Koepka holds his nerve to win PGA title
Brooks clings on after seven-shot lead slips away
BROOKS KOEPKA survived a huge scare on the back nine at Bethpage last night to retain the US PGA title. Koepka had started the day seven shots clear but four successive bogeys allowed fellow American Dustin Johnson to narrow the gap to one. However, Koepka, 29, held his nerve to win his fourth major in two years by two shots, on eight under par.
Brooks koepka won the 101st Us PGA Championship yesterday to join the legends of the game with his successful defence of the Wanamaker Trophy.
But he did so in circumstances that contrasted starkly with those imagined for a man who began with a seven-stroke lead and had appeared bulletproof.
This wasn’t the stately lap of honour that appeared his destiny following three rounds of ruthless brilliance. Far from it, in fact.
His fellow Bash Brother Dustin Johnson and the gusting winds that added a further layer of protection to the brutal Black course, saw to that. so did the weight of history that lay heavy on those broad shoulders, and the pressure of leading the tournament from last Thursday.
At one point that seemingly huge advantage had been whittled away to just a stroke before Johnson faded and koepka composed himself to complete a twostroke success over his luckless friend, who was also runner-up at the Masters last month and has now completed the runner’s-up Grand slam of finishing second in all four majors.
Tied third alongside Americans Jordan spieth and Patrick Cantlay was Englishman Matt Wallace, who continued his extraordinary rise from outside the world’s top 1,100 three years ago. The fiery 29-year- old Londoner relished playing in front of the partisan galleries as he gave another demonstration of what an accomplished player he has become.
Thus, koepka completed his bridge to walk across and join the immortals of the sport. only three players had achieved the feat he completed of four majors in eight attempts, and they were Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. only three players before him had won twice in two different majors by the age of 30 and they were Nicklaus, Woods and seve Ballesteros.
There were also two feats he claimed for his own. He is the first man in history to win his first four majors in only eight starts — and the first to hold two majors concurrently having won them backto-back (koepka will go for three in a row at the Us open next month).
Goodness did he have to work for his date with history. Johnson played the first nine holes like a man determined to hold on to his world No 1 ranking. He turned in two under par and stood over a 15-foot birdie putt at the 10th to reduce the overnight lead of seven strokes to just three.
The putt slipped by and his chance appeared to have gone when he bogeyed the 11th. Bang on cue koepka, on the terrifying 10th hole, calmly blasted another 380-yard drive and struck a wedge to tap-in distance. Just like that, the lead was back up to six.
Drama over? Not a bit of it. From nowhere, koepka bogeyed three holes in a row, making a litany of basic mistakes. Johnson somehow birdied the 15th — one of the hardest holes on the course — for a fourth day in a row. The lead was just two. The crowd were going nuts. ‘DJ! DJ!’ they exclaimed.
At the par-three 14th koepka, fuelled with adrenalin, cleared the green with his approach and now it was four bogeys in a row. suddenly he was in grave danger of becoming the first man in major championship history to blow a seven-stroke lead on the final day. ‘We keep hearing about his mental strength and now he’s really going to have to show it,’ sir Nick Faldo told American television viewers.
He did that all right, with two classy pars on the difficult 15th and 16th. At the same time, Johnson, another gifted performer who, like Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson before him, always seems to have a mistake in him at the most inopportune time, bogeyed the 16th. Talk about puncturing the balloon.
Johnson followed it with another at the 17th, but still the drama was not over, as koepka bogeyed the 17th and missed the fairway at the last, but he got down in a nerveless chip and putt for par. But if anyone had any doubt as to how hard it is to win a major, they know now.
After looking as though he was crashing out of the tournament in ignominy on Friday morning, rory McIlroy made a really decent fist of it over the weekend with two rounds of 69 to finish tied for eighth.
Paul Casey rounded off his week with a 69 for a tie for 36th in the company of the most popular golfer in New York — Phil Mickelson. While Casey chatted, the leftie conducted his usual endearing routine of signing every autograph and obliging with every selfie. Both on and off the course, his rapport with the gallery left the Englishman to make an observation the PGA of America would be mad not to act upon.
‘He has to be the American captain when the ryder Cup is here in 2024,’ he said. ‘I can only imagine what that ryder Cup will be like and if you add in the Phil factor, then it would clearly be intimidating. It would be a big advantage to the home side.’