Heavy rains on Sunday stopped play for the day in mid-afternoon. In the final group, Norman and Tway completed just one hole of their final round and resumed play on Monday afternoon.[4]
Norman started the round with a four-shot lead and held that margin through the front nine. After a double bogey at 11 and a bogey at 14, the two were tied. They halved the next three holes at par and were tied at the 72nd tee. Tway put his approach shot in a greenside bunker, while Norman was just off the green on the fringe, 25 feet (8 m) out. Tway improbably holed out for birdie[5] and Norman's attempt to tie missed, as did his par-saving putt. Norman led all four majors in 1986 after the third round, but won only the Open.[6]
Entering the championship, Norman was the leading money winner on the PGA Tour in 1986, with Tway in second place.[7]
This was the fifth major championship at Inverness, which hosted the U.S. Open in 1920, 1931, 1957, and 1979, and was the first in which the winning score was under-par; the previous best was even-par in 1979 by Hale Irwin.[8] The PGA Championship returned in 1993.