When was a major last won this way?

[Rich Goodale]

Faldo backed into both of his Open wins at Muirfield.

[Phil McDade]

I'm struck that no one has yet to mention Irwin at the 1979 US Open (75 final round), Seve at the Masters in 1980 (72 final round, the worst among the contenders that year), and Lehman's final-round 73 at Lytham in 1996, easily the worst round among those contending for the title that year. Of course, all of those golfers went on to win those championships, despite their mediocre play in the final day, so they never got the label of throwing away a tournament at the end.

Els didn't shoot one round over par this year at Lytham -- the only golfer in the field who can claim that accomplishment. When the rest of the contenders were throwing up 73s, 74s and 75s, he shot a solid 68 and closed with a birdie on a tough hole.

Rich -- I'm not sure I'd characterize Faldo as clearly backing into either of his two Muirfield wins in the Open. He famously ground out 18 straight pars in 1987, and was within one of the lead after both 36 and 54 holes. Folks remember Zinger's bogey on 18, but Faldo was there to take advantage and had a solid day of golf in tough conditions. He was running away with the tournament in '92, with a four-stroke lead entering the final round, and after indifferent play around the front nine, came back with late-round birdies to edge Cook, who admittedly did bogey the last. But Cook didn't just hand the tournament to Faldo.

[Doug Siebert]

Faldo backed into both of his Open wins at Muirfield.

Is making 18 pars in the final round under difficult conditions considered "backing into it"?  I would disagree, at least in that round, Faldo avoided mistakes and did a little grinding when he had to, and let more aggressive players come back to him.  Sort of like Nicklaus did on more than a few major Sundays.

[PThomas]

Faldo backed into both of his Open wins at Muirfield.

Is making 18 pars in the final round under difficult conditions considered "backing into it"?  I would disagree, at least in that round, Faldo avoided mistakes and did a little grinding when he had to, and let more aggressive players come back to him.  Sort of like Nicklaus did on more than a few major Sundays.

+1...was a cool misty day that day

[Patrick_Mucci]

Didn't Palmer double bogey # 18 at ANGC to hand it to Player ?

[Tim Pitner]

Faldo backed into both of his Open wins at Muirfield.

Is making 18 pars in the final round under difficult conditions considered "backing into it"?  I would disagree, at least in that round, Faldo avoided mistakes and did a little grinding when he had to, and let more aggressive players come back to him.  Sort of like Nicklaus did on more than a few major Sundays.

Faldo didn't back into his other win at Muirfield either.  He set the 36-hole scoring record at Muirfield in 1992.  Then he came back to the field, was overtaken by Cook and ultimately prevailed when Cook stumbled and Faldo played what he has called the best four holes of his life, in two under, I believe.

[Phil McDade]

Didn't Palmer double bogey # 18 at ANGC to hand it to Player ?

Another example of indifferent play by the winner mis-characterized as someone handing the winner the trophy. Player was easily the best player that week, with three rounds in the 60s and a 4-stroke lead over Palmer heading into the final round. Yes, Palmer doubled the 18th, but both were bunkered on the last hole, and Player got up-and-down for a par while Arnie doubled it.

Folks tend to focus -- for natural reasons, of course -- on the last hole or few holes of play when assessing who won or lost a tournament. But they play 72 holes in championships for a reason.

[Kirk Moon]

Given today's result at the British, is it two consecutive majors won this way?

No.  Because Webb Simpson was, in fact, tied for the lead while he played the last two holes of the US Open at Olympic (as was mentioned earlier in this thread.)

Battles of attrition are not terribly satisfying from an observer's perspective.  Unfortunately for us viewers, both the US and British Opens this year shared that quality, although Ernie Els' putt on 18 could certainly be considered a bit of a "victory charge" in today's tournament and Webb Simpson's up and down on 18 at Olympic was another fine display of finesse golf under pressure.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Battles of attrition are not terribly satisfying from an observer's perspective. 

I find them fascinating, especially when you consider the alternative which would be everyone shotting around even par and Scott winning by 4-5 shots.  That would be totally boring.  Watching a train wreck is far more interesting.

[Nigel Islam]

Did anyone else think Scott was going to birdie 18 prior to his tee shot? Mickelson kind of had a terrible front nine in 2004 Masters. I guess things tend to even out over time. I feel Scott's collapse was similar to Norman in 1996. Big lead, opponent plays exceptional, but still should not have won tournament.

[Rich Goodale]

Phil Mc D. et. al.

Azinger bogeyed 17 and 18 to hand Faldo his 1st win.  Cook effectively bogeyed 17 (3-putts from potential eagle distance) and 18.  If those two aren't backing into a win, I don't know what is.....

[Tim Pitner]

Phil Mc D. et. al.

Azinger bogeyed 17 and 18 to hand Faldo his 1st win.  Cook effectively bogeyed 17 (3-putts from potential eagle distance) and 18.  If those two aren't backing into a win, I don't know what is.....

Rich,

Then perhaps you don't know what is.  In 1992, Faldo played his final four holes in -2.  And he set the 36-hole scoring record (tied by Snedeker this week) in that event.  That doesn't sound like backing into a win to me.  Of course Faldo got some help from his competition (Cook), but did Nicklaus back into a win at Augusta in 1986 because Seve and Norman made mistakes down the stretch?  I submit the answer is no.

[Wade Whitehead]

Rich:

Have you ever backed into a win?

WW

[Rich Goodale]

Rich:

Have you ever backed into a win?

WW

Yes.  In various sports.

[Doug Siebert]

The comparison to Nicklaus' charge is actually pretty apt here.  He did all he could to win, but he was far enough behind he needed help from the leaders coming back to him.  No different than Els.  Els went -4 on the back nine under breezy conditions, on a day when only a few players shot under par and on a course where the back nine played more difficult.  Yes, he could have made a couple more putts to shoot a 30 like Nicklaus did, but considering the difficulty of the course and conditions versus the conditions on Sunday of the 1986 Masters, a 32 is quite comparable.

OK, Scott made four consecutive bogies to finish, but wasn't Ballesteros putting it into the water on 15 and three putting 17 a pretty comparable collapse?  It isn't like there are any fairway bunkers coming down the stretch where you have to chip out sideways, or deep rough 20 feet left of ANGC's 17th green, so you'd have to play a LOT worse at ANGC than Scott did yesterday to finish the Masters with four consecutive bogies.

[A.G._Crockett]

Well, at least I know the answer to my original question (amended to read "led outright") as of right now.  That would be the 2012 U.S. Open...