Who had the best PGA career comeback ever?

[ghalfaire]

From my perspective I think it is difficult to argue for anyone but Hogan for best comeback in golf.  The guy's body was pretty much demolished and re-establishing his game had to be both painful and require significant mental discipline.  If you have ever suffered a significant injury you'll know how difficult it can be.  John Daly is another good candidate for comeback award.  I hope he  hangs in there, stays away from the sauce and continues his good play.  Golf needs him.  I think Tiger's comeback is surely one of the best.  He not only had to overcome his knee injury but some mental demons as well.  He sure looks like he is on the right track and I'd expect him to win a major in the next year.

So not to diminish the other earlier posts' candidates for "best comeback" as their stories are unarguable, but these are my personal three picks.

PS: I'm not a Tigerphile but I know when someone has made a significant and difficult effort to re-establish success after a huge setback and I will try to give credit were credit is due.

[MSchott]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Hal Sutton. He was touted as the "next Nicklaus" and won the PGA in 1983 beating Nicklaus. He was a good player for a while then dropped out of contention for nearly a decade before becoming a top player in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

[Ben]

Vijay Singh. Minor success in his 20s and 30s, exploded in his 40s to world number 1! Maybe not the best comeback, but certainly quite spectacular. Give me hope at least. Go Vijay!

[k-troop]

  Ben said:

Originally Posted by Ben

Vijay Singh. Minor success in his 20s and 30s, exploded in his 40s to world number 1! Maybe not the best comeback, but certainly quite spectacular. Give me hope at least. Go Vijay!

I thought about Vijay as well, but he never really had a "comeback", he just went from being an average tour player to a very good player around the late 90s.  He had a win every year from 1997 to 2008 except for 2001, and then all of the sudden in 2003-2005 he racked up like 20 wins.

[Bastid]

I say Steve Stricker and I have a personal reason why.

In 2006, Stricker was no where to be found. Well, sectional qualifying for the US Open at Winged Foot happened to be at the country club in my hometown. I looked up who was playing and saw that Stricker was playing with the U of I coach Mike Small. My friend and I decided we would go watch them play. The place was empty and we were basically able to walk in the fairways alongside the players. We proceeded to watch Stricker shoot 65-64 on a tough golf course. We cheered him along, after the round we spoke to him for a few minutes and told him how good it was to see him playing well again. He thanked us and then went on to lead the Open after 36 holes and ultimately finish T-6. Going forward, he has been a mainstay atop the leaderboards.

So I take credit for that. I've never seen someone play two rounds of golf like that. It was literally the most perfect golf I've ever seen, although Mike Small did hit one of the most amazing shots I've ever seen that day. Craziness. Can't believe that was six years ago.