Denmark’s Bjerregaard has 2019 PGA’s only hole-in-one

LUCAS Bjerregaard and playing partner Lucas Glover did the old 1-2 on No. 17 at Bethpage Black in the final round of the PGA Championship.

Bjerregaard, a 27-year-old Dane, made the first hole-in-one in the tournament on Sunday, one-bouncing a six-iron into the cup on the par-three 206-yard hole.

Bjerregaard high-fived his caddie, waved to the crowd and then walked to the green.

He pulled his ball out of the hole and tossed it into the crowd.

He had played the hole at twoover in the first three rounds.

It was the 42nd hole-in-one in the PGA Championship since 1970 and the only one this year.

Glover wasn’t about to let Bjerregaard grab all the attention.

He holed out from the bunker from 50 feet for a birdie, climbing out of the bunker with a wide smile on his face.

● BIG MOVER

Rory McIlroy needed to birdie four of his final six holes in the second round to make the 144 cut. He finished at 143, tied for 57th.

Over the final 36 holes, McIlroy shot two rounds of one-under 69.

His plus-one total gave him a 281 score and a tie for eighth place.

“Yeah, stuck at it the whole way,” the two-time PGA winner said.

“Seventy-two-hole golf tournament and you’ve got to try till the very end, and I did that this week.

“You know, it wasn’t good enough to be up there in contention but I made improvements each and every day, which is a good thing.”

● TAKING ADVANTAGE

Being outside the top 100 players in the world ranking, South African Erik Van Rooyen needed a special invitation to get into the tournament.

He made the most of it by finishing tied for eighth with a one-over total.

His top 15 finish earns him a spot in next year’s event in San Francisco.

Van Rooyen was hardly the only one to take advantage in his first PGA Championship.

Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand also came up big.

The 23-year-old saved par on the final hole by chipping from 60 feet for a tap-in par.

It gave him a final round 77 and a plus-two total, good for a tie for 14th place.

Getting a spot in next year’s PGA Championship in San Francisco was news to Jazz, who wants to spend a few more years playing in Japan, Asia and on the European Tour before trying to make the PGA Tour.

“It was a good experience, a good learning curve,” he said.

“I need to go through that. You can’t just come up first time in a Major and finish top five, top three.

“I surprised myself early, but this is for the better. If I get things too easy, I might think everything is easy. Nothing is easy.”