The Pro-Game Shots I'd Pick If I Could Hand Out 10 Career Mulligans

There’s not a single professional golfer out there who doesn’t have a shot they wish they could take again (some possibly quite a few).

Let’s imagine that we could hand out mulligans: who would be first in line asking to play ‘that’ shot again?

In no particular order, here are 10 that immediately spring to mind…

Bernhard Langer, 1991 Ryder Cup

The 1991 Ryder Cup came down to the final hole of the final match between Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin.

The German needed to win the 18th to secure a full point, which would have allowed Europe to retain the famous trophy for two more years.

After Irwin’s bogey, Langer had the opportunity to do just that, but the 6-footer par putt that he faced with certainly no gimme.

It grazed the edge. Later, Seve Ballesteros would say of Langer’s par effort, “Nobody in the world could have made that putt.”

Even so, the great man from Bavaria, a winner of two Masters titles, probably still relives that putt at Kiawah Island more than three decades later.

Colin Montgomerie, 2006 US Open

“If there is one shot in my career I could take again - and have taken again a million times in my mind’s eye - it would be my 7-iron from the 18th fairway,” Montgomerie later said in his autobiography.

It was heartbreaking to watch the great Scot blow his chance of Major glory.

He had ripped a drive down the final fairway and looked certain to claim that elusive Major title, only to throw a loose swing in at the most critical time.

Would the outcome have been different if he hadn’t been made to wait nervously for nearly 15 minutes whilst his playing partner, Vijay Singh, needed a ruling after finding the hospitality tents?

Maybe he’d have pulled the trigger without any doubt that he had the right club. We’ll never know.

Phil Mickelson, 2006 US Open

Montgomerie wasn’t the only one who left Winged Foot crushed - Phil Mickelson made a series of huge errors during the final round to blow his chances of claiming the one Major title that would elude him his entire career.

On 18, despite his wobbles, the American found himself in a position where a par four would have been good enough for victory (five for a playoff).

If only he could rewind the clock and take that drive on 18 again, for it went well left. He ended up making a double-bogey six.

Then again, you could say the damage was done on the 5th, where Mickelson attempted to reach the green from a buried lie with a wood, and only succeeded in advancing the ball a few yards.

That led to a bogey on the easiest hole of the course. Classic Phil, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Jean Van de Velde, 1999 Open

At Carnousite, in 1999, a double-bogey six on the 18th would have been good enough for the Frenchman to win the Claret Jug.

After a wild drive and a wild second shot, the cushion he had built meant that he was still in pole position.

It’s the third shot he’d like to take again, for he went for the green from some gnarly rough instead of coming out sideways, and his ball ended up in the burn.

In the end, after taking a penalty drop, he did extremely well to get up and down from a greenside bunker to make seven and earn a place in a playoff.

However, after making birdies at 17 and 18, it was Paul Lawrie who triumphed over Van de Velde and Justin Leonard.

Jordan Spieth, 2016 Masters

Jordan Spieth was aiming to become only the fourth back-to-back winner at Augusta National, and he stood on the 10th tee at the 2016 Masters with a commanding five-shot lead.

Despite knowing how to close out Majors (he also won the US Open in 2015), Spieth found a way to let this one slip from his grasp.

A mulligan would have been handy on the famous 12th, ‘Golden Bell’, where Spieth found the water twice - first with his tee shot and again when he caught his second attempt heavy.

It led to a quadruple-bogey seven and opened the door for Danny Willett.

Scott Hoch, 1989 Masters

A three-footer to win the Masters. It’s what every player dreams of.

“24 inches from a green coat,” Ken Venturi said at the time. It barely touched the cup.

When you have a surname that rhymes with ‘choke’, it makes matters worse - and this will have stuck with the American ever since.

Nick Faldo made the most of Hoch’s miss to win the first of his three Green Jackets. Hoch, though, never got the taste of Major glory.

Doug Sanders, 1970 Open

Twice a runner-up at The Open (1966 and 1970), the late Doug Sanders suffered the agony of missing a 30-inch putt that would have made him a Major champion.

True, there was a bit of left-hand borrow to be negotiated on the last green at St Andrews, but he made a really tentative stroke.

It’s a putt that the American would have easily dismissed had he won the 18-hole playoff that he found himself in as a result, but it was Jack Nicklaus who went on to lift the Claret Jug.

“If I was master of the English language, I don’t think I could find the adjectives to describe how I felt when I missed that short one,” he said later.

Tom Watson, 2009 Open

It would have been the most remarkable of victories ever witnessed in the history of this great sport.

Needing only a par on the 72nd hole of the 138th Open at Turnberry to become just the second man after Harry Vardon to win six Claret Jugs, Watson, at the age of 59, held his nerve and struck a sweet drive.

His 8-iron ran through the green, but his putt from off the back was tentative and came up 10 feet shy.

His par effort also pulled up short, at which point everyone knew what would happen next. Stewart Cink won the playoff.

“The old fogey almost did it,” said a crestfallen Watson afterwards.

“It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it? It wasn’t to be and yes it was a great disappointment.

“It tears your gut, as it always has torn at my gut. It’s not easy to take.”

If only his approach hadn’t rolled off the back. If only.

Hale Irwin, 1983 Open

If the three-time US Open champion could retake one shot, it would probably be the putt on 14 at Royal Birkdale during the third round of the 1983 Open.

A careless flick of the putter head to try and tidy up from close range resulted in a fresh air shot.

It proved crucial, for Irwin ended up losing to Tom Watson by a single shot.

Rory McIlroy, 2019 Open

Fortunately for McIlroy, when it comes to winning titles, he’s done a pretty good job of accumulating silverware.

Even so, he’d like to take that opening tee shot at the 2019 Open again, especially given that all eyes were on the Northern Irishman, as the great championship returned to his home nation for the first time since 1951.

His opening tee shot was the stuff of nightmares - out of bounds.

Quadruple bogey. Open on home turf over after one loose swing. Ouch.

Quiz: Men Who Have Won The Most Majors