Shaun Carl Micheel (born January 5, 1969) is an
American golfer who is best known for his surprise
victory in 2003 in one of golf's major
championships, the PGA Championship. Stuart Scott
described Micheel's approach shot on the 18th hole
as "one of the illest shots in the history of golf."
Micheel was born in Orlando, Florida. He attended
Christian Brothers High School in Memphis and
Indiana University and turned professional in 1992.
He taught himself how to play golf after his parents
bought a home on a golf course in Memphis. He had a
very patchy early career, during which he struggled
to hold onto membership on the PGA Tour. His
successes included a victory in the Singapore Open
in 1998 and a win on the Nike Tour (now the
Nationwide Tour) in 1999. He went into the 2003 PGA
Championship ranked 169th in the Official World Golf
Rankings, thus becoming one of the biggest underdogs
to win a major in recent times. That season, he
finished 32nd on the money list. In 2004, he made
the top 100 on the PGA Tour money list for the
second time in his career, but he did not make the
move up to being a regular high finisher.
In August of 2006, Micheel returned to prominence
when he finished runner-up to Tiger Woods at the PGA
Championship at Medinah Country Club; he followed
that with T7 two weeks later at the Deutsche Bank
Championship. He was also runner-up at the 2006 HSBC
World Match Play Championship, after defeating Tiger
Woods in the first round. On the PGA Tour, he ended
the year with 9 consecutive cuts and placed in the
top 50 on the money list.
