Major shots from PGA season
Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry have a clear memory of one shot from the final round of the majors they won that not many would remember, and for good reason. They each made bogey. Tiger Woods was two holes away from becoming a Masters champion again, and all he could think about was a shot from 14 years ago. The most memorable shot for Gary Woodland at Pebble Beach? One of them won him the U.S. Open. The other is what fans will remember more.
Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry have a clear memory of one shot from the final round of the majors they won that not many would remember, and for good reason.
They each made bogey. Tiger Woods was two holes away from becoming a Masters champion again, and all he could think about was a shot from 14 years ago. The most memorable shot for Gary Woodland at Pebble Beach? One of them won him the U.S. Open. The other is what fans will remember more.
The four major champions shared what they consider the most memorable shot from their victory, along with a shot that was significant to them even if it wasn’t shown on TV. MASTERS
Woods took the lead for the first time with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th at Augusta National, but it was the next hole where he effectively delivered the game winner. He hit 8-iron with just the right distance to the right spot on the green, and he watched the slope send it toward the hole to 3 feet below the cup for birdie and a two-shot lead.
“Almost hooped it,” he said. Game over, right? Think back to that chip-in on the 16th in 2005 that went up the slope, down the slope and paused at the edge before it tumbled in for birdie and a two-shot lead. Woods remembered it well. He followed with a couple of wild tee shots, made two bogeys and was forced into a playoff.
“That was one of the reasons why I was so focused and I didn’t celebrate after I made that birdie on 16,” Woods said. “Because I’ve been in that situation before.”
And that’s why his drive on the 17th this year was so special, even if it didn’t look that way.
“That was the best shot I hit all year,” Woods said. “Considering the moment, I needed to pipe that ball. I did. I gave it a little more than normal and hit a flat fade. And I think that was what allowed me to go on to win.” PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Koepka said that when he gets to the end of his career, he will look back on the opening two days at Bethpage Black as “the best two rounds of my career.”
Trouble is, the strongest memories are the last ones. And at times on Sunday, it was hard to look.
Six shots clear with eight holes to play, Koepka nearly lost the lead. And not even a twoshot lead on the 18th was safe when he pulled his drive into the native area. He wasn’t in the clear until he managed to hack that out into the fairway. That shot is what Koepka considers as memorable as any he hit on the back nine.
“The one thing I don’t think anyone realizes is that second shot on 18 out of the mess was an awkward lie,” Koepka said, adding that caddie Ricky Elliott was “super worried” about it. “It was either going in the bunker or through the fairway into the rough. Me and Ricky talked about it and thought it was better to leave it in the bunker. I thought it was a good shot to get it in the fairway.”
He made par from there to win by two.
It was a bogey he kept from being worse that was most meaningful to him.
Right after his final birdie on No. 10 for a six-shot lead, Koepka began his run of four straight bogeys starting at No. 11. He drove left into a bunker, blasted out and then hit a poor wedge that came off the green 50 feet away. He knocked that 8 feet by the hole and had that left for bogey.