Johnson completes the ‘so-close slam’ with his fourth runner-up spot in majors
Dustin Johnson has completed the so-close slam.
The former world No 1 erased all but one stroke of a sevenshot deficit in the final round of the US PGA Championship – not quite good enough to stop Brooks Koepka from winning the tournament for the second straight year.
I n s t e a d , J o h n s o n l e f t Bethpage Black with the No 2 ranking and another secondplace finish, giving him one in each of golf ’s four majors.
“Obviously, I knew starting seven back that it was going to be a big feat to catch Brooks,” Johnson said after his one - under 69 on Sunday left him two strokes behind Koepka. “I definitely gave him a run so I was happy with that.”
I t w a s Jo h n s o n’s s e c o n d
straight time as runner-up, h av i n g f i n i s h e d o n e s t r o ke b e h i n d T i g e r Wo o d s a t t h e Masters. Johnson also tied for second in the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, when he had a 12-foot eagle putt to win and three-putted for par to lose by one, and at the 2011 Open at Royal St George’s, which was won by Darren Clarke.
Ko epka tamed the par-70, 7,459-yard course with scores of 63 and 65 in the first t wo
rounds and entered the weekend with a seven-stroke lead. He protected it with an even par on Saturday. Johnson was tied for ninth after an opening-round 69 and moved up to fourth with a 67 on Friday.
A n o t h e r 6 9 l e f t h i m i n a four-way tie for second heading into the final day, when Koepka was so far ahead of the pack that it looked like the only competition would be for the best of the rest. But Johnson
chipped away at the lead until there was only one stroke separating them.
The 2016 US Op en winner b i r d i e d t h e 1 5 t h to move to eight under and Koepka had bogeyed four straight to drop t o n i n e u n d e r. T h e c r o wd , which hadn’t expected to see much of a competition, began chanting “DJ!” “It’s New York,” Ko e p k a s a i d w i t h a s m i l e . “What do you expect, when you’re half-choking it away?”