ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000 - May, Woods make magic on 18th

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, August 20

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Two men. Two putts. Two remarkable moments for two golfers starring in a remarkable show.


	Bob May manages a smile after his birdie putt on the finishing hole.

Bob May was 18 feet from his first major championship. He'd led Tiger Woods since the second hole of the final round Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club, but Woods had caught him with a birdie at the 17th. Now, 18 tricky feet above the 18th hole, May stood over his putt.

And made it.

Woods was six feet from joining Ben Hogan as the only men to win three professional major championships in one year. He'd battled from two shots behind at one point in the round, and had seen May make birdie putts on top of his own birdies at the 12th and 14th holes. Now, six left-to-right feet to the side of the 18th hole, Woods stood over his putt.

And made it.

Woods and May went to a playoff, with Woods winning thanks to a 25-foot birdie putt on the first of three cumulative-score holes. May had a chance to tie with a snaking birdie putt on the same 18th hole, but it slipped just below the hole. Woods got up-and-down from the bunker in front of the green to win after 21 holes of spellbinding golf.

But the birdie blitz at the 18th at the end of regulation produced one of the most remarkable sequences in major championship golf. Tied at 17-under through 17 holes -- matching the all-time record for lowest score at a PGA Championship -- May and Woods both reached the green of the 542-yard par-5 in two. But each had obstacles to overcome.

May was short and left, with a huge ridge between him and cup. Woods was right, with an equally imposing hump in his line.

May, putting first, left his 80-footer above the hole.

"I thought, 'I've got to hit this pretty hard,' " May said. "I was really concentrating on the line. ... Once it got up the hill, it wasn't slowing own. The hill didn't take much pace off of it. It rolled all the way to the back of the green."

It nestled next to the fringe, 18 feet away.

Woods, with a chance to win, left his 30-foot putt six feet from the cup -- with a sneaky break.

May examined his putt, gingerly stepped over it and stroked it gently, letting it trickle down to the hole. The ball veered right, but lost speed at the cup and came back to the left, settling into the bottom. May, stoic throughout his round, managed a smile.

"I was playing it outside left, and it was breaking back across the hole," May said. "I don't know if it was coming back or not, but as slow as it was going, I think it was just taking racks or maybe footprints or whatever. It just happened to catch that right side of the hole."

May walked over to his caddie, Steve Kaye, who told him: "Partner, get ready. We're going into a playoff. He's not going to miss."

Woods stalked at his putt from every angle, confidently stepped over it and stroked it firmly. It slid to the right and fell into the left-hand side of the cup. He pumped his fist and slapped hands with caddie Steve Williams.

"It was just a matter of time before the putter would come around," said Woods, who practiced until dark after Saturday's third round, working mainly with his putter. "And it did."

Woods then shook hands with May, signed his scorecard and got ready for the playoff.

"The big ones I needed to make, I was able to pour them right in the hole," Woods said.

The back-to-back birdies capped a scintillating back nine. May was remarkable, hitting iron after iron stiff to the flag to give himself birdie opportunities. He capitalized on five -- at the 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 18th holes.

But Woods was equally brilliant, with birdies at the 10th, 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes. He shot 31 on the back nine -- he'd been just 1-under for the previous three rounds there. May also shot 31 en route to a third straight round of 66.

Woods dropped a pressure putt on the 11th to save par after May had made a long birdie putt. Woods birdied the 12th, but May followed. Woods birdied the 14th, but May -- through the side door -- matched him.

May had a significant chance to put Woods away on the 15th hole. Leading by one, May had 4-foot putt for birdie after a brilliant second shot. Woods hit his approach into a swale to the left of the green and had misread his putt, leaving it eight feet below the hole.

But Woods made his putt for par, and May missed his for birdie. Two holes later, Woods caught him at the 17th , when he hit his approach to five feet and made the birdie putt.

One hole later, they staged a memorable game of can-you-top-this on the 18th green.

Three playoff holes after that, May still doesn't have a major championship.

And Woods has three in the same year.