In light of Anthony Kim’s shocking win at LIV Adelaide last week, we thought it would be a good time to look at some of the great comeback stories in golf history.
We’re not talking comebacks within a golf tournament (although that would be a fun story, too). This is exclusively golfers who have overcome adversity to return to some of the highest levels in the game.
Many observers were calling Kim’s story the greatest golf has ever seen. That is a bit obtuse—Kim’s story, while incredible, doesn’t rise to what a couple of others on this list returned from.
All of these stories are worth highlighting and remembering.
Here are the five best comeback stories in golf history.
5. Babe Zaharias wins U.S. Women’s Open after cancer surgery
Zaharias, one of the most notable figures in the game’s history, won the 1954 U.S. Women’s Open while wearing a colostomy bag following her 1953 cancer surgery.
Keep in mind that we’re talking about 1950s surgery. There was no guarantee of even surviving such an operation.
About a year and a half after the surgery, she won this tournament—the last of 10 majors in her illustrious career—by 12 strokes. That was the largest margin of victory in her major career. And she was 43 years old! It’s among the most dominating performances golf has ever seen and she did while wearing a colostomy bag. Unreal.
Two years later, Zaharias passed away at age 45 from the same illness.
4. Anthony Kim emerges from the darkness to win again
There will be some recency bias involved here since Kim just captured victory at LIV Adelaide, coming from five strokes back to beat Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
It’s a fair criticism that Kim’s victory is nowhere near as important as others on this list but you also have to tip your cap to the fact he is even playing professional golf at this level given how much he wrecked his body.
Kim was a standout pro in the 2008-2010 era, winning three times and doing so with style. By 2012, injury took him out of the game. Pretty soon, Kim basically disappeared for a decade. It looked like nobody would ever hear from him again in terms of professional golf.
When he surprisingly came back to LIV in 2024, it was clear life—whether it was substance abuse, mental challenges, injury and who knows what else he dealt with over the years—had done a number on AK.
It seemed as if he didn’t have much gas left in the tank. Kim was finishing dead last in tournaments and lost his spot on LIV after two years, only to gain it back through qualifying.
And then, out of the blue, Kim won a LIV tournament in dramatic fashion, beating two of the best players in the game to do it.
A lot of his adversity may have been self-inflicted but it’s inspiring Kim has come back to be this competitive against top pros.
3. Skip Alexander comes back from a plane crash
This is a name not everyone will recognize but Alexander’s comeback story is legendary in golf nerd circles.
A World War II veteran who played on the Tour, Alexander survived a plane crash following a tournament in 1950. The three other people on board died but Alexander made it out alive with third-degree burns all over his body. He was expected to die in the aftermath but beat the odds.
Having to endure many surgeries for the burns, Alexander convinced the surgeon to fuse his hands around a golf club.
Not only does he get to play golf again—he comes back to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team less than a year after the plane crash. And he won his singles match.
That generation was just built different.
2. Tiger Woods overcomes injury, demons to win Masters
I think the 2018-2019 period was one of my most satisfying as a golf fan.
I remember covering the Honda Classic and Valspar Championship early in 2018—Tiger had been lost at sea for about five years at that point and expectations were low. Other than a standout 2013 season, Tiger’s best golf seemed to be way, way in the rearview.
Too many surgeries to name, internal demons and a load of young talent infiltrating the game spelled the end of Cat’s relevance as a top-tier competitor.
Except it didn’t. Woods started to form a spark in those early 2018 events, playing well in the majors that year and eventually winning the Tour Championship. The following spring, he ascended the major mountaintop one last time by winning the 2019 Masters in epic fashion.
1. Ben Hogan comes back from near-fatal car accident
Hogan endured a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus in 1949, leading to a 59-day hospital stay and a nine-month hiatus from golf. In addition to multiple fractures (collar bone, ankle, pelvis), blood clots threatened his life.
Doctors didn’t know if Hogan, who was in the prime of his career, would ever walk again.
He did a little better than that. Just 16 months after the crash, he won the 1950 U.S. Open in a playoff. Hogan went on to win five more majors despite only being able to play a limited schedule because of his lingering effects of the crash.
Given the severity of the crash, this comeback takes No. 1 for me.
Which comeback story is the best in your book? Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Ben Hogan made a remarkable comeback after almost dying in a car accident. (GETTY IMAGES/Bettmann)