Dufner was sure of second shot at a major
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Jason Dufner doesn’t have the same set of skills as Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, though his career has shared the same path — from a memorable collapse at a major championship to redemption in pretty short order.
And in this sport, redemption doesn’t always come easily. Just ask Dustin Johnson or Thomas Bjorn. There’s an even longer list of players who gave away majors in the final hour and never so much as earned another shot, such as Ed Sneed or Mike Reid.
There was reason to believe Dufner might be part of the latter group.
Just two years at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Dufner stood on the 15th tee with the PGA Championship in his hands. Four shots clear of Anders Hansen and five ahead of Keegan Bradley, who had just made a triple bogey on the par-3 15th, what followed was painful.
Dufner hit into the water and made bogey on the 15th. He hit into a bunker right of the 16th and made bogey. He hit the middle of the 17th green and still made bogey with a threeputt. Bradley answered with back-to-back birdies to catch Dufner, and then beat him in a playoff.
McIlroy had a four-shot lead at the Masters in 2010 and shot 80 to tie the record for the worst score by a 54-hole leader. He vowed to learn from his mistakes, and he won the very next major by setting the U.S. Open record of 268 at Congressional for an eightshot win.
More agonizing was watching Scott make bogey on the last four holes at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, turning a four-shot lead with four holes to play into another British Open title for Ernie Els. Scott promised he would do better the next time, and he waited only two more majors to win the Masters.
But when Duffner threw away his shot at the PGA Championship, he had never won on the PGA Tour and never cracked the top 30 money list. At 34, it was only his second year playing all four majors. Would he ever get another chance?
Yes. And when he least expected it.
Thanks to the Atlanta experience, he won twice on the PGA Tour the next year. He made the Ryder Cup team and went 3-1.
On the golf course his only top 10s were in the U.S. Open and Bridgestone Invitational, and he didn’t have a chance to win either one.
Without warning, his opportunity arrived at Oak Hill when he produced the 26th round of 63 in a major to take the 36-hole lead, and at least got into the last group.
But it was the blueprint for winning this major. With a two-shot lead over Jim Furyk going to the back nine, he matched scores with Furyk on every hole the rest of the way for a 68 to win by two.
Bjorn appeared to have the 2003 British Open wrapped up until it took him three shots to get out of a pot bunker next to the 16th green and he finished one behind Ben Curtis.
Johnson has let chances get away in the majors, the most memorable his 82 in the final round at Pebble Beach in the 2010 U.S. Open. He also had trouble recognizing a bunker on the 18th hole in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits that cost him a spot in a playoff
Dufner, the guy who doesn’t show any emotion also has thick skin. He has been bantering with Bradley on Twitter and has taken his share of the needle. That’s what made him appreciate his win at Oak Hill all the more.