The abiding memory of last year’s Masters for some will be Phil Mickelson’s second shot on the 13th. The left-hander struck a six iron off the pine straw, through two pine trees, over Rae’s Creek and safely on to the green about 197 yards away. It gave him an eagle putt - which he missed - but also a place in Augusta folklore.
With Mickelson getting the defence of his title under way on Thursday, Peter Dixon, the Times golf correspondent, has produced a list of his other personal favourites from the leading major events, shots that have become as much part of the game’s fabric as Augusta itself.
Feel free to point out those that have been left out.
The greatest shots to have graced the majors
Gene Sarazen. The Masters, 1935
The so-called “shot they heard around the world”. A four-wood over water at the par-five 15th at Augusta National that found the hole 220 yards away for that rarest of golfing birds - an albatross two. With one blow Sarazen caught the leader, Craig Wood, and beat him in a play-off the following day to become the first man to win the “modern” grand slam of all four major championships.
Padraig Harrington, Open Championship, 2008. Royal Birkdale
Standing in the middle of fairway at the par-five 17th with a two-shot lead on the final day, Harrington threw caution to the wind with his second shot. With danger to the left and right of the green, the Irishman chose not to lay up with his approach shot but to go for the target with a five-wood. He hit a perfect shot, shaping it from left to right, and bringing the ball to within four feet of the hole, 272 yards away. He eagled the hole and went on to beat Ian Poulter by four shots.
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Severiano Ballesteros. Open Championship, 1988, Royal Lytham & St Annes
Leading Nick Price by one shot coming to the 72nd hole, Ballesteros, who had pulled his second shot wide of the green , had been put under pressure by his Zimbabwean playing partner, who was just 35 feet from the hole in two and thinking of a play-off, if not better. But this was a situation made for Ballesteros’s wizardry. Pin high, but in a slight depression, the Spaniard lofted his ball deftly on to the green and watched, eyes ablaze, as it landed halfway to the hole and slowly crept closer, brushing the edge of the cup before settling a couple of inches away. Price missed his birdie putt and Seve had his third Open title.
Sandy Lyle. The Masters, 1988
Faced with a 150-yard uphill shot from a fairway bunker at the 72nd hole, Lyle hit a perfect 7-iron, landing the ball beyond the flag and sucking it back to within 18 feet of the hole. He sank the birdie putt and became the first Briton to claim the green jacket. “I don’t know if there has ever been a better shot in a major,” Lyle said.
Larry Mize. The Masters, 1987
In a play-off with Greg Norman, local boy Mize was not fancied to beat the Great White Shark. But he did just that by sinking a 45-yard chip shot at the 11th hole for a birdie that the Australian was unable to match. Needless to say, it was strictly a one-off moment for Mize and a dagger to the heart of Norman, who had been beaten in similar fashion at the US PGA Championship a year earlier, when Bob Tway holed out from a bunker for an unlikely victory.
Arnold Palmer. US Open, 1960. Cherry Hills, Denver
Seven shots off the lead going into the final round, Palmer decided that attack was his only option and went for it from the off. In a fury after being told by the assembled press that he had no chance of winning, Palmer hitched up his trousers and let fly at the 1st - a 313-yard par four - watching as the ball flew about 300 yards, bounced hard in the rough and trickled onto the green. It led to the first of four straight birdies and helped to set up a stunning victory, by two shots, over a young amateur by the name of Jack Nicklaus.
Jack Nicklaus. The Masters, 1986.
After trailing Severiano Ballesteros all day, the 46-year-old veteran started to reel in the Spaniard and took the lead for the first time with a birdie at the par-three 16th. Nicklaus’s 5-iron shot landed above the hole, rolled narrowly past and finished about three feet away, from where he sank the putt. The tee shot might not have been the greatest shot Nicklaus ever played, but in the context of his victory - his eighteenth and final major championship win - it was one of the most memorable.
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Tiger Woods. US Open, 2008. Torrey Pines
Needing to sink the trickiest of putts from around 15 feet to get into a play-off with Rocco Mediate, Woods did just that. He had played for four days virtually on one leg and refused to give up. Word has it that the putt was so tough that when one of the club’s professionals went back a couple of days later to try to replicate it, he took around 15 attempts to achieve the feat. Needless to say, the world No.1 did not need a second chance. He beat Mediate in an 18-hole play-off to win his fourteenth major title.
Shaun Micheel. US PGA Championship, 2003. Oak Hill
Leading Chad Campbell by one stroke playing the 72nd hole, Micheel hit the perfect seven-iron shot from out of the first cut of rough to within two inches of the hole, 175 yards away, for a birdie and victory by two.
Karrie Webb. Kraft Nabisco Championship, 2006. Rancho Mirage
Seven strokes off the lead at the start of the final day, Webb holed out from 116 yards with a wedge for an eagle at the 72nd hole that put her into a play-off with Lorena Ochoa, of Mexico. The Australian claimed victory with a birdie at the first extra hole, her seventh win in a major championship.
Tiger Woods. The Masters, 2005.
Who could forget Tiger’s audacious chip shot at the 16th hole in the final round at Augusta National? Strictly speaking, this did not win Woods the Masters because he was taken into a play-off by Chris DiMarco (which, of course, he won). But to see him visualise the shot across the moonscape that is the 16th green, land the ball in the perfect place, watch it turn at right angles and head towards the hole before hovering on its edge, the Nike swoosh to the fore, is something never to be forgotten. And neither was his celebration.