It looked like a cakewalk for Brooks Koepka, who entered the final round with a commanding lead. But it didn’t work out that way, as World No. 1 Dustin Johnson got within one stroke of the lead, as Koepka struggled on Sunday to win his fourth major in two years.
Like Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000, Koepka established an almost insurmountable lead right from the start and it appeared he wouldn’t let anyone else into the tournament after his sensational opening round of 63 was followed in the second by a 65. He had a seven-shot lead heading into the final round.
But the lead all but disappeared on the back nine of the final round, as Koepka made four consecutive bogeys, while Johnson played the front nine in three-under par. That narrowed the lead to a single shot at one point before Johnson made consecutive bogeys on 16 and 17 to drop three shots behind.
The golf course played extremely difficult today, the wind was really blowing,” said Johnson immediately following his round. “I played really, really well … I gave myself a chance.”
Koepka kept the drama up till the end, missing a short putt on the 17th for par, holding only a two-shot lead heading into the last. Even then, Koepka seemed unflappable, high-fiving spectators as he headed to the final hole at Bethpage Black in New York, even though much of his lead evaporated. When he pushed his drive into long rough on the 18th, suddenly the tournament, which once appeared completely in hand, was Koepka’s to lose.
But Koepka would hold on—stuffing a short approach on 18, making a par, and closing out at 8-under par, 2-shots ahead of Johnson.
The win made the 29-year-old the first two-time defending champion in two of the four majors at the same time. He also won last year’s PGA Championship.
Tiger Watch
Following his incredible win at the Masters, Woods never really looked comfortable at Bethpage, and said as much after a 72-73 in the first two rounds left him outside the cut line.
“The golf course is playing tough,” he said. “I felt like it’s not that hard to make bogeys out here, but it’s hard to make birdies.”
Canadians
The two Canadians in the field—Abbotsford, BC’s Adam Hadwin and Listowel, Ont.’s Corey Conners, made the cut. Conners, an exacting ball striker who hit 83% of his greens in the opening round, struggled with his putting in his first PGA Championship. Conners never played as well as he did in that opening round, finishing in T-64.
Hadwin, on the other hand, was steady through the opening three rounds, but finished T-29.
The Engineer
Marty Jertson isn’t your typical golf pro. A fine amateur player who planned on playing big-time college golf and instead went in search of higher education, is now the Vice President of Fitting and Performance at PING. When he’s not designing golf clubs, Jertson remains an outstanding professional, having qualified for numerous PGA Tour events. Making the cut at a major is a huge achievement for a golfer who makes his living creating golf clubs full-time, and Jertson drove it long (using PING’s G410 driver that he helped design) and putted well through the first two rounds to play the weekend. A 79 on both Saturday and Sunday derailed some of his success, but there’s no denying Jertson leaves New York with some bragging rights.
What’s In The Winner’s Bag
Driver: TaylorMade M5 (10.5 degrees)
Fairway Wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour HL (16.5 degrees)
Irons: Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3), Mizuno JPX 919 Tour (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 Raw (52, 56 degrees), SM4 (60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T10 Newport 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x