![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/low-IMG_3678.jpg?resize=341%2C227\")
<\/p>\nShaun Micheel is one of two former winners of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, who will be in the field in May of 2023. This year’s playing will be the fourth at the venerable Rochester NY course. Jack Nicklaus, the winner in 1980, will probably opt out of the event. Micheel (2003) and Jason Dufner (2013) will certainly take advantage of their former-winner exemptions and return to the site of their major glory. Micheel currently serves as the assistant Men’s golf coach at Butler University, and plays on the PGA Tour Champions. In between coaching and playing trips around the country, Mr. Micheel found time to answer eight of our questions, and surprise us with a ninth of his own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 2003 PGA Championship was the first that I covered as a journalist. At the end of this interview, you’ll see the proof of my attendance. One funny note about that tournament: I was under an early deadline and had to get back home to the Buffalo area. I left Oak Hill before Micheel hit his life-changing seven iron, and I did not check the updates before I submitted my piece. As a result, I am confident that I am the only writer to NOT reference the shot for the ages in a story. This year, I’ll stick around until the glorious end.<\/p>\n
1. Orlando to Memphis to Bloomington to Rochester. We know that there were numerous other locales along the way, but please begin this conversation by telling us why those four cities define, to a large part, your golf and life arc.<\/strong><\/p>\n 1\/If you can bear with me for a bit, I\u2019d like to put your question into a bit of context. Each of After a few years of struggling and losing my tour privileges, some really good play in 1998 and Shaun Micheel at Oak Hill in 2003.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Photo courtesy of PGA of America<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n 2. Prior to your breakthrough in 2003, you had won in Singapore (Asian Tour) and Greensboro (now Korn Ferry Tour.) What did you find during each of those weeks, that allowed you to play golf that was good enough to bring home the title?<\/strong><\/p>\n 2\/After losing my PGATOUR card in 1997, my manager at the time asked me if I wanted to go 3. Returning to Rochester, you had not played a major event since the 2001 US Open at Southern Hills, where you tied for 40th. You had never played a PGA Championship. How early did you arrive at Oak Hill, and what were your initial thoughts?<\/strong><\/p>\n 3\/I don\u2019t remember why I flew into Rochester on Monday versus Sunday but I suspect it had 4. In 2003, the PGA Championship was held in August, and was known as Glory’s Last Chance. Were you in a comfortable place on the money list, or were you starting to calculate exactly what you needed to make it to 2004?<\/strong><\/p>\n 4\/Looking back, I believe that I was well inside the money list for keeping my card for 2004. I 5. You started 69-68 and took a two-shot advantage into the weekend. Were you in complete control of all elements of your game, or was one part of your game carrying you along?<\/strong><\/p>\n 5\/I was playing really well the first two rounds. Mistakes were made, but my putter was making 6. Another 69 on Saturday kept you tied for the lead, now with Chad Campbell. Campbell’s 65 was the low round of the tournament, but no one had yet been able to follow a low round with a decent one. Competitors who shot 66 on Thursday, came back with 74 and 75 on Friday. The same went for those who posted 67s on Saturday. In contrast, you were moving along in a balanced manner. What were your thoughts on Saturday night, as you prepared for yet another, biggest round of your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n 6\/I played better on Saturday than any of the other days and I was cruising around without 7. You’ll read my anecdote about the end of the championship in the intro to this interview, and most folks will recall your 7-iron that soared to tap-in distance for a closing birdie and a two-shot victory. Walk us through the final round, and let us know where you were throughout the first and second nines.<\/strong><\/p>\n 7\/Stephanie and I arrived to Oak Hill a couple of hours before my starting time. I was in a weird I felt sick to my stomach as I walked with Stephanie to the first tee. Once my first tee shot
\nthese cities has a tremendous amount of meaning to me and have filled my mind with so many
\nfantastic memories.
\nThe move from Orlando to Memphis came about when a company, Federal Express, sent out
\nan industry notification stating that they were in need of pilots. My dad had been flying for
\nShawnee Airlines, a commuter airline that operated all over Florida and the Bahamas. Shawnee
\nflew turboprop aircraft, but my dad wanted to fly with one the passenger airlines. In order to be
\nhired by one of the legacy carriers, he needed jet time. Because he had been in the Air Force,
\nhe had $8500 through his GI Bill that he could use pay for the training that Federal Express
\nrequired. He began flight training in late 1972 and earned his Type Rating in the Falcon-20, one
\nof six that were operational. In February of 1973 my dad was hired. Soon after, my mom loaded
\nmy sister and I up and we moved to Memphis, which is where I still live.
\nMy father introduced me to golf when I was 9 or 10 and I quickly fell in love with it. Of course, I
\nplayed other sports, but my summers were spent on the golf course at Stonebridge CC. As my
\ngame improved, I began to play in local junior tournaments and earned my way onto the
\nChristian Brothers High School golf team as a freshman. Interestingly, this is the same school
\nthat Dr. Cary Middlecoff attended. Cary won the 1956 U.S. Open at Oak Hill so he and I share
\nsome great history. I was a pretty good player and won the Tennessee State Championship
\ntwice(sophomore and senior) but I wanted to be a pilot like my dad. So, I began my flight
\ntraining and earned my pilots license in 1987. While flying, though, I kept an eye on college golf
\nscholarships as a way to advance my flying opportunities and still compete. I took a number of
\nvisits before finally deciding on Indiana University in Bloomington. After my sophomore year,
\nmy coach retired so I was left with a big decision. My mind to leave and play for Mississippi
\nState was made until I was told that Sam Carmichael would be our new coach. Sam was an All
\nAmerican at LSU and played on the PGATOUR from 1962-1969 before retiring to start a golf
\ncamp in Indiana. By this point, I was still thinking about flying, but I won 3 individual
\ntournaments my junior year and I began to think about professional golf. My senior year is
\nwhen I really started to believe that I could play the tour. I won 5 tournaments including the Big
\nTen Championship(Individual and team) and was a First Team All American with players like
\nDavid Duval and Phil Mickelson. It was Sam who gave me the confidence and belief that I
\ncould play at the highest level. So, I abandoned my dream of flying as a profession and after
\ngraduating from IU, I got on a plane to South Africa in January of 1992 to start down a new
\npath.<\/p>\n
\n1999 led me back to the tour in 2000. My professional game was on the upswing and I was
\nfinally beginning to have some success. By 2003, I had only played in two Majors, the \u201899 U.S.
\nOpen at Pinehurst and the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills but I was trending upward. The
\nsummer of 2003 was pretty stressful because my game was very inconsistent and my quest to
\nqualify for the PGA Championship was slipping. With a top 10 in Hartford a month or so before
\nthe PGA, I had earned enough money to qualify for the seasons final Major, known as Glory\u2019s
\nLast Shot. When I teed off on August 14, 2003, I was still learning to play high level golf.
\nCertainly, I didn\u2019t know that my life would be forever changed a few days later!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/shaun-micheel-2003-pga-championship.jpg?resize=300%2C169\")
\nplay in Asia. He thought that getting away from the U.S. would help me focus on my game. In
\nearly 1998, I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to compete in the Asian Tour Qualifying School. It
\nwas a grueling four days because of the time change and the tremendous heat. Somehow, I\u2019m
\nfinished high enough that I was going to get into most, if not all of the tournaments. My win in
\nSingapore was a result of old fashioned hard work and belief. It had taken some time, but I
\nfinally believed in myself and my ability to play at the professional level. Basically, good results
\nbred even better results and that carried over into the next year when I made it onto the NIKE
\nTour. Although I was disappointed not to have qualified for the PGATOUR, I was happy to be
\nback home in the U.S. Finishing 3rd on the Asian Tour Order of Merit signified to me that my
\ngame was really, really good and that it was time for redemption. Again, the win in Greensboro
\ncame about because of the firm belief that I was a good player and that I had finally overcome
\nthe self doubt that had plagued me in my early professional years.<\/p>\n
\nsomething to do with playing the week prior. When I got onto the golf course on Tuesday, I fell
\nin love with it. Now I hadn\u2019t played very well leading up to it, but I loved treelined, meandering
\nfairways, rolling terrain and deep rough. Tough courses seemed to suit my game really well and
\nOak Hill was certainly that. But, my goal was to simply make the cut. At that point in my career,
\nI was still learning and I figured that making a cut in a Major was just another step in that
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
\nhad qualified for the PGA Championship by being Top 70 in earnings from the prior years PGA
\nso I had played well for the last year or so.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_2023.jpg?resize=225%2C300\")
<\/p>\n
\nup for any missteps. I didn\u2019t think that my driving accuracy was where it needed to be to
\ncontend for 4 days but my iron game was solid and gave me scoring chances when I was set
\nup to do so. But, It was my putter that won the tournament. I seemed to make every crucial
\nputt when I had gotten out of position and capitalized on most of the birdie opportunities that I
\nfaced. Over the 72 holes, I made 21 birdies.<\/p>\n
\nmuch trouble. That was until I bogeyed the final 3 holes. I spent quite a bit of time in the media
\ncenter and I was asked about my finish. Most questions centered around the pressure that I
\nseemed to be facing and how that might affect the final round. I had accepted the bogeys
\nbecause I knew how well I was playing. Of course I had no idea how Sunday was going to go
\nbut I felt really good about my chances. Once I got back from the golf course, it really hit me
\nthat I had an opportunity to do something really special. I did think about the many other
\nevents that I wasn\u2019t able to finish but I felt really, really good about the way that I was playing.
\nTo share this time with my wife, Stephanie, was an incredible benefit as she filled me with the
\nconfidence that I could win.<\/p>\n
\nplace and I wasn\u2019t up for small talk so I left her in family dining and went to my locker to get my
\nmind ready for what was about to transpire. When I got to my locker, there was a note taped to
\nthe front. It was from Loren Roberts, who had been a friend of mine for several years. His note
\nsaid, \u201cShaun, you\u2019re as good as anybody else out here. Go play your game and win. I\u2019m
\nrooting for you. Loren\u201d. I have that note at home and to this day, it is one of my most prized
\npossessions.<\/p>\n
\nfound the fairway, that feeling went away and I was able to focus. It was an up and down front
\nnine with a few birdies mixed in with a few bogeys. Making the turn, I made 4 solid pars to
\nbegin the final stretch. When I drove the 14th green and two putted for birdie, that\u2019s when I first
\nthought that it was going to win. Chad made an incredibly long and difficult putt on 15 for
\nbirdie and I three putted. There went the thought of winning. Another birdie preceded a 17th
\nhole bogey. Up only one on the last hole and it was imperative that I get my tee shot in play.
\nBoth of us found the short grass and it all came down to the approach shots. Chad and I had
\nabout the same yardage but I went first. When my caddie, Bob Szczesny, gave me the
\nyardage, we talked about the club selection for about five seconds. I had 162 yards to the front
\nand 13 more to the pin for a total of 175. It was a perfect 7 iron yardage. I never knew just how
\nperfect it was until I got up to the green and saw the ball a few inches from the hole.<\/p>\n