There is a plaque embedded in the ground near the 18th fairway at Oak Hill Country Club outside Rochester, New York, commemorating the greatest moment of Memphian Shaun Micheel’s PGA Tour career.

Micheel has seen, on multiple occasions, the tribute to his perfectly struck 7-iron, a shot that landed 2 inches from the hole and secured the 2003 PGA Championship for the former Christian Brothers High and Indiana University star.

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Each time he sees the plaque, he notices something else too.

“When I go up to it, there’s always lots of divots,” Micheel said. “They tell me everyone who comes up to it wants to hit a 7-iron. I look at that plaque with a tremendous amount of pride. Definitely great memories there.”

Micheel, 54, returns to the site of his only PGA Tour victory this week to play in the PGA Championship. His spot in the field is reserved annually, a benefit of winning one of golf’s four majors.

Unlike 20 years ago, Micheel will have his children — son Dade and daughter Marin — with him. Twenty years ago, Micheel’s wife, Stephanie, was six months pregnant with Dade, the oldest.

Normal pregnancy discomfort led to Shaun and Stephanie making a frantic pre-tournament search for a pharmacy. Shaun’s pre-tournament schedule this year was a bit more relaxed and included playing 27 practice holes at Oak Hill with the son, now 19 years old, who was somewhat responsible for the drug store dash.

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Micheel is relishing the fact his children will see him compete against the world’s best, giving them a chance to visualize that during a four-day stretch in 2003, there was no better golfer than their father.

Dade has spent the days leading up to the tournament’s start watching how his father is being treated by the membership. Shaun said it’s as if he’s won 18 majors.

“I was here in 2013 (the last time the PGA Championship was played at Oak Hill), but I don’t remember much about it,” Dade said. “I was only 10 or 11 years old.

“Being up here to learn more about Oak Hill and what it means to my father and our family has been a great experience. It’s been truly awesome.”

So many memories

Dade said he was in middle school when he initially realized how special his father’s accomplishment was. He said it was a time when his friends became increasingly interested in sports.

“It means a lot to our family,” Dade said of the PGA Championship. “I actually just found (video of) the full round. Some guy sent my dad the full round a couple of months ago.

“That’s the first time I’ve watched the whole round, but I’ve seen the shot thousands of times. Sometimes my friends will call it up (on YouTube), and we’ll watch it. It’s pretty cool to see it each and every time.”

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Micheel said it’s difficult not to replay that week, either during this recent 20-year anniversary celebration or during the course of a year.

“I think about (the 2003 win) a lot,” he said. “I think about the 7-iron. I think about sharing that week with Stephanie, who was pregnant. I think about a lot of things.”

Mostly he thinks about what has transpired since that day, including shoulder surgery, a heart procedure, the birth of his children and the passing of his parents.

“There’s been so much that has happened to me in those 20 years,” Micheel said. “I seem to be more wrapped up in those 20 years than that week.”

Yet that week was memorable for so many reasons.

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An iconic shot

Micheel, then 34, entered the PGA Championship ranked 169th in the world. Playing in only his third major, he opened with rounds of 69 and 68 to grab a 2-stroke lead over Billy Andrade and Mike Weir. His third round 1-under 69 placed him in a share of the lead with Chad Campbell.

In the final round, he shot a par-70 and used the spectacular approach to 18 to win the tournament by two strokes over Campbell. It remains one of the most iconic shots struck under pressure in a major.

“Back in 2003, I was still kind of a budding PGA Tour player,” Micheel said. “I was still trying to learn the game and learn to play at a high level.

“Even though I had played on the PGA Tour, I hadn’t competed in these great events where the best fields are assembled. I was amazed I could hold it together for four days. I had kind of blown (leads) at a couple of tournaments through the years leading up to that. It was a fantastic week.”

Micheel said his game was in good shape at the time and that finding success “was a matter of working through the nerves and some of the negativity every player feels” when he is trying to win a tournament for the first time.

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Caddie Bob Szczesny proved to be a tremendous asset during the week. Szczesny, in his early 70s, only recently retired. He began working with Micheel about a year before their victory at Oak Hill.

“It’s Bob’s voice, for anyone who’s ever watched the video (as the 7-iron shot sails toward the 18th green). That’s Bob yelling, ‘Be right!’” Micheel said. “I talked to Bob for the first time in a long time about a month-and-a-half ago, trying to encourage him to come up (to Oak Hill). He doesn’t live far, but he and I have not been on that property together since that Aug. 17 day.

“He was a big part, not only in that tournament but in leading up to it, in the way that he thought, in the way that he talked to me. He was a very positive person. He had a huge influence on the things I was doing. I owe him. He was very much a part of my win.”

Talking to the ball

Szczesny often called the tournament-clinching shot by Micheel on 18 the highlight of his career as a caddie.

“I think about Bob a lot,” Micheel said. “And I see his picture all the time because I have a picture of him with Stephanie in one of our rooms at home. It’s a picture of me hugging Stephanie and Bob carrying the flag (from 18) to us. It’s a great picture.”

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Stephanie said she and Shaun “laugh to this day” about Szczesny talking to the in-flight golf ball.

“We love Bob,” Stephanie said. “He was awesome with our kids. Bob was amazing.

“But when he talked to that golf ball on 18, that is the only time I ever heard him say anything (out loud). I guess he picked the right time to do it.”

Stephanie said before her husband hit the 7-iron on 18, she couldn’t tell, initially, if the golf ball sailing toward the green was her Shaun’s shot or Chad Campbell’s.

“I couldn’t see who was hitting from the fairway,” she said. “After the ball was in flight, I could actually see Chad on the other side of the fairway. Then I realized it was Shaun’s (shot). The crowds were so big.

“Then I saw the ball hit and roll up there, and I thought, ‘Oh my God. He’s going to win the PGA Championship.’ I couldn’t have been happier for Shaun.”

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A new era

Stephanie credits former PGA Tour player Loren Roberts with a role in her husband’s victory too. The fellow Memphian left Micheel an encouraging note at his locker before Micheel began the final round.

“It was on this scrap of paper,” Stephanie said. “Shaun still has it. He has kept that note to this day. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but it was basically, ‘You can do this.’

“It was such a big deal for Shaun. It was a big deal to have Loren saying you’ve got this. Shaun was nervous that day. I really think that note was important. It kind of calmed his nerves a little bit.”

Since Micheel’s victory, Oak Hill has undergone significant upgrades.

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Micheel is pleased with the renovations, which included removing trees throughout the course to improve sight lines, the removal of a pond on No. 5, strategic angles returned and an expansive reshaping of the greens.

“It’s beautiful, it really is. Every hole underwent renovation, every green was changed,” he said. “It went back to the old Donald Ross-style of green shapes, which are a little more square than the free-form green it had become. Every bunker has these grass faces. It just looks fantastic.”

“There’s been so much that has happened to me in those 20 years. I seem to be more wrapped up in those 20 years than that week.”

Shaun Micheel
PGA Champion

Micheel, who made his debut as an assistant golf coach at Butler University in Indianapolis last season, has played only one competitive event in the past nine months, a stop on the PGA Champions Tour. He is not exempt on that tour.

Most of his time recently has been devoted to the memories of 2003.

In addition to numerous phone interviews, he made two pre-tournament appearances at Oak Hill during a span of six weeks, accumulating frequent flier miles and some fatigue in the process. On one of those trips, he met with the CBS Sports golf crew and was prominently featured in a pre-tournament special, which included a re-enactment of his 7-iron on 18.

“It’s been fun,” Micheel said, “but I’m kind of ready to get the competition going.”