He pulled off the greatest comeback in golfing history to win his one and only major tournament

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When it comes to major winners in golf, there are so many huge names that have won that some of the lesser names often get forgotten about.

While superstars of the sport like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson have won more than 20 majors between them, for some, the moment only comes once in a lifetime.

Players like Justin Rose, Jim Furyk and Darren Clarke have all got just the one major win and while they’re big names in their own right, it shows how hard it can be to win.

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For a lot of golfers, winning a major is usually the result of a dominant performance over four days. But for some, there are other factors at play, including the meltdown of the player you’re trying to beat.

With this in mind, we needn’t look any further than Scottish golfer, Paul Lawrie.

How Paul Lawrie completed the greatest comeback in golf thanks to Jean van de Velde’s collapse

Paul Lawrie has had a successful career in his own right but few could have seen him winning The Open how he did in 1999.

Lawrie went into the final day barely even in contention, starting a whopping ten strokes back of leader Jean van de Velde, who was only sitting on even par himself in tough conditions at St. Andrews.

And while Lawrie played some fine golf on the final 18 of his weekend to shoot four under par, it was the collapse of Van de Velde which also played into his hands.

Van de Velde went into the final hole of the day still three shots ahead, needing a double bogey or better to win. Remarkably though, he endured a nightmare hole. His errant tee-shot with driver found trouble, before he hit the grandstand and suffered terrible luck as his ball bounced 50 yards back into heavy rough.

From there, Van de Velde found water, before finally putting out for a triple.

In the subsequent play-off, it was Lawrie who emerged victorious as he held his nerve against Van de Velde and Justin Leonard to come out on top.

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The biggest comebacks in PGA Tour history

There have been some memorable comebacks in golf over the years and some similarly memorable meltdowns and collapses.

Rory McIlroy springs to mind when it comes to The Masters in 2011, and he’s still yet to win at Augusta.

Greg Norman has also thrown a Masters away, while Jordan Spieth did the exact same in 2016 as he completely lost his head.

In terms of biggest comebacks, Paul Lawrie remains in top spot but the likes of Justin Rose and Stewart Cink have come from nine and eight down.

It seems, then, that comebacks are a thing in golf and while the players on the receiving end will suffer, the buzz created for the player chasing that score down must be hard to match.