Cue some advice from a member of the crowd. “I put my tee in the ground, stepped back and somebody shouted: ‘Don’t pull a Jean van de Velde!’” Micheel remembers.
Van de Velde had a three-shot lead arriving at the final hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, but that crumbled away as he made a triple-bogey and he lost the play-off that followed to Paul Lawrie.
