Golfer won the PGA Championship after being struck by lightning and needing surgery

The world's best players will fight out for the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow this week, but regardless of the winner, they'll do well to match the comeback story of Lee Trevino. The American won the major for the second time in 1984, shooting 15-under par at the Shoal Creek course in Birmingham, Alabama.

It was the American's sixth and final major title. Despite being 44, he also became the first player in history to shoot all four rounds under 70 at the tournament, and almost retained his title the following year. However, he finished runner-up, two shots off compatriot Hubert Green.

However, it wasn't the golf statistics that made Trevino's win memorable. The victory came despite the now 84-year-old playing with spinal injuries, having previously recovered from being struck by lightning.

By the time he teed off at the Western Open in 1975, Trevino had won five major titles. He'd won his first Championship the previous year, to go with his two and titles.

During the tournament in Chicago, Trevino was standing on the 13th hole with playing partners Jerry Heard and Bonny Nichols when a lightning bolt bounced off a nearby lake and struck all three players. He later underwent surgery to remove a damaged spinal disk, putting the remainder of his career in doubt.

Trevino needed further surgeries, but bravely continued to compete on the PGA Tour. Years later, he opened up on the harrowing ordeal, admitting "his life flashed before his eyes" before he fell unconscious.

"I started thinking about my wife and family before I blacked out," he recalled. "It was a very quiet sensation. I couldn't hear a thing. I know it had me when I started shaking."

While Nichols emerged unscathed, Heard also required surgery and never played golf again. Trevino played his final major at The Open in 2000, by which time he was playing a very reduced schedule.