The 41st PGA Professional National Championship will be conducted June 19-22, at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. PGA NEWS continues a series recalling key historical moments and past Champions in the history of the showcase event for PGA Professionals.

1974 -- Watson's Final-Hole Thunderbolt Catches Snead
Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & Country Club

In the twilight of his life, Sam Snead's memory of his 1971 victory in the PGA Professional National Championship was understandably a little fuzzy. But, Snead never forgot the details of his playoff loss to Roger Watson of Cary, N.C., in 1974 at Pinehurst, N.C.

By making a 90-foot birdie putt on the 18th green, Watson tied the legendary Snead, then 62, who missed a four-foot birdie attempt moments later on his final hole on Pinehurst No. 2 in The 7th PGA Professional National Championship.

"I had asked my caddie if I needed to make that birdie putt," said Snead. "He said, 'Oh, no. You got it with a par.' I said after I missed, 'Ah, yeah. Sure I do!' Then, I hit my drive into a poor lie in the playoff and that was all they wrote."

Watson's putt forced the first sudden-death playoff in National Championship history. On the first extra hole, Snead's drive ricocheted off a mound, landed in the second fairway and in a small depression. Watson easily reached the green while Snead punched his shot from the poor lie, wide of the green. Watson two-putted for par and victory after Snead was unable to get his ball up and down.